Another great day of life at sea for the books! Team 2 — Eric, Beatrice, Casey, Max, and me — started our watch at 4 am. Found it a little hard getting up and motivated, but that’s the price we pay for science. Being able to see the moon, the stars, and planets was breathtaking, and certainly not something we see everyday. There was also enough wind at the time to allow for straight sailing. As a result, we were able to turn off the boat engine and have the waves be the background soundtrack for our watch. We were also treated to a beautiful sunrise, painting the sky various hues of pink, orange, red and blue. Not something we get to see everyday.
Everyone was up and going by 7:30 am. With our bellies full of oatmeal, cereal, and a fruit salad consisting of apples, oranges, and mangos, we were fueled, and the first trawl nets hit the water around 8:05 am. It was important to get going as soon as possible as we had four trawls scheduled for today! The first two trawls were deployed and recovered without a hitch. We took a break for lunch and had a delicious pasta salad thanks to Jennifer and Kate!
After lunch, it was back at it for the final two trawls of the day. I think everyone was starting to feel a little tired at that point, and we had some issues getting the last two trawls underway. Some lines were too slack and others to taught, resulting in the apparatus being flipped the wrong way. The last trawl of the day had some of the nets flipped inside out, causing what would have been skewed data collection. Eric volunteered to brave the cool North Atlantic waters to dive in and fix the net issues. After that, it was smooth sailing.
In between trawls, the crew took advantage of getting to know each other and their languages a bit more. We found that between the 13 of us, we could visit Germany, Holland, South Africa, and any country that spoke Spanish, Portuguese, English or “Bermudian,” and get around just fine! We also found out that Casey was one third of a triplet!
We are keeping our eyes peeled for any wildlife. We are seeing a bunch of Cahows and other sea birds, however, one Cahow following the boat led us to believe it may be the same couple of birds we are seeing day after day… Other than the birds and Portuguese Man-O-War, it’s been fairly quiet on the marine fauna front.
The same team that prepped breakfast made mashed potatoes and a green bean, carrot, onion, and tempeh stir fry. Despite no one on Team 2 having much experience cooking tempeh, let alone knowing what it was, we managed to cook it perfectly, and with no leftovers! Life at sea with very little meat on board has been very interesting, to say the least, especially considering there are so few “vegetarians” on board. The few instances meat has made an appearance, the “vegetarians” were no where to be found. I’m starting to think I’m going to become a “vegetarian,” just like them.
The day ended with me conducting some visual transects along with Kate as the sun set in the background. Generally speaking, a large part of the day was spent in overcast weather, and as a result, we didn’t get the sunset we were hoping for. Nonetheless, still a great day. Spirits are high. I sense some fatigue, but everyone is continuing to push through it, making Julia a very happy and busy scientist!
Tomorrow is looking like another full day of trawling. Captain Eric has treated us with a bit of a sleep in, pushing our trawls back until the afternoon, allowing for some much needed recovery time! However, we still have our regular watch duties, so for now, it’s time to sleep, as I must be up in 3 hours for my next shift!
– Winston Godwin, May 20, 2014
