Hi Everyone,
I hope you are doing really well. We are finally getting into the area where real work can begin which is very exciting. We have begun to split into separate shifts, we each work 12 hours on 12 hours off, I am working the midday to midnight shift which seems like arguably the best shift as I don’t have to move my sleep schedule too much and can easily get at least two cooked meals. The 6pm to 6am shift has got to be the worst deal, makes it very difficult to get hot meals from the galley and is definitely the quieter shift.
This being said, the galley works very hard to make sure everyone has food available and will make up and leave out meals for those working overnight. Work is beginning to get more serious as we approach our first mooring (the P3 mooring) tomorrow and then will move on to the Western Core Box for some biological transects.
As part of this work, the physical oceanographers (myself included) are now undertaking regular checks to ensure everything is working as expected. These include 6 hourly salt and oxygen isotope samples, as well as checking the various displays to ensure that all of the underway measurements are still functioning. These measurements include the sea surface temperature and salinity, ocean velocities, the wave profile as shown on the radar and the echosounder measuring the water depth.
There have also been some opportunities for more fun activities. I had my first try at using the onboard gym. This was very good fun, attempting to row on a rowing machine while the ship rocks from one side to another is a very unique experience. It is quite unnerving as your head is experiencing acceleration in so many random directions at once it becomes quite difficult to maintain a regular pace and keep your bearings. Working with the weights is even more fun, if you time it right you can lift much heavier weights than you normally would, and if you time it wrong, even lighter weights are incredibly difficult. Certainly a very unique experience!
Finally, the ship has a fantastic onboard shop with a wide variety of clothing and souvenirs, which I have been taking advantage of. I have acquired a very nice quarter-zip and a glass with the Discovery logo.
27/12/22
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