I guess I have a bunch to tell you about what's going on around the ship. First of all... we're out of the port! We finally got out of Durban around 9:00pm on Monday night after a long day of preparations and fueling. We set out into what I was told were going to be 13-foot seas. I don't think they were actually that big, but it was definitely a change from the calm conditions at port. Like I said, I was designated to be on the 12 midnight - 12 noon shift, so I only had about 3 hrs to sleep before I was on duty. All three of us on the watch were pretty tired, and each took a 2 hr break to take another nap. Normally, this won't be able to happen, but during the first shift, we had to steam for about 12 hours before we reached our first station. This meant our watch was ridiculously boring. I watched a movie and did some homework during most of it.

We finally had a successful launch of our first CTD Rosette (which happened to be a test cast) right before the end of my shift. I stuck around to learn about how to sample bottles, then had to make myself go to sleep around 3pm. This will be my normal bedtime from here on out. I think I will sleep 3-10:30pm.

I am in charge of preparing the CTD Rosette for being launched, deployment, and recovery. After we bring the Rosette back on deck, we move it into a loading deck where all the chemists can take water samples for the different chemical properties that they're investigating. I am also responsible for taking the samples for Nutrients, Salts, Carbon 14, and Dissolved Organic Carbon. This really just amounts to pouring water into bottles, but there are certain procedures, and for the carbon measurements there are a lot of precautions you need to take to ensure that you don't contaminate the samples. After that's done, it's right back to preparing the rosette for deployment again. It's been pretty busy, and I'll tell you some more about it at a later time.

I am feeling much more adjusted to being on the water and to my new schedule. At first, my body was taking it pretty hard to adjust. I never felt seasick, but I felt a bit foggy-headed and just kind of weak. After my 7.5 hr sleep last night, I felt much better today. I even ran on the treadmill for about 30 mins before my shift!

Anyways,the food is good, but I don't really get to eat most of my meals. I miss dinner because I'm sleeping at 5:30, and today I was recovering the CTD during breakfast. The good thing is that they have plenty of leftovers and food around that we can eat at any time. I just may miss some of the planned meals. I'm going to go, because lunch is in 10 minutes, and all of this talk about food is making me hungry. More later from the other side of the world!

Austin