Just when I didn't think I could wake up any earlier...

The sky at 4:30 in the morning!

Everything has changed. Thursday was a perfectly normal day. We got up, deployed the CTD and collected our samples. Until that morning, I hadn’t realized how bright the sky was, even at 5 a.m. Most of the scientists have to put their samples in the incubators before daylight. Because it is summertime, the light lasts longer, and the sky started to brighten before 5, with no time for the scientists to put their samples in the incubators. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to notice this. By the end of the day, the head scientist, Dr. Johnson, declared that the CTD cast would occur at 2 a.m. instead of 4 a.m.! Yikes! So on Friday, we woke up at 1:30 in the morning. My schedule stays basically the same and I still manage to get a full night’s rest. However, I have a three-hour window of experiments in the middle of the night. I usually go to bed around 8, wake up at 1:30, go back to bed at 5, and wake up again around 9 or 10. It’s not ideal, but I can make it work!

In other news, today (Saturday) we deployed our first ARGO float. We have several of these yellow floats on board and they will be deployed when we reach certain places in the Pacific. Basically, these floats follow the currents and move up and down in the water column. Every time they resurface, they transmit their data (temperature, salinity, oxygen, etc.) to a satellite. Before sending the float on its way, we all signed our names to mark it's passage on the Kilo Moana.

Deploying the ARGO float

Sarah and I prepare to
recover the CTD, even in
the rain!

For those of you who read my blog during the last cruise, you will remember the absurd amount of posts that described the storms. About half the time we faced awful weather and even had to forego science on a few occasions due to the severity of the storms. I would keep my body clenched up tight each night for fear of falling out of bed during rough weather. This time is completely different. It’s hard to believe how calm it is out here. We still have some rain showers and foggy days, but the sea itself is calm. I can actually walk down the hallway without using the handrails.  I can get a full night’s rest (minus the time taken away for the CTD cast) without waking up with my legs thrown off the bed by an extra large wave. Sometimes, I actually forget that I am on a boat. It is so calm! Yay!

In other news, the Internet here is extremely spotty. If I don’t post for a few days, have no fear! I will post again as soon as the Internet starts working!

The scientists hang out in the loading bay
in the breaks between experiments
(and when there is no Internet)