OBS in PNW Day 4

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Day 4.
Because the day started immediately with action, so shall I. We awoke at 0100 to station our at-sea watch and prepare for the recovery of our first OBS. John and I settled in and it wasn’t long before we were on station and ready to send release codes to the instrument. Much to our satisfaction the codes were immediately acknowledged, burn sequence was initiated, and by 0145 our package was on its way to the surface at a rate of 40m/min. We were in ~1800m of water so it took some time to get there, but by 0230, we had eyes on and the camera rolling (photo 006)! After some awkward attempts, we finally got a hook in her and the day was ours. Twenty-three to go.
Smitten that our first watch went off without a hitch, I rack-attacked. In doing so, I guess I have very little to report for the day, so I can talk a little more about the shipboard things that were happening… I made friends with Barry and Adrienne, the two mammal observers who are both really cool. Barry is a former QM from Vietnam, so we swapped Navy stories like two old sailors will do. They both told me about what they were doing and what they were looking for and I contributed my two cents by regularly starting sentences with either “Is it true that….” or “I saw on the Discovery Channel/NatGeo that…” I think they’re fans. Biologically, the Pacific Northwest is as foreign to me as the moon, so I had lots of questions. If I’m not on watch, in the rack, or at chow, it is a safe bet I’m up on the observation deck driving them nuts and looking for animals.
The food has been outstanding and readily available at all hours of the day. Fruit, snacks, canned drinks(! Real treat…), keeping my paws out of the cookie jar for the next couple weeks is going to be a task. Meal hours are 0715-0800, 1115-1200, and 1700-1800. They don’t serve midrats (midnight rations) on board, but that would be overkill considering everything else they do. We have a lounge which is more like a movie theater with a ton of selections, a library/conference room, workout room, ping-pong table, and hammock out on the bow… It’s certainly a luxurious life as far as sailor’s standards are concerned. Internet is slow, unreliable, and not readily available, but that is a minor inconvenience compared to everything else we have. Now, to figure out how to get a line in the water…
Update: The watch who relieved us also had a successful retrieval of their first OBS upon arrival to the next site, as did the watch who relieved them. 3 for 3! Off to an awesome start, but the dream run would hit a snag and the auspicious start would come to hault… On our next watch we were in transit to the site where we would be letting Jason take a dip for testing. When we arrived, testing and the saga of the lost TRM began…

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Comments

[Meg]

i need a title for a comment?
a) i want to see the photos. but where are they? b) what's a QM?