Date and Time to Antarctica
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Day 53 - Pegusaus Ice Airfield, Antarctica - (-77.95200, 166.51180)
Brian flew out today I think on the C-141, with his destination of
New Zealand.
Day 52 - McMurdo Station, Antarctica
Well, I am still here. The weather was not satisfactory enough to fly out
or in so the flight is delayed. We will try again tomorrow. I am keeping
my fingers crossed. I believe I have seen most of McMurdo in the two days
I have been here. Today we walked over to Scott's Hut and looked inside
the best we could. The hut was erected in 1902 and left shortly
hereafter. The Antarctic treaty has kept the hut in the same condition
that is was left in. Then we went back to Scott's Base to do some
shopping and one of the Kiwi profs gave us a tour. Scott's Base is very
nice compared to McMurdo Station. Then dinner then to the bars, well both
bars, there are three in McMurdo but one allows smoking and we didn't go
in there. McMurdo is not the vacation spot. It looks like an old mining
town or a clear-cutting operation gone horribly wrong. There are not
trees, only dirt. But there are no trees on Antarctica anyway. We will
leave tomorrow, we will leave tomorrow, we will leave tomorrow.
(Eric's note:
A virtual tour of McMurdo and Scott's Hut)
Day 51 - McMurdo Station, Antarctica - (-77.84821, 166.67598)
I have made it to Antarctica. This morning we helicoptered in which took
about a half an hour. Then after lunch in the galley in McMurdo we walked
up to Obersvation Hill and over to Scott Base (Kiwi Base). Tonight
involves relaxing on solid ground and having a beer or two. I will try
and send postcards and get some souvineers but I have a weight limit, so I
come first. I would love to get something for everybody but it is
physically impossible. We fly for Christchurch tomorrow afternoon on a
C-141.
Day 49 - (-76.52997, 167.62065)
Happy New Year
Non-stop action today. We went by the largest iceberg in the southern
hemisphere, then broke ice, then almost ran over a penguin when the new year
came. The iceberg,
B-15, is 125 miles long, 25 miles acrosss, and about 100
feet tall. It looke huge and we were only a quarter mile away. Penguins
surrounded the massive iceberg and were swimming around it. After passing
B-15 we headed towards McMurdo and encountered ice and more penguins. Some
get really close to the front of the ship then take off on the ice. A
penguin can go about 4-5 knots on land and about 10 knots in the water, maybe
up to 15 knots if pressured. One of the penguins could not find water to get
in so it headed staight towards the bow of the ship then veered off at the
last second to get away. Is it bad luck to run over a penguin when the year
changes? The ice is maybe 6 feet thick in places, but there is some open
water we are hopping into. We leave the boat on January 2nd.
Day 48 - (-76.5793, 177.5692)
Watch shifts were reduced from six hours to three. We started to break ice
but found many open areas of water. However, in those open areas we saw
penguins, seals and whales. The Minke whales were haning out by the ice and
swimming around. It appears we might actually make it to McMurdo without a
helicopter ride, but that wouldn't be any fun. We have to get around an ice
berg which is about a half a degree of latitude, 50 km. And that is the
second biggest one. The largest one is about twice to three times the size,
but that is further north.
Day 47 - (-74.8470, 174.7500)
Today, as we begin our trek towards McMurdo I spent most of my time up in the
bridge reading between iceberg and penguins sightings. The ice at this point
seems rather scarse. The more ice we can avoid the less we need to break and
we will be breaking enough ice later, or so I am told. We saw more emporer
penguins, a ross seal and a couple whales. I am probably missing more
wildlife begin on watch. But I don't mind, the sun will be out and up when I
get done at midnight. No waves, little wind, less than freezing the water
and the air. It is still very beautiful down here.
Day 46 - (-73.3783, 178.6375)
Still driving around in circles. Tomorrow we head for McMurdo. We are seeing
mostly seal and penguins, actually only seals and penguins. Happy New Year
to all. There is a halo around the sun, pretty awesome. Other than than I
am ready to go break ice and see big ice bergs and ice shelfs and wildlife
close up.
