Life at Sea Part 3

April 11th

Ever been in a situation where you are given something to eat, you have no idea whatsoever what it is, but you eat it anyway because the alternative is to go hungry? No? Well I have. lol. God alone knows whatever it was that the chef gave me last night. I know it may seem like I've been talking a lot about the food but honestly I've come to dread meal times a little. To me, a lot of the food is quite salty, even the veggies, so I feel my stomach isn't quite happy about some of the changes. I realized something else was wrong, because I wasn't seasick anymore, but I still felt uncomfortable at times. I've now learned what to avoid eating ( I KNEW the food had something to do with it!) and that has made a huge difference in how I feel in general.

Finally got some good weather again so I took the chance to do some laundry. Yay fresh clothes!!! I had hand washed some in the meantime, but hanging them up in my room was no good. Hanging them to dry on the lines on one of the decks is so much better!

Today a lot of time was spent trying to recover a piece of equipment that had been deployed to the sea floor on a previous leg of the cruise. It's supposed to come back to the surface once it receives an acoustic signal from the ship. Supposed to.... Put it this way, they started looking for it at about midday, and at 8 pm it still hadn't been recovered. Lost cause for tonight, hopefully it turns up early tomorrow.

April 12th

Finally got around to snapping the cat! He's gotten very bold now. At first he just used to stay on the decks, but now he's making himself comfortable inside more often. Here he's in the computer lab rubbing up on one of the seats. They better hope he doesn't have any fleas!  

Brazen Kitty

Today is more or less the half way point! Yippee!! I'm grateful to be here, and I love the sea, but I'll be happy when I'm back on land. Hardcore mariner I am not. It's all fine and dandy during the good days, but during bad weather?.... Another story entirely. I've been told that this weather is on the milder side of what the ocean can really get up to at times out here. 

I was speaking to one of the officers and he's usually at sea for around 260 days of the year.... 260/365..... I know I couldn't do it. He told me he tells himself that he's strong. For some of the scientists, this is their second consecutive leg.

One of the things that has been a huge change is the isolation. With no internet, there is really no way of keeping up with the world at the level I'm used to. News? Google? hah! Social Media? - What's that again? There are so many little things we take for  granted. Something occurred to me randomly one day and I wanted to double check it. Usually Google would be my friend in this case, but nope, none of that here. Granted, even if we did have the internet, this is a Chinese vessel, so some things would probably have been blocked anyway. You also realize that there are many people who live like this all the time. That is, in blissful ignorance of what's really going on, and not just those on ships in the middle of nowhere.

Speaking of the middle of nowhere, it occurred to me the other night that if anything really serious were to happen, we'd be in serious trouble. let me show you were we were...

Location of the South West Indian Ridge (SWIR)

See that? At least 3 days away from any sort of real help. It's a little scary actually. More so when you think that the emergency could be medical; Then we'd really be in problems. I really should ask what would happen, but I'm not sure I want to know.

We aren't completely cut off; there is an e-mail system of sorts. However we can only send/receive emails twice a day; at 8:00 and 20:00. Also each outgoing message has a limit of 20kb, which is practically nothing. Incoming messages have a cap as well, but there is quite a bit more leeway.  There are often issues connecting to the server, so even with my most diligent correspondent (mommy), it can take up to two days at times to exchange messages in an ongoing conversation.

That equipment we were searching for? It didn't turn up; we've had to abandon the search for it.

April 13th

Last night was a good night. There were battered shrimp for dinner and it was good!!! My chef friend also hooked me up with some fried eggs in lieu of some other strange dish. The veggies were not overly salty and were edible! It was the most complete meal I've had in a bit. The first in a couple days where I was actually enjoying my food and not just slogging through because I had to ( there she goes talking about food again....). Being Sunday  dinner, I was also given a beer! I suppose all that was fitting considering that we're at the half- way point of our leg today; hump day so to speak. Woot! After dinner we had a really, really good round of karaoke. A lot of fun was had by all participants, and there were more of us than the times before.

