... and all I got was this little styrofoam cup.

By Suzanne Wentley
Posted at 10:40 PM on June 07, 2006

Actually, my souvenir from the bottom of the ocean is a VERY little cup ... and I just remembered to retrieve it while a bunch of the crew were sitting around on deck, playing guitar and watching the horizon jump.

See, because of the major pressure change as the submersible heads toward the bottom of the sea, someone figured out that all the air would be pressed out of a styrofoam cup. So the big -- well, in this case little -- reminder of the trip is a cup that you can write on. They put it in a mesh bag, attach it to the outside of the sub (the inside is pressurized), and check out how it changes upon return.

Mine didn't shrink perfectly. It's perhaps the most curvy little cup I've seen ... but it's still really cool. It shrunk to about the size of a thimble. It's going right on my desk, next to my bottle of St. Lucie River algae and the shell that came from the ancient Ais Indian burial mound discovered on Hutchinson Island after the hurricanes ... you know, right under the peacock feather.

Seas are expected to calm tomorrow, but the currents should still be rough. The scientists hope to dive three times in the submersible tomorrow, but the schedule will be tight. I'm lucky they scheduled me for an early dive! An experience that will be easy to remember, and that's not just because of my new, tiny cup.

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