Cabin Fever

On Thursday, we hit the halfway point. We had been at sea for 14 days and we still have 14 days left to go. A few days ago, I was starting to catch a bad case of cabin fever, and I think most other people on the boat caught it as well. It’s just been a long time on a small boat. I love it here, but sometimes it gets a little overwhelming. You know me, I like to run around and climb trees and do crazy stuff. There is very little room to run on this boat and so far, I have not seen any trees. Being cooped up on a boat was starting to get to me. “Was” being the opportune word in that last sentence.

Since then, the days have started to go by faster because everyone is trying to do lots of fun things. Staying busy serves two purposes: 1. It keeps everyone from going crazy and 2. It allows us to have awesome bonding time. For example, late afternoon/nights spent in the lounge are becoming much more fun and slightly outrageous. A few nights ago, we all got tattoos. Someone had brought a packet of all sorts of temporary tattoos, from tribal symbols to super heroes to Frieda Kahlo. We drew names from a hat and we each picked out a tattoo AND the location of the tattoo for our partner. I love my tattoo. It's a big ole' tribal tattoo right on my neck. Awesome! I feel like it matches my personality! The next night, we each grabbed a piece of paper and drew a portrait of someone with our non-dominant hand. Each person hung up their drawing at their lab bench. I don’t know who comes up with these games, but they are the perfect cure to cabin fever. 

Last night, we watched the WORST movie imaginable on a boat… Titanic. Before going to bed last night, we checked the water temperature to assure ourselves that the water is much warmer than what Jack and Rose had to deal with. Furthermore, we have enough lifeboats and we are well out of iceberg range! Of course, long before we watched the movie, we had to take Titanic pictures on the bow. I believe this picture is from the second day out at sea!

Another interesting event of the last few days was that we deployed our last ARGO float. ARGO floats are autonomous floats that oceanographers deploy in the ocean all over the world. They can be programmed to sink to a certain depth and then rise back to the surface. They repeat this action over and over again for about 5 years, while being monitored remotely by NOAA. We brought seven ARGO floats to deploy over the course of the cruise and we just release the last of them. Before it was released, we had a chance to doodle on it. We created an underwater world full of crabs, whales, mermaids, fish, and SCUBA divers on the outer casing of the float. We added “DUKE” to the float as well (making sure it was larger than the University of Tennessee symbol).

The one thing I don’t understand about the Pacific is the weather. On 80’s day, the weather was absolutely perfect but by the next morning, it was rocking and rolling so badly that the noon cast was cancelled. This morning I woke up and helped bring the rosette back to the deck. This is the first time I have done this when it was still dark outside. Recovering the cast is much harder than deploying it. On its way out of the ocean, you have to use all of your muscles to tug it back into position aboard the ship. I was barely strong enough to do it. Usually, they don’t let me help because it’s too rough. However, this morning, the water was perfectly calm. I took a nap after filtering and by the time I woke up, we were in storm conditions again! I can never tell what tomorrow, or even the next how will hold!

The sunrise yesterday morning

A Blast From The Past

80's day aboard the Kilo Moana

80’s day aboard the Kilo Moana started off at 4 am. I really like helping with the cast (when we deploy the rosette) in the morning, so I am usually up before most of the other undergrads. I was all decked out in my 80’s gear when I went downstairs… but I was the only one. Awkward! However, within the hour everyone else was up and I was not alone in my brightly colored 80’s outfit. Several other scientists decided to go along with the theme of the day. The crew thought we were pretty strange, but I’m sure they probably see a lot of weird scientists on other cruises. We blasted 80’s music in the labs while we were working and even played 80’s trivia at night (with some oceanography questions mixed in). Our team came in 3^rd place!... out of 4:)

Sampling in our 80's gear!

Today was amazing, not only because of the theme, but also because it was a beautiful day outside. Perfectly warm, sunny, and calm. It was probably one of the calmest days we’ve had so far. For being on a ship in the middle of the ocean, we sure do stay inside a lot of the time. I thought I would spend a huge amount of time outside, but by the time I finish filtering and recording my data, it’s late and there is no time to chill on deck. Today was different. We worked really fast so that we would be able to spend a little bit of time in the warm sunshine. The undergrads even decided to have a picnic lunch out on deck! It was an absolutely perfect day! Plus, the 4 am cast has been delayed until 6 tomorrow so we get to sleep in!!

Sunrise!

A picnic lunch on deck!

Lions, and Bears, and ... Ctenophores! Oh My!

Except for the occasional storm that draws us off track, the days are relatively similar. From an outside perspective, this might seem rather dull and monotonous. However, we have developed clever ways to spice up life on the ship. For instance, we are currently in the middle of a “coolness” war between the different labs. There are three lab rooms and the scientists of each room go to extremes to decorate the lab and add some spunk. Armed with coloring books, colored pencils and tape, the Duke scientists have added some bright colors to the walls of the lab. 

