First Week at Sea Update

Well, google tells me its the first day of summer, but it sure doesn't feel like it to me. The temperature feels more like November or December in Maryland, and the seas have gotten rough enough that the deck is secured (meaning you can't go out on deck without permission from the bridge, and you have to call them when you back inside, so they know you are okay). In fact, I was so cold that I had some hot chocolate just now.

Last time I posted, I was really mad about my lost luggage. Well, I still am. But, thanks to some donations from other people on board, I have some extra clothes, including work out clothes for the gym, which consists of a tiny room with a treadmill and two stationary bikes. Taller people cannot run on the treadmill because their heads will hit the ceiling, but that is not a problem for me. Right now, though, I think it is too choppy for anyone to run on. I'll probaby try to get on the bike later.

Although I can't say I'm enjoying life on board, I am getting used to it. I am now more practiced with how to do the experiments D and do on board (everyday, starting around 6-6:30). I am trying to establish a routine, as this would a) help keep me sane and b) make the time go faster. I used to (and probably will again) complain about how fast time is going by. That is not the case here. Being on a boat in the middle of the Bering Sea really helps time slow down. On the upside, you get a lot of reading done.

Yesterday morning, I saw a fur seal playing in the water next to boat early in the morning, as they were getting ready to pull the CTD up (the big thingy that collects water). I also saw some puffins a couple days ago. Some people saw an albatros today, but I missed it. Apparently, they like to fly about in all this wind.

Bad Day in Dutch

Well, I made it to the boat. But it wasn't a smooth transition. My flights on Tuesday were pretty good. I was delayed about an hour and a half in Anchorage, but I had my trusty nook, so I didn't really mind. The planes that go from Ancorage to Ducth Harbor (or anywhere else in the Aluetian islands) are small, and quite loud. They hand out earplugs at the beggining of the flight. When I arrived in Dutch Harbor, my luggage was not on the plane. This was not surpurising, as they are only so big, and can't accomodate everyone's luggage. I spent Tuesday night on the boat in Dutch Harbor. D (the professor I work for) thought the employees at the airport said a flight came in at 8:30 Wednesday morning, and that this flight could have our bags. I thought they said the next flight was at 10.

So, Wednesday morning (after traveling for a full 24 hours the previous day) D came in my room to wake me up to see about out luggage. So, at around 8:30, we set out on our WALK to the airport. It was about 40 degrees, drizzling, and windy. D said that someone might come by with whom we could catch a ride for the remainer of the way to the airport. Only a few minutes into our trip, a taxi pulled up and inquired as to wheather we would like a ride. Before I could respond, D waved it on with a "no thanks". So, chilled by the buffeting wind, but warmed by my seething rage, I continued walking. When we got to airport (finally), our bags were not on that flight. (Actually, I'm not still not even sure if there was an 8:00 flight. They told us to check back at some time I don't even remember anymore because we went back and forth the airport so many times yesterday. The other times, however, someone drove us.

Our boat was due to leave at 9:30 pm, so after the 6:00 flight yeilded no results, we went shopping for new clothes and toilettries. Now I own a Deadliest Catch sweatshirt. After a safety seminar back on the boat at 8, we were allowed to go back to the airport one last time to see if the luggage had arrived. It had not. We were promised by the lady working that they were on a flight of 2000 lbs of stuff (no people) coming in at 10pm. Right as we would be leaving. The only thing that might delay the boat's departure for us was a missing crew member who was supposed to have arrived on the 8:00 flight. So, hoping that that guy would be late, I asked if anyone from the airport could deliver our bags to the boat. (D did not want to ask the captain and chief scientist to wait another half hour). So, around 10:30? a van pulls up with missing crew member and D's bags (she had two-both arrived). I'm guessing mine were on the flight, but the people at the airport just didn't send mine out to the boat. It's very frustrating to be 1.5 miles from your bags, and have to leave for a month.

A lot of people on the boat have been very generous, offering me some of their clothes. Unfortunately, its hard not like everyone wears the same size pants. What I would really like is more than one bra. That is one item no one has offered. They don't sell them in the 2 stores in Dutch Harbor (I asked one of the cashiers- they have to be mail ordered).

So much for the trip being boring. Maddening, yes, boring, not yet.

Non-luggage news:

• The food on the boat is pretty good. The salad bar consistently has artichokes, kalamata olives, capers, and blue cheese.
• There is a mysterious source of leaking water in the main lab.

What are you nooking at?

• This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Gourmet Rhapsody, Muriel Barbery (actually, this was a real book, not an e-book, and I read it on Tuesday during travel marathon)

Well, its almost time for me to head off to Dutch Harbor, Alaska (yes, same port used in Deadliest Catch) to board the R/V Thomas G. Thompson (I know, Thomas Thompson?!) As my dad would say, I am about to embark on "little turtle's big adventure". I think that's the title of a children's book. My flight leaves at 7:10 (joy!) Tuesday morning and I am currently bracing myself for the abhorrent task of packing, which I will probably put off until absurdly late tomorrow night. However, I do have most of my clothes laid out on my spare bed and made a trip to Wal-mart today for some last minute items- you know, little things, like a camera. (That should be pretty illustrative of the nature of my procrastination).

I've come back to my parent's house for the weekend to visit before I head off. I've been trying to participate in some of my favorite indulgences, as I won't be able to do so in the coming five weeks. Yesterday, I went sailing and wakeboarding. (You know, I've gotta spend some time on the water before getting on a boat for a month) Also on the docket: eating lunch at CD cafe, the best restaurant in Calvert County. I also intend to ingest some delicious Maryland produce, which I shall sorely miss. You know what I won't miss? My brother complaining about how much he has to study for the bar, while in fact, he just watches the World Cup and drinks copious amounts of Crystal Light fruit punch.

I've also been collecting reading material on my brand-spanking-new NOOK (Barnes & Noble's e-reader), so I don't have to haul a bunch of books on my travels. There isn't much to do on board when not working, (mainly: sleep, eat, work out, read, or watch dvd's) so you need a lot of books. I've been on only one research cruise before this. It was a week long, in which time I read almost three books. That may not sounds like a lot, but I don't mean books like Twilight. More like A Picture of Dorian Gray (which was really good-read it!) and A Handmaid's Tale (which was not very good). To sum up, I am excited about my nook, and the potential for lighter luggage.

Ah, but why I am going on this vessel in the first place? Well, I am a research assistant for a professor who studies plankton ecology at Horn Point Lab in Cambridge, Maryland. This lab is part of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. The professor I work for is involved in the Bering Sea Project, which includes many scientists studying different aspects of the Bering Sea ecosystem. The project's website is: http://bsierp.nprb.org/. We are studying the microzooplankton abundance, biomass, and grazing on phytoplankton. More on this wildly exciting topic later!