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Blogs from Pacific, Oceans and Seas - page 5
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July 16th 2012
Day 8. Sunday, 15 July 2012. Upon original thought, I supposed that today was halfway day, but then I realized that Sunday (the day we arrived) minus Tuesday (the day we are finished) divided by 2(for average) = Monday. So I guess that means halfway day is tomorrow, right? I guess the cigars and brandy will have to wait… When Caitlin last left us off, we were getting ready to deploy the TRM with almost everything on the ship that floated (with the exception of lifejackets and humans treading water) the purpose of increasing positive buoyancy and easing it to the bottom. When John and I relieved the midnight watch, everyone knew what time it was…. Jason time. The plan was to deploy Jason and take a look at our TRM, pick it up, and carefully ... read more
July 16th 2012
Day 5. By the time we woke up for our next watch, excitement, albeit negative excitement, was high. Last night while on site for Jason testing, a winch test of a Trawl Resistant Mount (essentially a hood that covers the OBS and protects it from fisherman nets) failed. The line snapped under the weight of the hood for reasons unknown and the hood was lost overboard. Thankfully we can put our faith in the capable robotic hands of Jason to save the day. A plan was implemented to deploy Jason down to the bottom of approximately 950 meters of water to search for our renegade TRM. Needless to say, John and I were pumped that Jason was about to spring into action on our watch because that means we were headed to the control room (photo ... read more
July 16th 2012
Day 6. First things first, to clear up any confusion… I’m putting in photo numbers with the blog for my posterity so that when I have the bandwidth and capabilities to upload, I will do so. Unfortunately, that probably will not be until I get back, so you can read now and check back for photos later (it will especially be worth the time because I was able to get my paws on the HD photos from the Jason control van, so there are some SAWEEEET shots of yesterday and today’s excitement). Alright, so when I last left you, we had recovered a TRM that was lost overboard with Jason. The new day would see new opportunities for John and I to excel on watch (or so we like to think, but in actuality it has ... read more
July 16th 2012
Day 7 . As promised yesterday, we have a guest writer on the blog today! We all know what this really means…. I got lazy and just copied our Lamont blog for continuity purposes. She did a great job though, so enjoy! Saturday, July 14th 2012 This morning I woke up to calmer waters than the ones I had fallen asleep to (last night I felt as if I was on a roller coaster that was going around and around in continuous choppy circles). Feeling a bit more tired than usual, Natsumi (my roommate, who is a graduate student from Brown University studying Seismology) and I woke up around 7am for our 8am watch. Breakfast on the ship is served starting at 7:15, and it is customary for watch standers to try and eat first so ... read more
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June 3rd 2012
My travel blog has officially been reignited by time to think and something to report after a year away! Travel experience poor for a year until now, I managed to arrange a long weekend in The Kingdom of Tonga. Arriving at Nuku'alofa airport was a standard Polynesian affair - don't expect efficiency, but do expect a sudden head-lift-come-nod, as in 'Malo e lei lei' to Tonga. Vichi, a Fijian born resident and our driver, graced me with a leis of flowers and we waited out another 30 minutes until the remaining 4 arrived, 25C and fine. The trip from the airport to Ha'atafu takes about an hour, but we quickly turned that into 2.5 hours with stops at ATMs, a mini supermarket and the less elaborate weekday market. Almost everywhere you look in Tonga is evidence ... read more
May 25th 2012
A 4 hour plane ride to LA, 16 hour plane ride to Sydney, and 1 hour (but 2 hour delay) plane ride to Ballina, we have reached our final destination in Gonobellah, Australia! It's been an exhausting, but adventurous few days of just getting here. It's always said "getting there" is half the journey, and it has not been nearly half of our month long trip, but yet, myself and the 3 other girls I'm traveling with have already managed to lose a boarding pass to Sydney, had to pay extra money for over weight in kilos, and we flew over a sugar cane field! Some fun first time experiences for all of us. The 15 hour flight is not nearly as rough as some people make international flights out to be. Each seat has a ... read more
May 7th 2012
Bulaaa everyone! Da er vi nok en gang ferdig med et land. Denne gangen Fiji. Det har vært seks dager med total avslapning, noe vi virkelig trengte etter tre hektiske måneder med mye farting. Da vi ankom flyplassen i Nadi, Fiji kjente vi varmen strømme på og det var bare å ta av seg alt av fleecejakker og langbukser. Selv om det har vært flom her for tre uker siden merket vi hvertfall ingenting til det. Igjen har værgudene vært med oss! Etter å ha sovet en natt på fastlandet var vi klare for å utforske de tropiske øyene rundt hovedøya Vitu Levu. Fiji består av i alt 320 øyer, men vi hadde bare tid til to av de. I to netter har vi vært på Beachcomber Island. Da vi ankom øya ble vi møtt av ... read more
May 2nd 2012
A lot of people have asked me what it is like to travel around the world on a ship so I have pulled together some random thoughts on the matter. There are approximately 650 students, from gap year students through graduating seniors; 100 or so faculty and staff from well known institutions like Princeton, Cornell, Stanford and the like to small, to obscure schools that no one outside of the local community has ever heard of; around 50 children ages 2 through 17 who are traveling with their faculty or staff parents; and 150 members of the crew, most of whom we never see. Our vessel is 590 feet long, which means that no matter how hard you try, you can’t get very far away from anyone. We have only a handful of communal spaces – ... read more
April 13th 2012
Hi everyone, well not sure if you have heard from us since we left Melbourne. A day at sea then a day in Sydney with Heather. Today we are in New Caledonia, beautiful arriving inside the atolls and islands, Bill gave the pilot all required instruction. Maureen and Bill have gone off on a tour train ride. Leone and I in this french speaking internet site checking our emails etc, taking a while as everything is different, from keyboard to the answers co,ing back in french. A NEW EXPERIENCE. Never too old to learn them. We will send some postcards. Steph if you read please pass on our love to all,... read more