Furthermore, we started to name all of our scientific instruments. We are going with an UP theme. Our filter is named Kevin, our pump is named Russell, and our fluorometer is named Ellie. I have even drawn name tags for our beloved equipment!

Most importantly, we have a few sets of Christmas light strung up around the room.

One of the University of Tennessee lab rooms has a hammock hanging from the ceiling, but I still think the Duke lab is winning!

Each day also holds surprises that can spice up even the most tedious filtering session. Most exciting is the wildlife! No, we haven’t seen any whales or giant squid. Yesterday, we saw something much more exciting… Ctenophores! We collected seawater in 39 clear plastic bottles. Three of those bottles were filtered yesterday while the other 36 bottles we put in the incubators to be filtered at a later time. In one of the bottles we filtered yesterday, we noticed about 10 ctenophores happily swimming in the water. Ctenophores are comb jellies and are notable because they are the largest species to propel themselves using rows of cilia. These ctenophores were less than a centimeter long and were transparent except for a little red spot at one end. We tried not to pour any of the little creatures into our filtering system, but we failed. At the end of the filtering process, we noticed four deflated ctenophores lying on our filters.

We are MURDERERS!!!!!! :( I felt so sad.

If you look closely, you can see a few
transparent ctenophores in the water

Ctenophores on our filter!

Each day contains new wonders to behold! I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store. (Considering that we decided to have 80's day tomorrow, I think it will be AWESOME!)

What happens at 4 am...

The days are starting to blur together. With no weekends or normal working hours, it’s hard to keep the days straight. To further complicate things, we have completely abandoned our original navigational track. We are surrounded by low-pressure storm systems, including a full-blown Pacific hurricane (typhoon) to the west of us. Basically, the theme of this research cruise is that we collect samples whenever and wherever the weather allows us to. Some mornings are too rough to take our usual 4 am samples, so we take them in the afternoon. Other mornings are calm, but we are on lock down for the rest of the day because the swells picked up. The good news is that the chief scientist isn’t one of those crazy guys who will stop at nothing to get samples. He understands when the conditions are too dangerous and he acts accordingly.

A map of the North Pacific from two days ago.
We were where the small box is... right below a low-pressure system 

On rough days, this sign is taped to
every door that leads outside.

On the rough days, the crew and the male scientists work to deploy the rosette. Once above the deck, it starts swinging and strong arms are needed to control it. However, on the calm days, anyone can help. We usually have two casts a day, one at 4 am and one at noon. It takes a lot of effort to prepare the rosette for deployment and everyone lends a hand.

The scientists preparing the rosette

One of the Duke undergraduates, Tristan, has decided to come up with a hypothetical/moral question for all of us to discuss while we are waiting for the rosette to resurface and while we are filling our collection bottles from the rosette. This morning the question was, “Would you like to have a tail?” This spurred many discussions about the benefits and problems of having a tail. We even talked about the fashion accessories you could add to a tail and new sports that would arise with the evolution of a tail. The most controversial argument was whether you could use your tail when you played soccer. Now you know what happens when scientists congregate at 4 in the morning!

My opinion: I think having a tail would be the coolest thing ever! 

My body has finally gotten used to the movement of the boat and so I am no longer taking my seasickness medication. The only difficulty is at night. During the day I don’t notice the noises, but when I am lying alone in my bunk, I hear every creak and groan of the ship. Don’t worry! The boat is very durable and can deal with any size wave that hits it, but it still makes a lot of noise at night when we are going through rough seas. 

 Waves threaten to swamp the deck, but the Kilo Moana is to strong for that! 

Before retiring to bed, many of the scientists hang out in the lounge. We share the lounge with the crew, so sometimes there is a conflict of interest that makes for funny stories. Last night, the scientists were hanging out in the lounge and most of the girl scientists started a yoga video. Unfortunately, it was an advanced yoga video and most of the positions were way out of our league. We tried them anyway and usually ended up sprawled across the floor or with our arms and legs crazily twisted. Once, a crewmember walked in. He told us he heard giggling from outside the room and he figured we were just watching a funny movie. His face was priceless when he walked in on a room of hysterical girls in the shape of pretzels.

THE RACE IS ON!

I have finally settled into a very regular pattern. Wake up at 4, eat breakfast, cast the rosette, gather samples, filter seawater, go back to sleep, wake up, eat lunch, record data from previous day, free time (exercise, read, watch movies, etc.), eat dinner, go to sleep. Of course what makes the seemingly monotonous days so much fun is the camaraderie with all of the other scientists and crew members. In the mess hall, we sit wherever there is space and often are treated to some crazy sea stories from the crew. The pre-dawn hours, while we wait for the rosette to resurface, are filled with light banter, quick naps in an unused corner, and dance parties (well, the latter is usually just me).

