Week two update
Hi everyone,
It's been a busy week, and I just realized the last time I wrote was over a week ago. Things have settled in quite a bit, and our sampling schedule has gotten a lot more spaced out. Now that we're out in the open ocean (45.5 degrees S right now, to be exact), we're taking samples a bit further in between. The ocean is a lot deeper, here too. The cast that is going down right now is going down to about 5800 meters! This is by far the deepest yet, and could be our deepest of the cruise.
Two days ago, when I woke up it was cold. We had passed the Subtropical Front, were the sea surface temperatures dropped dramatically. They were at 22 degrees C (70 F), and now they're at 6.5 degrees C (45 F). That makes the breezes really cold too. It's amazing how quickly that change can occur.
I've seen a lot of stuff in the past 9 days, too. One day, we saw 3 whales! I'm not sure what kind they were, but they were about 30-45 ft long, and had a fin on their backs. Someone said they were finback whales. They stayed around the boat for about 30 mins, checking out the CTD in the water, and I imagine they were also drawn to the pinging of the sonar equipment under the ship. The other night, I also saw these bioluminescent organisms that looked kind of like sea cucumbers. They would glow green in the water as we passed them. It was cool, because I stood on the deck of the ship (probably about 2 am), looking down at the water to see the green glowing sea worms, then looking up into the night sky to see millions of stars, planets, and even the milky way. No Aurora Australis (the "Southern Lights") yet, though.
There's also a million birds out here. It's actually pretty remarkable, because we're at (47.5S, 30E), over 400 miles from the nearest land (which is a tiny island) and these birds just follow the ship. They look like they're just having fun surfing the air, dipping and diving, flying really close to the water. They never land on the boat, but sometimes they land in the water and just hang out. There's albatross, petrols, and some smaller birds sometimes as well. Really beautiful creatures.
I also saw a seal yesterday! It was only by the boat for a couple minutes, then it swam away. Seemed even further away from land for a seal. Earlier in the trip, the captain caught a couple fish off the side of the boat too. He caught Mahi Mahi and some other really beautiful fish. We had it for dinner that night. mmmmmmm.
Soon, the water will be getting even cooler, and we should see some amazing wildlife. These cold regions are very productive, and so draw a lot of wildlife in the summertime to feed. Hopefully more whales (the crew had to hose krill (spelling?) off of the deck yesterday).
In other news, Loic and I have declared our CTD watch skills as "perfection." The day crew is still having some issues, forgetting things, messing up log sheets, rookie moves, really. We're kickin' ass and taking names. I'mhaving a great time, except for when I have to pour 33 degree water into little bottles in 45 degree weather for an hour. Then it gets cold, and that's not the most fun. I'm in good company, though, so it's all good.
Every Monday, we have a safety training drill. Later today, its going to be "Pirate Attacks" (Travis and Chad, I knew you'd like that). There's no firearms onboard, so apparently all the crew can do is squirt them with fire hoses while the scientists run and hide in the main lab. I think I'm going to watch The Life Aquatic beforehand. That's all for now from the other side of the world!
Cheers,
Austin
Sunday, February 17, 2008