Day 45 - (-72.2778, 172.4385)
And people said we wouldn't drive in circles for days on end. But we are and
it is so enjoyable to know exactly the wildlife is. To go inside. To go
outside. To get sleep. Everything is all controlled by where we are and
where the penguins are. Penguins are now clustering in groups of 10 or more.
More pictures are always being taken. I have gotten through two books of The
Lord of the Rings since I have been on the second leg, and I have one more
book to go. The mood around is quiet with busts of excitement to see
penguins or ice or whales. It is like being very young again, all the
jumping up and down and sceaming and what not.
Muckluck
(Eric's note: Simpson's reference from Krusty the Clown: "Comedy is not
saying dirty words, but saying words that sound dirty, like Muckluck.")
Day 44 - (-71.6405, 172.0264)
I realized today I have scant time left on the boat and even less time to
write an abstract for the next conference in April. So that is was I did
today. Yes I had to get some work done, but I got it done just in time. We
sailed back towards the coastline and behold the wildlife. Penguins,
penguins everywhere. As we were headed towards the coast we encountered a
pod of orcas, or killer whales. They took off towards the ice and then under
it. Near the coast there are penguins in groups of 4 or more. Some turn and
run away and others look at the boat are go "Huh?, What's that big orange
thing?" The penguins run funny and then they slide on their bellies. He-He
Do not send mail to this address (on the boast) after Jan 1.
I will send an email hopefully telling you when I leave the boat.
Then all the rest of the mail should be directed towards:
savage13@gps.caltech.edu
Day 43 - (-72.4970, 176.2311)
What a brilliant day, besides being overcast and 30 F outside with some wind.
We started to break some ice and head down toward McMurdo. And everybody
knows what happens when we break ice. All together now. "Penguins and
Seals". Yes, that's right. We almost ran over a penguin and a seal, and
there were many off the sides of the ship. Thee were tens times the number
of people in the bridge as normal trying to catch a glimpse of the wildlife
from a warm and friendly place. More pictures. The bow is awfully friendly,
but it is not in any way warm. But to get the best pictures you need to be
close or have a really good zoom lens. So I am on the bow often. That is
where I was when we got momentarily stuck. The only problem, we were towing
the magnetometer. As we stopped the magnetometer got trapped in the ice.,
then the ice closed of behind the boat. We tried to get the magnetometer out
by moving the boat forward and backwards. This worked for a while and
progress was made by moving ice around behind the ship. While backing the
ship up the cable got too close to the propeller and was cut. We couldn't
get the magnetometer out of the ice so we had to leave it, but it was fun
watching them try to get it out. Turkey dinner all day long and we made
apple cider, yummm.
Day 42 - (-71.8131, 173.6548)
Seismics are done. The science party planned a route to follow but because of
ice and trying to avoid ice, it appears that we are drunk or better yet
trying to draw something with an etch-a-sketch, but very badly. We do ok for
a bit then the track goes horribly wrong.
Last night after my shift I walked to up to the bridge as usual. We were
driving through some ice and the captain said "There is a seal, wow, and some
penguins." Penguins! The seal and penguins were on the same iceberg. I
finally saw some penguins. I got some pictures. And yes there are as cute as
they are on TV. Now I want to see more penguins.
Day 41 - (-70.5505, 171.9839)
More floating around near Cape Adare, Antarctica. The seismic guns seem to be
dropping by flies. We started we six guns and lost one the first day, now we
are down to one. It seems to be ok thought since we were almost done. But I
dont have to process the data, so no skin off my back. I am actually getting
work done now, amazing as it may seem. Maybe I will come back looking
productive. The sun is up all day and all night and the temperature is still
around 30 F with a light breeze. We should be running around and away from
the ice for another couple days, then we hit the ice and break for McMurdo.
We will not make it there beacuse the ice is too thick. A helicopter will
airlift us the remaining distance.
The day seems to fly by when you wake at 1 pm.
Day 40 - (-71.3705, 172.2947)
We appear to be running around in circles. Since the icebreaker is dragging a
seismic cable and six airguns we really do not want to run into any ice. So
what happens is the bridge see ice, tells us researchers then turns the
icebreaker away from the ice. Well, avoiding ice in the Antarctic is hard.