Someone caught me sleeping on the job, waiting for the rosette to resurface.
You know me, I can fall asleep just about anywhere.

I regret to inform my friends and family that I have become addicted to an unhealthy vice. Jennifer and I have developed a way to pass the time while the seawater is filtering. For each round of filtering, there are 10 tubes set up with 10 filters. Each tube is filled with water from a different depth. The filtering process for the .2 micron filters is about 5 minutes long. Just enough time to place bets. As soon as the pump is started, we announce to the lab, “THE RACE IS ON!” and everyone places their bets on which tube will empty the fastest. It usually comes down to the last second and a shout is heard from the victor when the fastest tube is announced. Currently Jennifer and I have two points each. Don’t worry, we don’t bet for money, just for bragging rights. :)

Me at my filtering station! (Although the tubes are not set up yet)

After we have finished with work for the day, we have time to ourselves. I have already finished two books! It feels great because usually I have no time to read during the semester. Now that I have gotten used to the motion of the ship, I feel comfortable trying to exercise in the mini gym onboard. There is an elliptical machine, a stationary bike, some free weights, and a very strange machine with lots of parts. Trying to use the elliptical while the boat is rolling and pitching is insanely difficult. By the end, I feel like I’ve gotten an ab workout as well as a leg workout! It’s pretty difficult (and dangerous) to try to run on the deck outside, so I resort to lunges. Unfortunately, these are still pretty hard and I ended up falling into a spot of wet paint. Oops!

Our current latitude is 38° N (Durham, North Carolina is at 36° N, for comparison) and the temperature shift is very noticeable. We started off wearing shorts during our 4 am mornings, and now we are wearing sweatshirts, gloves, and hats. We will be heading farther North in the coming days, but soon we will chug back South. Yay for warmth!

Our projected track. It's very zig-zagged, so hopefully
when we are in the cold, it won't be for very long.

This is just a cool picture that one of the other scientists took.
The wind and waves can get pretty crazy out here in the North Pacific. 

Here come the... clouds :(

So far, we have been blessed with wonderful weather. Each day has been sunny with bright blue waters below us. Yesterday, Jennifer and I spent a lot of time at the bow of the boat watching the waves and the rainbows. We saw several flying fish jump out of the water and skim over the surface for a few meters until they gracefully popped back into the drink. Once, while we were watching a flying fish, a bird (probably a booby) swooped in and caught the flying fish mid-flight. The booby plunged into the water and soon bobbed back up and we watched it swallow the fish whole. A few minutes later we saw another flying fish and the booby attacked again, but it was too slow. The fish got away. It was just like watching Animal Planet!

Alas, the sunny days could not last forever. This morning we woke up for the cast-off at 4 a.m. only to realize that the water was too rough for us to deploy the rosette. We waited for an hour, but in the end, our early rise was for nothing. I didn’t waste any time in getting back to sleep. By noon, the weather had calmed down a little bit so we tried to take samples again. We lowered the rosette into the water but as it was going down to depth, the weather took a turn for the worse. It was going to be miserable trying to get it back onto the boat. The wind was howling and the sky sent down pounding rain. The ocean swells were up to 25 feet by the time the rosette resurfaced! Luckily, we got the thousand pound piece of machinery back on deck without any mishaps. I spent the rest of the day filtering the samples and recording the data. Fun!

                                                   Yesterday                                   Today

Virtual Tour

So today we began the routine that we will continue for the rest of the cruise. It begins with waking up at 3:30 a.m. and then helping to deploy the rosette into the water. We have to wait about an hour until it comes back to the surface. While we are waiting, each of us prepares for our specific projects. Once the rosette is back on the deck, we gather around to collect our samples, and then get to work.

Each project takes a different amount of time. My specific project uses a filter to separate phytoplankton based on size. 24 hours later, I use a fluorometer to measure how much chlorophyll is in each sample. This gives me an indication about how many Prochlorococcus are found at each depth. It is a very interesting experiment but it takes a lot of time. The hardest part is trying to pick up the thin sheets of filter paper with a set of forceps while the ship is pitching and reeling. I guess that’s just something I’ll have to get used to. 

There is a gym on board with an elliptical machine, a stationary bike, some free weights, and a pull-down bar. Trying to use the elliptical while the boat is rocking and reeling is really difficult. At least I get an ab workout while also exercising my legs!

I figured that now would be a good time to give you a virtual tour of the ship. Normally, I would take a video, but the Internet is not very strong and thus, pictures will have to suffice. 

My room!

The dining hall

The library

The lounge (complete with hundreds of DVDs)

The rosette

The incubators on the upper deck

The Lab!

The Lab!