In the footsteps of the Infante....and an end.

23 May 2014

In the footsteps of the Infante....and an end.

Going out with the sunset. The team at Cape St. Vincent, the southern most tip of Europe and Portugal.
Zé Pinto and Kanna at Ponta da Piedade near Lagos at the end of the experiment.
Sagres and the home of the Infante, Henry of Portugal in the 16th century and which was the starting point of the great discoveries of the Portuguese.
Sagres and the home of the Infante, Henry of Portugal in the 16th century and which was the starting point of the great discoveries of the Portuguese.
Sagres and the home of the Infante, Henry of Portugal in the 16th century and which was the starting point of the great discoveries of the Portuguese.
Sagres and the home of the Infante, Henry of Portugal in the 16th century and which was the starting point of the great discoveries of the Portuguese.
Looking out from Ponta da Piedade near Lagos at the end of the experiment.
Ponta da Piedade near Lagos at the end of the experiment.
Swimming in the waters off the Sacred Mount or Sagres, which was the 'end of the world' for many till the onset of the age of exploration in the 15th century.
At the Praia do Beliche, Sagres with US Embassy Science Fellow, Chris Anderson.
At the Praia do Beliche.
Joel testing the aerodynamic lift at the Praia.
Group photo at Cape St. Vincent light house close to sunset.

Friday's weather continued to be dismal. Winds at 20 knots off shore and threats to rain effectively closed off the use of UAVs. But weather also inhibited the use of small vessels for AUV deployment. As the morning progressed, it was clear this was another day of being grounded. Lars Lovile of FFI stopped by to say good bye and proposing a deeper collaboration for UAV autonomy using Neptus, DUNE and T-REX. 

The team decided to get up and go, to the west coast to see Cape St. Vincent and the western Algarve. Off the team went to Lagos, specifically on the urging of our colleague Manuela Veloso of Carnegie Mellon Univ, who suggested that seeing the Ponta da Piedade and to Sagres itself, the latter the home of one of Portugal's illustrious sons, the Infante Henrique (Henry of Portugal, better knows in the English-speaking world as Henry the Navigator). The team together with visitor Chris Anderson, a science fellow at the US Embassy in Lisbon, saw a wonderful sunset at Cape St. Vincent after a cold and invigorating swim in the beach at Beliche.

View Larger Map

With the end of the day, it was also the end of the experiment. with the group wrapping up all the equipment the next day to head back to Porto for the Lessons Learned on Monday 26th.