It has been commented that avoiding ice in Antarctica is like avoiding water
in the shower, or maybe avoiding ice in the Arctic. But really there is
enough open ocean at this time of the year to travel in a straight line for
line enough. I want to get into some more Ice. We have an icebreaker and we
are avoiding Ice? Hello. It is also much more satisfying to break up a bunch
of ice than travel in the open ocean.
The weather calmed down, again. Smooth seas with 15 knot winds and a
temperature of 31 F. The storm we had last night left ice all over the
particularly the bow and starboard side. Somebody tried to get out of a
starboard door last night and couldn't because the wind would not let them.
We has some really good turkey for dinner with mashed potatoes.
Day 39 - (-71.6474, 172.8152)
We were looking for open sea to run seismic experiments in. The the winds
picked up as did the seas. The wind is over 40 knots and blowing directly
at the bow. We also spent some time outside today watching the techs set up
the seismic equipment. I also got a movie of them launching a sonobuoy. It
floats in the water and records seismic signals. Normally they are used to
detect submarines. Today, instead of just placing it in the water, they
actually launched it with 2000 psi cannon off the port side.
Last night, if you can call it a night, we watched the sunset and sunise over
the pack ice afte midnight. The water was glassy and looked like a salt
flat. Cape Adare, Antarctica was within view this afternoon.
Day 38 - 70 South, Hello - (-70.1822, 177.8871)
With the temperature hovering around 30 F, or -1 C, I spent most of the day
outside looking at the pack ice we were traveling through. Some might say
"Pack Ice, That's even more fun than watching paint dry." There are many
different things you can do. I saw six seals and one penguin. I have
pictures of the seals but unfortunately did not get the penguin picture.
There will be more, I hope. After lunch I and three others were down on the
bow watching the ice break and looking for penguins. Then the mate who was
on watch called over the loud speaker, "You guys should get to the 03
conference room, there is a fire drill." We were about five minutes late
because we could not hear the bell signaling the fire alarm. Oh well, we
didn't have to stay long since we were the last people there. Te He He
The dry lab is now decorated with holiday decorations. The pole has ornaments
and gold beeds. The galley is also decorated.
Day 37 - (-67.1539, 177.5625)
The Ice is spectacular. Last night after watch, or shall I say this morning I
wandered up to the bridge to look at the ice and hang out.
The sea ice grew into icebergs and then the icebergs became bigger and bigger.
Today I was running around taking pictures from all over the boat of the surrounding ice.
We have yet to run into large sections of ice, 10 of miles across.
We have only hit a few sections which are a mile or so long.
The seas are glassy and the weather has cleared.
It is a nice temperature outside of 30 F (-1 C) with no wind and the sun is shining.
On the last trip we had sunsets, now we have Ice, and it lasts all day long.
This is amazing and one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Day 36 again - (-63.6945, 172.2372)
I woke up this morning rather suddenly. The boat had stopped moving or at
least I thought it had stopped moving. There is always this constant hum and
vibration on the boat and that seemed to have stopped. I lay in bed and I
heard sloshing out in the water. That is how quiet it was. Is sounded like
people were picking things or there was something floating in the water. I
got out of bed and looked out the window. Ice. Sea Ice. It was all over the
place. It was 4 in the morning and light out so I got dressed. I walked out
to the Helo deck there was a little fresh snow there. We used to have BBQs
out there when we crossed the equator. I then made my way to the bridge and
eventually out behind the bridge and took some more pictures of the sea ice.
Look how smooth the ocean looks surrounding the ice, it almost has a glassy
like appearance to it.
There were also a few icebergs but were too far away for good pictures.
I went back to sleep after taking pictures for about and hour. After waking
up the ice disappeared and the seas were rough again. We should be near some
more ice tonight and maybe wildlife.
We are making snowflakes with colored paper and playing christmas music. I
feel like this is elementary school again.
Day 36 - (-63.2968, 170.7686)
We crossed 60 S last night. Why is 60 S so important. Icebergs! During the
winter, the ice reaches a mximum at 60 S and during the summer the ice
retreats to about 65 S. But we haven't seen and iceberg yet and probably
wont until tomorrow or the net day. Another cool thing happened, the
temperature dropped below freezing of the air and water. The water
temperature is about 31F, or 0.5 C, and will get colder the further we go
south.
