The Fourth of July - Kilo Moana style

Happy Independence Day from the middle of the Pacific Ocean! We might not have been able to celebrate this memorable occasion in the traditional way, but we added out own style to the festivities. The day began at 4 am, as usually and I definitely noticed that most people were wearing red, white, or blue shirts, myself included. One of the scientists had even brought a few American Flags to display around the labs. Once we had gathered our samples and returned to our lab benches to begin our experiments, Alyse turned on an “America” playlist. These songs included: Party in the U.S.A. (Miley Cyrus), American Pie (Don McLean), Firework (Katy Perry), and Surfin’ U.S.A (The Beach Boys). Obviously, they weren’t the traditional patriotic songs, but they definitely got us into the American Spirit! For lunch, our amazing chef, Debby, prepared a traditional 4^th of July barbecue complete with chili-cheese dogs, potato salad, and watermelon (although the watermelon was seedless, so we couldn’t have any seed-spitting contests)!

Since I have been on the boat for a few days now, I have finally gotten into a pretty regular schedule. My day always starts at 3:30 in the morning and here’s an example of a typical day:

-Deploy the CTD and prepare my experiment

-Tag the CTD and bring it back on board the ship

-Gather my water samples from 10 different depths

-Perform my filtering experiments and prepare the sterivex filters

-Go back to bed (usually around 7 am)

-Wake up around 10

-Hang out until lunch at 11:15

-Deploy another CTD at noon

-Once it is back on the deck, gather one more sample of the surface water to filter it

-Free time until 3 pm (study for GRE, look at Grad schools, hang out in the sunshine, etc)

-Fluorometer readings at 3

-Work out in the gym or on deck

-Dinner!

-Movie in the lounge

-Bedtime around 8 or 9

Now that I have a schedule, I feel much more in control. Since we work everyday of the week, it’s easy to lose track of the days. My schedule is like clockwork and helps me to keep track of everything.

We finished off the 4^th of July with a beautiful Independence Day cake and then hit the hay!

God Bless the U.S.A!