As we move thru week 2 on the ship I am happily settling into my routine. Wanted to give you guys an idea of what my day looks like. It is definitely somewhat different from what I expected going into this, but not necessarily in a bad way.
I wake up for my “day” around 9:30pm. I usually make it down to the workout room by 10pm after pressing snooze one too many times. I alternate doing cardio-focused and weight-focused workouts to keep things interesting. I’m actually in the middle of a 90 day workout challenge put together by my friend Ali who is a personal trainer. It’s been fun and a good thing to keep me motivated while out at sea. Her workouts are mostly body-weight based and don’t need a lot of equipment so some evenings I go out on the bow to do my workouts by moonlight. With the full moon there has been plenty of light and it’s just gorgeous.
I wake up for my “day” around 9:30pm. I usually make it down to the workout room by 10pm after pressing snooze one too many times. I alternate doing cardio-focused and weight-focused workouts to keep things interesting. I’m actually in the middle of a 90 day workout challenge put together by my friend Ali who is a personal trainer. It’s been fun and a good thing to keep me motivated while out at sea. Her workouts are mostly body-weight based and don’t need a lot of equipment so some evenings I go out on the bow to do my workouts by moonlight. With the full moon there has been plenty of light and it’s just gorgeous.
After a quick shower I head downstairs to my work station to check in and get updated on what all happened the previous 12 hours. Some days the updates are minimal and some days I get an earful. Yesterday the update was that they saw a shark! So jealous. I usually still have time to grab a quick breakfast of yogurt and granola and also make myself a plate of whatever is in the fridge leftover from dinner the night before. Today there was quinoa, something I have totally been craving. |
The last few days my shift has been starting with a downcast of the rosette, which means I spend about 45 minutes on the radio with the survey tech on deck, the winch operator, and the bridge, making sure everything is ready to go and we get the instrument in the water safely. We do a test-cast to 30m to ensure all the instruments are turned on and my computer is receiving data. Then we send it down to the bottom (these days that’s around 5700m!). It takes nearly 2 hours to get down there so, while someone has to be at my station at all times, my chief scientist and I usually take turns so that one of us can go outside for a walk and enjoy the moonlight. Once we get close to the bottom though I take over again. We have an altimeter on the rosette that kicks in around 100m from the bottom. I slow the winch down and have him stop at 10m from the bottom (ideally)- so far so good. On the way up we ‘fire bottles’ at various depths, having the winch slow, and then come to a full stop, each time we approach a specified depth. We have 24 bottles on the rosette so we make 24 stops, the last one being just below the surface. Essentially we get 24 samples from the ocean that is 5500m deep. How do we choose which depths we capture samples from you ask? That’s something for another post.
Once the rosette is out of the water it’s time to sample! The boat starts steaming ahead to the next station immediate so as to make the best use of our time out here. I usually get a quick 10-minute break to grab a snack (leftovers from dinner!) and then head out to help. Recently sampling has coincided with the sunrise which makes it quite enjoyable. I assist with taking samples for alkalinity and salinity as well as to ensure that everyone sampling in the correct order and using the correct bottle numbers. Sampling usually takes about an hour to an hour and a half depending on which groups are sampling (some only sample every 1 degree of latitude rather than every ½ degree). After sampling we get about a 45-minute break before we start it all over again!
Once the rosette is out of the water it’s time to sample! The boat starts steaming ahead to the next station immediate so as to make the best use of our time out here. I usually get a quick 10-minute break to grab a snack (leftovers from dinner!) and then head out to help. Recently sampling has coincided with the sunrise which makes it quite enjoyable. I assist with taking samples for alkalinity and salinity as well as to ensure that everyone sampling in the correct order and using the correct bottle numbers. Sampling usually takes about an hour to an hour and a half depending on which groups are sampling (some only sample every 1 degree of latitude rather than every ½ degree). After sampling we get about a 45-minute break before we start it all over again!
Meal times are set for certain hours (7 for breakfast, 11 for lunch, 5 for dinner) so we try and help cover for people so that at least everyone can get a 10 minute break to eat. I think that’s something I will relish in when I get back to land…not having to rush through a meal.
My shift ends at 12 noon. This is my time to check email, the news, and catch up on life. I try to spend some time outside in the sunshine since I know the weather will be cooling off soon. I also use this time to take care of chores (cleaning, laundry, etc) and safety drills occur during these hours as well. I aim to get to bed by 3pm every day but it’s hard to go inside to a dark room when it’s so gorgeous outside! We have a lounge with a big TV and lots of movies but I honestly haven’t even watched one yet. Maybe when the weather cools off.
Final thoughts...
Thing that keeps me going today: fruit leather bars and the unopened box of quaker oat squares I have (best last minute purchase ever! Thanks for making us early to dinner that night mom!)
Thing that is least pleasant today: having to change a planned workout because it is just too rocky to run on a treadmill. Swells of 3 meters today- the seasickness may return!
My shift ends at 12 noon. This is my time to check email, the news, and catch up on life. I try to spend some time outside in the sunshine since I know the weather will be cooling off soon. I also use this time to take care of chores (cleaning, laundry, etc) and safety drills occur during these hours as well. I aim to get to bed by 3pm every day but it’s hard to go inside to a dark room when it’s so gorgeous outside! We have a lounge with a big TV and lots of movies but I honestly haven’t even watched one yet. Maybe when the weather cools off.
Final thoughts...
Thing that keeps me going today: fruit leather bars and the unopened box of quaker oat squares I have (best last minute purchase ever! Thanks for making us early to dinner that night mom!)
Thing that is least pleasant today: having to change a planned workout because it is just too rocky to run on a treadmill. Swells of 3 meters today- the seasickness may return!