Tomorrow we are planned to make a few u-turns to survey a mid-ocean ridge.
The ridge between the Pacific and Antarctic plates and has very few
constraints on its spreading rate. Hmm I wonder why, maybe because it is in
the middle of a very cold ocean, but what do I know. Knowing the spreading
rate on this plate boundary helps to determine how the San Andreas looked
many millions of years ago.
No sign of penguins or whales yet, but keep you fingers crossed.
Oh hi Vivian.
Day 35 - (-59.4943, 164.5785)
As the seas calmed down a bit more by entering a high pressure system, the
boat had a fire drill. This was the second most interesting thing to happen
today. The first was watching the sunset after my watch standing duties were
finished, at midnight. I walked up to the bridge eating some pizza they were
serving at midnight to see the sun set It was very dark except for a tiny
speck of sun sticking out from behind the clouds. I tied to get some
pictures but they came out too dark or too overexposed.
I have stopped going outside, for the time being, to gather my location with
the GPS handheld. It is windy, 20 knots, the air is cold, 35 F, and the
water is too at 39 F. The deck is wet and I do not want to go overboard in
this part of the world. The course we are taking might still look like a
straight line, but this part we are turning and I believe we will do a few
u-turns to cove a particular area in more detail. Lets hope all the
scientific equipment holds up.
Day 34 - (-55.6488, 163.6298)
Another day is the rolling seas. The southern ocean has calmed down a bit,
the barometer is rising, but the temperature is falling. The air temperature
is around 37 F, or 3.0 C, but the water temperature is around 40 F, or 5 C.
For those of you who dont know, this is cold. Not cold enough to go outside
but too cold to go swimming.
Today I got the luxury of ping editing for 6 hours. The bathymetry is measure
by a swath of beams and after it is collected we have to remove the bad data.
Oh, and the data was bad, real bad.
The time is 10:30 and the sun might set, it hasn't decided yet.
Day 33 - (-51.40202, 166.08565)
Another day of rough seas. We appear to be headed directly for a low pressure
system. However after a while, the sea smoothed out to only 27 knots and
things like walking around became easier. Wave are still spraying water over
the bow when we run into them. They also smack the side of the hull and it
sounds like a giant log ran into us. Other than that, things are fine.
Although I think I need to watch more TV. Hi Connie.
Day 32 - (-48.11913, 169.47110)
We are getting tossed around out here, the seas are rather high as we enter
into the southern ocean. The Wind speed is up near 45 knots and it is blowing
across our bow. Watching from the bridge, the waves every once in a while
will send spray over the bow and the spray might pepper the bridge. Besides
that I haven't done much today. I think I know why they called off the yacht
race in New Zealand today.
Day 31 - (-44.87002, 172.26778)
Much work was done today and I don't feel sea sick like I though I would be. I
was asked to make a few plots for one of the profs from New Zealand, they
were rather easy and fun to pass the time. Got some of my reseach done, made
some synthetics and thought about how things needed to get done in the best,
but not most elegant way. But watchstanding to way too long now. Last
cruise it was only three hours, now it is six because there are less
students. Although, with less students and people for that matter, it is
much quieter and cleaner too.
Day 30 Still in Lyttelton - (-43.50628, 172.72110)
Today I woke up late. I found Nathan downstairs and went to breakfast.
Breakfast tuned into lunch after Rob walked by. Then it was back to the boat
for meetings, meetings, meetings. Dinner at Volcano Cafe where I had some
curry with rice. Then about 11:00 pm we set sail for Antarctica. I am now
rooming with Nathan after some room reshuffling. No harm. Probably better
than rooming with somebody twice my age.
Day 29 in Lyttelton - (-43.50628, 172.72110)
This morning Rob woke me up with a telephone call saying he was going down to
the CDC, Clothing Distribution Center, early, 8:30. He had to return the
rental car. I put most of my things that I didn't need into storage, mostly
camping gear. Then I tried on all sorts of ECW, Extreme Cold Weather,
clothing and gear. We ended up with about tweleve pairs of gloves and these
huge white boots which are for walking on the snow. Not to forget the
giagantic parka that you might put on in a sporting goods store then ask, "Who
would ever use a thing like this, it is way too warm." The ECW gear got
sent to the boat and Nathan, Amnuel and I walked into Christchurch from the
airport to get lunch. Lunch was two and a half hours, including a salad,
very good pizza and beer. After lunch Nathan and I went to a bookstore to
pick up Lord of the Rings all three books for "light" reading on the boat.
