Today, members of the scientific party boarded Endeavor inside the Thera caldera. We took a shuttle boat from the port of Athinios and loaded all of our gear and other samples on the ship. After settling in for a short period we immediately steamed to our first dive site to the east of Thera on a series of large blocks on the seafloor (up to 200 meters long). These blocks were discovered during the previous cruise on the R/V Aegaeo and we are interested in trying to determine exactly where they came from. They may represent parts of Thera that collapsed into the sea. Hercules ROV was used to explore the steep sides of the blocks and we were able to collect many samples although large portions of the blocks were too hard to get pieces.

Figure caption: approaching Endeavor in the Thera caldera