Over there, close to the little beach, they used to float for half a year: Our ten giant test tubes. Nine painted bright orange, one black, their transparent plastic hoods reflecting the sunlight. They had become a familiar sight to the fishermen and the yacht folks. And to all the KOSMOS 2013 participants who went out every second day at any kind of weather to get their samples.

The station seemed abandoned during the last couple of days. No hungry Germans flooding the cafeteria at noon. No bottles, carboys, filtering racks … covering the benches in the sommarlab. No larvae swarming in the fish tanks in the basement. No survival suits crowding together in the diving storage. And Wassermann taken from the pier.

We’re gone.

A small GEOMAR team came some days ago with research vessel ALKOR. In early morning, we picked up the yellow signal tons marking the corners our playground and their muddy ground weights. The Aanderaa current metre should have been the next item to recover. But its weight had fastened, so that the rope was torn. PANG – and down went some basis data. What a start…

But collecting the mesocosms went smoothly. ALKOR smeaked up to one mesocosm one after the other. Ralf, Fabian and Christian circled around with ALKOR’s small rescue boat like busy bees to catch ropes and hooks and attach them. ALKOR’s crane purred until the hydraulic oil reached boiling temperatures. The crew worked quicker and quicker. Bag – mesocosm – bag – mesocosm – bag – mesocosm…

On land, we hade a hard time making the mesocosms look as nice as they did before the experiment. Barnacles, tunicates, mussels, starfish and algae had settled in large numbers on the floating structures. For a short moment, we were emphatic about the variety of species. But soon, we started disliking the clingy creatures. The scatching noise, the fishy smell and the feeling of wet shells tumbling down on my shoulders and face haunted me in my sleep – while the washing machines downstairs tried to clean away most of the dirt over night.

But one after another we succeeded. Much cleaner then before, the mesocosms could finally be loaded on the ship. We stuffed tons of scientific equipment in ALKOR’s labs, a container and a truck. And on Sunday evening, there was a rare sight: An empty pier. Some sweaty guys jumped into the fjord without taking off their clothes. Cool beer also was highly appreciated. Dana and I took a full moon walk to Lysekil. And the next morning, we headed for Kiel…

By Maike Nicolai