After more walking around we found a pub and sat down for afternoon tea, for
two hours. We ran into Auna, or shall we say that she walked by us. We made
plans later for after dinner drinks. Dinner was at a Turkish Kebab place
which was rather good for the price we paid. I asked for a Kebab and was
expecting meat on a stick, but it came in a pita bread with lettuce and
carrots and some sauce. Went to a pub for beers, took a taxi home, then
watched part of Lauerence of Arabia, LoA.
Day 28 outside Twizel - (-44.20325, 170.15462)
Today is the last day of the mini-vacation in New Zealand. We drove north
towards Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand, to visit Hooker
Glacier which I believe extends down from the top. The drive was boring but
the views of Mt. Cook were amazing, Not a cloud in the sky and visibility
for miles and miles. We walked in towad Hooker Glacier, had lunch, had lunch
then walked out. Not a very exciting trip except the hike was just fun.
There were a couple of suspension bridges we had to cross and a few morraines
to climb, but no ladders and no ropes. On the way back to Christchurch, we
stopped for ice cream. We got back and I watched Better Off Dead then went
to sleep.
Day 27 at Queenstown Hill - (-45.01900, 168.67659)
After s couple cups of tea we tackled the Queenstown Hill and took in the
landscape. The view was amazing and we had lunch at the top.
Rafting was the afternoon excitement. The rafting company gave us wetsuits,
lifevests, and helmets, then bussed us up the river on a very narrow road for
45 minutes. The road had no shoulder, no rail, and the side dropped a few
hundred feet vertically. Aftering putting the rafts in the river, we were
off. The first set of rapids knocked Rob out of the raft. I had to pull him
back in the boat as I was sitting across from him. Keep in mind Rob is twice
my size. The rest of the rapids were fine, nobody fell out and no boats were
tipped over. The last two rapids were called tunnel and cascade. Tunnel was
more of a hole, a very long hole. I was told to lean over the front of the
raft and steer while everyone else sat inside the raft so they didn't mash
their heads on the tunnel wall. That rapid was very fun, espically for me.
I got to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Cascade was immediately
after the end of tunnel. It included a giant dip and then a small right turn
which could have easilly flipped a raft, great fun. Afterwards we had tea
and a hot dog, then it was off to Twizel. The hostel had no towel for me to
use, I was bummed. In New Zealand, everything closes at 6 pm, and very
little stays open late.
Day 27 in Queenstown - (-45.02882, 168.66829)
Waking up early again, we headed off towards Queenstown. The drive was
beautiful and so was the scenery. We were in the bottom of what looked like a
river valley with yellow flowers on both sides with green grass further up.
The valley must have been a couple hundred feet deep. The road was perfect,
much like you might seen on a German automobile commercial. 100 KPH, smooth,
with small little turns snaking back and forth just taunting me to cross the
center divide, come on, aye, you know you want to. We arrived at Queenstown
too late to do a morning white-water rafting session, so we signed up for
the afternoon and took to a hike on a hill.
Day 26 in Wanaka - (-44.70054, 169.10886)
We made it over the pass, past two large lakes, Lake Wanaka and Lake
something? into the town of Wanaka. We stayed at a nice hostel and had some
very good pizza for dinner with chicken and tofu.
Day 26 at Haast Beach - (-43.86850, 168.98921)
Since the weather was so nice, the beach was our next stop. We put
our feet in th Tasman Sea which was rather cold.
Day 26 at Knight's Point - (-43.71572, 169.22571)
On the way we stopped off to take some pictures of the Tasman Sea on the west
coast of New Zealand.
