Sorry I’ve been away from the blog for so long! The ship internet is satellite based, and is important for navigation, communications, and well as computer access, so needless to say the bandwidth can get a bit precious! I’ve also been trying to get back on schedule – I was on night shift more often than not and I apparently prefer the vampire mode over the normal mode! My mother wouldn’t be surprised.
The cruise went extremely well for water, multicore, and piston core sampling; we were able to get samples from all of our sites! Locations of interest ranged from the Florida shelf edge to some of the deep-sea canyons south of the Alabama coast and we had 15 sites to sample in 11 days!
We started out on a great note – enjoying some local pubs in St. Petersburg. I really enjoyed this bar, The Mandarin Hide. Delicious drinks and great atmosphere – including a three piece jazz band!
Unfortunately we had some complications in the first couple days – the MILET video sled was having recurring problems with the fiber optic cable and the one of the two nets for the Bongo rig became torn and unusable.
However, we were lucky to have some of the best weather I’ve seen in the Gulf of Mexico. Absolutely flat seas really make everything easier/faster!
I must have taken 50 pictures of the moon! Absolutely incredible. I also enjoyed playing with my camera settings to try and get the best shot. The light gathering processor is so good, the moon looked more like a hazy sun than the moon!
We deployed the multicore a total of 64 times and only had 11 failed attempts. Some really great numbers, though technically they are bested by the piston core which only “failed” 1 time. We were actually in the wrong place and the crew realized before they triggered it! I was amazed we were able to collect samples from all 15 sites. Each site can take 6-8 hours for processing, plus transit times, and we had to book it! It didn’t hurt that we had an incredibly hard working group of scientists, even with three first-time sailors on board. Considering it might be my last Weatherbird cruise, I’m glad it went so smoothly!
The Gulf of Mexico is an interesting place to be out at sea, because the large number of drilling platforms makes you feel much closer to land than you really are, and the number of ships is much higher than, say, the middle of the Pacific (where I’ll be in October – November!)
We also get more wildlife on the ship – birds, moths, dragonflies just to name a few. They hop ships and platforms looking for food
I also finally got to go swimming while on a boat for weeks – just not as one might expect! Due to safety issues swim calls aren’t typically done when we are far out to sea, but we managed to jump in the harbor during our port call in Panama City. The crew thought we were crazy, but we enjoyed playing little mermaid too much to care!
I love going out to sea, I just wish I didn’t have to also leave my family for so long! Thankfully they are quite supportive! I’m one lucky girl!
The Deep-C Consortium also has a blog page – you should check it out!
a spoonful of ginger 