7 
"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good." This rather violent 
squall got us under way for Eepiritu Santo and Ascension Bays with more 
expedition than we had previously thought possible. From an inspection 
of the Hydrographic Office charts we had picked these bays as promising 
collecting grounds to which we wished to devote the next 2 weeks. As it 
turned out on this occasion, we could only briefly reconnoiter them. 
On arrival at the first named, the captain came to ub with a "problem" 
he called it — virtually empty fuel tanks’ There was nothing left but 
to hasten back. However, we did see enough of both bays to agree with 
Dr. Daiber that Ascension Bay was the better place to pursue his eeologie 
study of a mangrove swamp. 
So good did the weather prove to be on this unscheduled return to 
Cozumel that we tried to make the most of it. After refuelling on 
April 8, we ran up to have a look at the extensive bank off the north 
end of the island, an exposed, Indifferently charted area that the 
captain had been fearful of tackling before . 
Finding a favorable anchorage in those coral "infested" waters 
calls for an alert lookout but too late did ours, perched up on the 
foremast, call down that we were hard upon a huge coral head too near the 
surface for a vessel drawing 9 feet to clear. Despite the helmsman’s 
most strenuous efforts the port bow slammed into that immovable mass of 
coral rock. The mighty thump, the ominous grinding, and the shudder that 
ran through the ship not only brought us up short, but made us fear the 
worst. There was a rush forward on deck, and below to check the damage, 
but only with an aqualung was It possible to determine that the nasty 
