So we've successfully landed and reached our first stop over in Tortola, after some hairy moments in customs. Despite all this Tortola is a beautiful, picturesque island, if a little humid for four students used to the worst that the British summer can throw at them!
Day 1, on the first day we were able to use the surveying equipment out on the island for the first time. We measured to two known local control stations to check the calibration, with the help of a local surveyor and former Newcastle graduate, Mike Adamson. Though the equipment worked well we hit a stumbling block when attempting to measure the positions in the local Puerto Rico datum.... the rest of the afternoon was spent attempting to resolve this problem with little success, and then resulted in a mini expedition around the town, surveying some of the many drinkeries that Tortola has to offer....
Day 2, brought fresh heads with fresh ideas, after further consultation it was decided that we would instead measure all points in WGS84 system and apply a coordinate transformation in post processing. With this decided a celebration was in order, so it was off to the beach. The weather however had other ideas, we'd barely got our feet wet by the time the heavens opened, and when it rains here it pours! We were informed whilst taking shelter in a nearby restaurant, that this was the front of a tropical storm forming in the Atlantic... which would explain the thunder and lightning! With that we retired back to base for some food and a few quiet games of monopoly.
And with another day comes another island, we catch the ferry to Anegada early tomorrow morning, where we will check in, begin the reconnaissance and establish some control for the survey. Keep checking the blog for updates, we believe that our base in Anegada is still in the process of setting up a wi fi connection, we hope to bring you more info once that issue is resolved!
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