Giant Orange Blobs and Shrunken Heads

Only a few more days until this adventure comes to an end. I haven’t blogged recently because nothing new has happened in weeks. I’m having a blast and staying relatively productive, but I do the same thing every day. I’m sure you don’t want to read about 30 days of my adventures while filtering seawater. Nevertheless, some exciting things have happened recently that are definitely blog-worthy.

The giant orange blobs: In the last week, we have seen three objects that can be classified as giant orange blobs, but unfortunately I could only take a picture of one of these things. The sunsets have become spectacular when the evenings are clear. It is worth it to stay up late and watch for the green flash. Similarly, the sunrises are gorgeous, but I’m rarely awake to watch them. Usually I have gone back to sleep for my morning nap. Another orange blob we saw one night was a moonset. I cannot accurately describe how beautiful a moonset on the ocean is. The full moon swelled up to twice its size and glowed a bright orange. As it sank past the horizon, it illuminated the water and made 2 a.m. look much brighter. The final giant orange blob was the most unusual of them all. We were collecting water from the CTD at 2 a.m. when bright orange blobs started to pass us in the wake of the ship. We realized they were jellyfish. These jellyfish were bright orange and some were larger than a beach ball! It was incredible! We saw hundreds of them in one night, but never saw them again. They are a fantastic mystery!

Shrunken heads: It happened Sunday. We sent all of our colorfully decorated heads down to the bottom of the sea, about 4000 meters deep! If you recall from the last cruise, the CTD returned without our Styrofoam heads and cups. It was devastating! We were determined not to let that happen again! Two Styrofoam-filled laundry bags (one of them being mine) were secured very tightly to the CTD. After waiting around for several hours, the CTD returned to the deck amongst a chorus of cheers. The shrunken heads had returned!! It is amazing how tiny the heads and cups had become. So much pressure!!

Before and After Pictures!

 

The countdown has begun and we will be back on land soon! It’s perfect timing because I’m pretty sure that all of us (especially me) are experiencing a bad dose of cabin fever!