This is a journal dedicated to the monthly adventures of the R/V CAVALLA. We will include monthly updates of where the Cavalla and crew have been along with photos of their most recent catches.

30 June 2005: Well, once again it has taken me a while to update the boat log. Even though the pictures don't show it, we have really been gettinga lot of sampling done with the breaks in the weather and that is the reason for the delayed updates. Since our last update we have made trips to the Chandeleur Islands in April, May and this month, had a narrow miss by the first Tropical Storm of the season and helped Kenny Blanke make his final samples of his graduate career at the Chandeleur Islands. Molly Dillender began her graduate research on spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosis), Lissa Lyncker continues her Bluecrab (Callinectes sapidus) research and Jeff VanVrancken continues to electrofish the scenic rivers around Lake Pontchartrain. We had a foggy ride home from the Chandeleurs in April, and visits by Black drum (Pogonias cromis) as well as the migratory Cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus). More pictures from June and upcoming July sampling will follow soon.

14 March 2005: Its been a long cold winter since my last boat log update and not a lot of fish have been sampled since then either. With the cold water temperatures, there just aren't many fish in the estuaries this time of year. We've sampled some decent numbers of Atlantic stingrays (Dasyatis sabina) and some unusually large black drum (Pogonias cromis) from our stations in Lake Borgne. As with most winters, the bluecats (Ictalurus furcatus) have been sampled throughout most of the Lake Pontchartrain estuary. Kenny Blanke continues his seagrass study at the Chandeleur Islands while braving the cold weather and the effects of Hurricane Ivan on the island. But even a long cold winter ends with a good sunset sometimes.

6 December 2004: This is my final log entry for 2004 and a lot has happened since my last update. We are still trying to catch-up from a near miss by category 4 Hurricane Ivan and the passing of Tropical Storm Matthew. Matthew pushed enough water into the marina just to make things difficult, but Ivan caused more serious problems. We found entire "chunks" of marsh ripped away and floating around in open water. Coastal erosion of Louisiana was incrementally increased. The picture of the large bullshark, Carcharhinus leucas, that Jeff is holding, was taken on the Pelican house barge at the Chandeleur Islands the Saturday before Ivan made Landfall on Wednesday. The next picture shows all that is left of the Pelican after Ivan. Since the Pelican was no more, Kenny and myself had to sleep on the Cavalla at the Chandeleur Islands to get the November samples and his thesis research done. The next three pictures tell another sad story. If you look closely at the picture of the Cavalla's stern you'll see a small 14 foot flat boat we found in the middle of Lake Borgne, unoccupied, with the motor still running! We immediately called the Coast Guard and dropped the anchor. The Coast Guard dispatched two helicopters and a cutter to commense a two day search, but the last report we received was no persons were found. One lesson to be learned here is that we found the Life Jackets still on the floor of the boat. To end this long report on a positive note, I included a sunset shot of Kenny in the Zodiac® making his evening trap run at the Chandeleur Islands.

21 September 2004: As I promised in July, some of the less common species at the Chandeleur Islands began to show up in August - Bluerunner Caranx crysos, Leatherjacket Oligoplites saurus, and Bluefish Pomatomis saltatrix. We also sampled quite a few of the usual Bullsharks Carcharhinus leucas and Blacktip sharks Carcharhinus limbatus, as well as tagging a Dusky shark Charhinus obscurus and some Sharpnose sharks Rhizoprionodon terraenovae. The calm seas greatly helped Kenny Blanke work on his master's project. He conducted the seasonal coring of each of his grassbed types as well as running his fish traps. The water clarity wasn't the usual spectacular, however, Kenny still managed to get a few underwater shots of his sites. If you look closely you can see one of his traps in a Turtlegrass Thallasia testudinum bed.

CLICK HERE to see the archived boat log from February 2002 through May 2004.