After a wonderful weekend of great food, friends, and family I returned to the boat bright and early Monday morning. I had been getting updates all weekend about the AC repairs and I was confident that we were going to depart. In preparation I had began waking up very early in the morning on Sunday (4:30am) and Monday (3:30am) to try to prepare myself for night-shift work. A big thanks to Matt who spent a couple hours talking to me each morning to ensure I didn’t fall back asleep!
Back on the ship, things were lively and we had plenty to keep us busy all morning. I got myself settled and helped with various tasks throughout the morning. Around 11:45am they removed our gangplank and we began to push off. It was a very exciting time for everyone and most of the scientists congregated out on the bow to enjoy the views as we pulled away. Especially in the science contingent, we have a fair number of cruise newbies (like myself), so each step is exciting for us.
Back on the ship, things were lively and we had plenty to keep us busy all morning. I got myself settled and helped with various tasks throughout the morning. Around 11:45am they removed our gangplank and we began to push off. It was a very exciting time for everyone and most of the scientists congregated out on the bow to enjoy the views as we pulled away. Especially in the science contingent, we have a fair number of cruise newbies (like myself), so each step is exciting for us.
Shortly after getting out to open water we had drills aboard the boat, which included abandon ship drills and emergency fire drills. We have assigned muster stations and specific gear in our room for each of these emergencies. It all went vey smoothly and I was able to locate my muster station without issue (don’t worry mom!). Putting on a “gumby suit” was an interesting experience and I hope to post photos soon of what one looks like with it on. It’s essentially a huge wetsuit with boots and gloves and a hood all built in.
While I totally understand the importance of drills and getting them done right away, I also know that if you want to make a new ocean-going scientist start to feel queasy, make them gather in a small room, put on a full-body wetsuit and stand around in a warm room for 15 minutes. Needless to say I was feeling less than great after this experience. Our seas are calm but that just makes me worry about what I will be feeling once we get to rough water!
While I totally understand the importance of drills and getting them done right away, I also know that if you want to make a new ocean-going scientist start to feel queasy, make them gather in a small room, put on a full-body wetsuit and stand around in a warm room for 15 minutes. Needless to say I was feeling less than great after this experience. Our seas are calm but that just makes me worry about what I will be feeling once we get to rough water!
After drills I got to take a 2 hour nap in preparation for our sampling test station which we reached around 3:30pm. For this first station, I would just be shadowing and learning the steps involved with deploying the rosette. It involves checking on things out on deck, setting up computer programs, and communicating with the survey techs and winch operator outside. I get to use a radio! I’ll go into the steps of my job in a future blog post but let’s just say I learned about 200 new things within an hour timeframe, all while feeling seasick- definitely a challenge. I also learned I’ll be helping with taking alkalinity samples and Cesium samples which is exciting because Ill get to be outside, getting my hands wet. Those steel-toes boots and foul weather gear will definitely be coming in handy!
After all that I got to head back to bed around 7pm, fitting in a couple hours of sleep before my official shift started. At 11:30pm we set out nets over the side of the ship to filter and collect organisms in the seawater. We only do this during night-time hours, so I look forward to learning about what all we find in the water. Needless to say, I have been quite a zombie wandering around during my shift. I lied out under the stars for awhile which was gorgeous and then snuck a quick nap in the lounge room. Starting to feel a little more normal and hopefully I get my sea-legs soon. I’m hoping to avoid taking any of the medication and just survive with ginger but that may not get me through the adjustment period. Hope everyone is doing well and thanks for keeping up with my blog. If you have any questions please leave them below and Ill answer them in future posts! |