Ship Log 5/12/08
Day 1
We have arrived! It’s 10:30 in the evening and I am SO READY to go to sleep!! We left North Bend yesterday just before noon, and caught our first sight of the ship we’ll call home for the next two weeks at around noon today. I’m writing this from the galley (the ship’s kitchen) and I’m trying my best to ignore the cookies in the corner. If the rumors are right, I have waffles and pancakes to look forward to in the morning, so I think I can resist the cookies’ siren call.
This afternoon we set up the lab with microscopes and other equipment we’d shipped ahead (all of our luggage and boxes actually made it!) then went into town for a few last-minute items. Somehow a joke about an onboard pool turned into the purchase of a kiddie pool for the upper deck. We also got snacks and some lab supplies and HULA-HOOPS!!! After we stocked up with all of the essential items we went to hear a terrific talk about deep-sea animals by a scientist at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. I am so excited about this trip! Even though I’m exhausted, it’s hard to sleep knowing that soon I’ll be exploring the deep sea in a submersible.
It was odd this morning to watch the sunrise through the window of the Atlanta, Georgia airport and to know that all of you at home were most likely still sound asleep, with hours to go before you could see the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean.
We leave port tomorrow morning at about six a.m. The forecast is for high seas, so there is some anxiety about sea-sickness. We’ll spend all day tomorrow steaming toward our first dive site in the Bahamas. We’ll cross the Gulf Stream sometime in the morning and set anchor tomorrow night. We’ll be in touch soon, take care junior scientists!
—Katie Bennett (Ocean Crest, Harbor Lights, Driftwood and Blanco Schools)