April 15th

Mommy said they finally got the postcard I sent from Mauritius today. That only took like what? Almost a month? Goodness. I was beginning to worry that it wouldn't turn up at all ! Not sure if Stef has his yet though, but I don't want to ask and ruin the surprise.

April 16th

Dear God, why is this cat in the corridor mewing loudly while I'm trying to get some sleep?

April 17th

Things have picked up a little for me. What had been happening is this. I have duty in the  early morning into afternoon. Most of the interesting deployments have been going on in the late night into very early morning when I'm asleep. I've also been introduced to a new mapping software. I'd heard of it before, and heard it was a great application, but never  had the chance to use it. Well my group leader installed it on my laptop for me, gave me a few demos and pointed me to the tutorials. So I've been spending quite a bit of time getting to know the ins and outs and features by experimenting with some old data I had, as well as some sample data he gave me. I've become relatively proficient I think and now I can say I have another skill set. It's a pretty great tool; 3D mapping especially has never been easier, lemme show you a sample:

These Images were ridiculously easy (compared to ArcMap) to generate

We had a lecture today about one of the instruments that we've been involved with; the OBS (Ocean Bottom Seismic). This is the equipment that I mentioned we didn't recover 2 sets of. It was a good presentation, despite the fact that it was in Chinese. Someone was translating the salient points for me, so I got most of what was important, I think.

You're probably thinking that I should be talking less about food and more about the work. The truth is though, I'm actually not sure how much I'm allowed to say in this forum. You see, we've all signed a confidentiality agreement and I'm not 100% sure what would be considered sensitive at this point.

A couple days ago my chef friend noticed I didn't eat much lunch and he smuggled me a can of Coca-cola. I don't know if he thought I needed the extra sugar, or just some cheering up. lol. As a matter of fact he then snuck me a whole case (12 cans). I'm really not a coke drinker, once in a blue moon usually. But how could I say no? He was just trying to be kind.  I forgot to mention that he's also my gym buddy, that is, we tend to be in the gym at the same time, which may or may not have helped to develop his affinity for me. We can't actually speak to each other due to the language barrier, but I consider him my friend. Its funny how you can form bonds with people in that way.

It can be a little dangerous getting in and out of bed. My bunk has no ladder/rail, and I'm in the top bunk. I've nearly lost balance a couple times when the vessel heaved unexpectedly, or tipped to one side more than I anticipated. Luckily nothing serious has happened yet.

April 18th

Have I mentioned that the cat has taken to spying on me in the gym?

April 19th

I exchanged some money with the doctor today; apparently he likes to collect money from around the world. He even offered to give me $US in return. Unfortunately I didn't travel with much Jamaican cash and only had two denominations and some coins. Since what I was able to give him wasn't worth much, I asked for Chinese money as a souvenir instead.

April 22nd

Aha! Caught the cat red- handed! Spying on me in the gym- see I told you.

It has gotten pretty cold now. Being the southern hemisphere, it is now the onset of winter and the temperatures have dropped the further we move south accordingly. It was actually sunny today (it has been generally bleak for the last week or so) and so I thought I might go up on deck and catch some rays. Ha. The breeze and temperature sent me scuttling to the bridge for cover almost immediately.

I have no idea if this has any scientific grounding, but I swear that the coca cola has been helping with my digestion.

April 23rd

So guys, the cat came and visited me in my room today. Twice! So I know it wasn't buck ups. I don't know how it found me, but it now knows where I live! I am not a cat person at all. I'm not quite sure why this one seems to be seeking out my company.

Praises be, today was the last day of work. On the stroke of midnight we start heading back to Mauritius. I haven't seen land in several weeks now. It has been quite an experience, and I really have appreciated being here. But to tell the truth... I'm kinda over it now.. Oh for a pair of ruby slippers!