We Have Returned!
We have successfully returned from our trip to the Cook Islands! The team continued on collecting data, right up to the very last hours before the plane departed from Aitutaki. Paul, Chris and Guy spent the last days moving through the jungles and creating maps of the last watersheds, and finally the main harbor. All of the UAVs and ROVs were safely packed away, and the research teams bid farewell to the Cook Islands.
Returning the United States was bittersweet; there had been so many amazing adventures and new friends made, but the fun had to come to an end. Our colleague and now great friend, Guy Trimby, had to head back to the UK, and the AARR is going through a large change in membership. Many of the team members have graduated and moved on to new horizons, leaving room for new members to join, and carry on the work.
Over the next few weeks, the new members will be trained on our aerial and submarine Remotely Piloted Systems. The new senior students are formulating new research projects, and some are gearing up to improve and continue ongoing ecological monitoring.
