All over and enjoying the African sun
I am sitting in my hotel room in Cape Town right now, which is very nice (thanks NSF!). I am waiting for everyone to get together for some pre-dinner rooftop drinks, and thought this would be a good time to write home about the conclusion of our trip.
After we left the ice edge, we began to move further north along the continental shelf, making the sampling load again quite heavy at times. We finally got to finish the rest of our line, and wrapped up our final station, which was 106! While we were getting our water samples from the Rosette, the Chief Scientist came out with a pair of wire cutters and cut the cable to the CTD. It was really funny because he's a pretty skinny guy and was having a lot of trouble getting the wire to cut. The last station was completed with about 9 days left until our estimated entry to Cape Town. Naturally, one would think "oh great! you get 9 days to help pack and relax after working so hard. And you don't have to work midnight - noon anymore, right?" Wrong. The Chief Scientist thought it would be a good project for the Physical Oceanography students to sample water taken from underneath the boat (while moving) across the major fronts. He also put us in charge of our own little research project. So, it was a few more days of work, but ended up being pretty beneficial. We may even get a paper publication out of it (and funding to go to a conference).
One of the big things that happened on the way back was the Antarctic Circle Crossing Ceremony. Those of us who had never crossed the circles, were dubbed as "wogs," while those who had already crossed (and showed proper certification of said crossing) were called "red noses." All red noses had been inducted into the society, of which Australis Rex is the Lord. We were charged with entering his waters, and were forced to pay the consequences. The red noses gave all of us wog names, which we were then referred to for 2 days. For these two days, we had to wear all of our clothes inside-out, and in reverse order (underwear on the outside). Also, we had to make signs that hung around our necks which said our wog names. Myself and the two other guys on "Team Perfection" were dubbed the "3 Muskateers Wogs," and I was D'Artagnan Wog. This was pretty entertaining.
Then, on the first night of our punishment, we had to provide all of the red noses with an evening of entertainment. This consisted of a skit, where we had a fashion show that was basically just making fun of some of the rednoses. Then, there was more of the skit involving ninjas, a whale, a peacock, and several male belly dancers (don't ask, I don't really know how to explain it). This was our chance to get back at them for what was going to be coming to initiate us into the society of red noses. After the skit, we were read the charges held against us (for me it was Imitating a robot while sampling, and heckling fellow samplers around the rosette). Some of the charges on people were pretty funny, like the guy who was testing pH was charged with turning Australis Rex's water gay colors.
The next day, the hazing began. At 6 am, the red noses woke up all of the wogs and dragged them out onto the stern of the ship. From here, we had to sing a song that I cant remember right now, after which we had to form teams of 5 and measure the circumference of the ship in measurements of squid. Yes, how many lengths of nasty slimy cold and wet squid was the circumference of the stern of the ship. Once we were finally relieved of this duty, they sent us to the lounge. We had to watch a video on the "Ocenco EEBD" (sounds like "oh sink oh e e b d"), which was a saftey video. We had to watch the video and answer a questionnaire on the movie, which no one of course got right. After this, they shoved us all into the mess deck to eat a delicious breakfast of green chunky stuff that wasn't delicious in the least bit.
After breakfast, cleaning of the galley, mess deck, library, and lounge ensued. From here, people were taken out individually onto the deck, where our true punishment began. First, they blindfolded us. Then, the first stop was a stool, then they shoved my feet into buckets of water, and gave me a fake electric chair simulation. It basically consisted of me getting drenched. Next, I had to walk over to have a stylist "cut" my hair. They also gave me a wonderful protein wash with eggs, mustard, ketchup, and of course more squid. From here, I was then made to come in front of Australis Rex himself and beg for his mercy. He eventually pardoned me of my horrendous sins and purged me of my evils, by way of a hose. After which, I was allowed to jump in the freezing cold, algae-filled hot tub to rinse off. This was the end of my hazing, and I was then given a certificate showing that I was officially a red nose, and entered into the Realm of the Penguin.
On another note, we arrived quickly and safely into port early on Sunday morning. After unloading the ship, we went to the beach, then to dinner and for BEER! All US ships are now dry, and so we were finally able to have our first beers in 2 months. This was a great time, and Dr. Bill Landing even played saxophone with a band in the port! I'm likely to send a whole separate email on my adventures here in Cape Town, so I will save all of this until later. For now, it's off to enjoy the evening here in South Africa
Sunday, March 23, 2008