Day 26 on Fox Galcier - (-43.49894, 170.05342)
We woke up ealy in the morning and headed south towards the Franz Josef and
Fox Glaciers. I drove on the right hand side. We had to pass a herd of
cattle on the road, I almost ran over a Kiwi, but we makde it to Franz Josef
in one piece. We walked up to both glaciers but Franz Josef was much moe
impressive. Fox glacier almost anyone could walk up to as a path existed to
the terminus. However, Franz Josef was a bit more tricky. After crossing
the signs warning of danger and a small stream or two, we had the climb up a
steel ladder which had been tied down to a rock face. Then we walked along a
smoothed rock while holding onto a rope followed by descending another rope
off a steep hill. After more walking, we crossed a much larger stream by
jumping from rock to rock and I sunk by boot in the icy, cold water.
Eventually we made it to the glacier. Guides were clearing a path on top so
we took to tha lateral morraine. Eventually the guides saw us and kicked us
off, so we headed back. After Franz Josef and the Fox glacier, we took off
towards Haast Pass.
Day 26 on Franz Josef Glacier - (-43.42481, 170.16902)
Day 25 in Lyttelton - (-43.50628, 172.72110)
We have arrived in Lyttleton and the scenery is beautiful. It is a port town
with many large ships. The city is set back on a hill which overlooks the
port. We got here around 8 am. There was a boat beside us unloading salt,
lots of it. We went through customs and quarantine. However, I had to clean
the tent I had because it has gass and dirt inside and on the fly. We walked
into town. We saw a pub and a few of us went inside for a pint on the back
deck. Then moe people from out party showed up. Then the professor in
charge gave us all our per diem money. Some commented, "We are on the back
deck of a pub drinking beer in New Zealand at 11 am, we got to New Zealand by
boat for free and someone just came in and handed us money, and it is a
beautiful sunny day." Some else commented , "This is the best day of my
life."
I decided fo my four days off in New Zealand should be interesting. I took
off with another professor at 1:30 pm to try and make it over Authur's Pass.
The drive up was spectacular. I want to come back and take more pictures.
We made it over the pass and into Greymouth. Dinner in Greymouth was ok,
Steamers Cafe and Bar. It reminded me of a Lucky Baldwins breakfast but
dinner. Very thick and heavy. Tomorrow we are going hiking near Fox and
Franz Josef Glaciers. We drove a bit further south to get a head start.
Finding a place was easy and it happened to be right next to the Tasman Sea on
the west coast. I put my feet in, once I could see the water through all the
thick fog.
Day 24 - (-42.86102, 175.18275)
Last day on the ship. Everybody is working hard on their projects and we hit
some rougher seas today and I got wet on the bow from a wave. The seas were
a 5 out of 12, what ever that means. The next leg of the journey starts in
five to six days. But before that I am driving around New Zealand with Rob,
one of the profs from Caltech. Today we also got a tour of the engine room.
There were 4 v-12 generators. These powered the lights of the ship. However,
lower there were 4 inline-8 diesel engines which drive the ship. The pistons
were 11 inches across and each engine produced 3200hp with about 8 liters per
cylinder. I thought a 8 liter V-8 was big. Beer Tomorrow 
I think there might be updates during the short trip in New Zealand, but there
will definitely be updates during the Antarctica portion.
Day 23 - (-40.15112, 178.43079)
Today is the day all the fun stopped, well most of it. Everybody had to begin
working on their projects for the class that was on the boat. It includes a
paper describing the methods we used, the data we collected and a
interperation about the region easch person is working on. While working on
the projects, the bridge called down again to the lab where we work and told
of weird lights in the water. It was dark so they were easy to see.
Bio-lumenessesce in the water. The water was glowing green-blue when the
waves broke from the ship. Fish and other animals were swimming in the water
and were covered in the stuff. They would light up the surrounding water
near the boat. It was better than seeing fireworks or shooting stars. Only
one more day.
Day 22 - (-37.14160, -178.71271)
The bridge called down today after the last class and said there were dolphins
or porposises off the bow. They weren't lying. They were jumping out of the
water, maybe 10 or so of them. Some people got really good pictures of them.
I might have missed this, but a few days ago we also saw some whales. They
were really far away and we could really only see them blowing water out of
their blowholes. It was good to finally see something besides birds.
We have been making some crazy turns to help the Kiwis whith some of their
research, so the route being shown is probably not quite correct, but we did
go though those points.
Day 21 - (-33.02055, -177.26990)
Today was rough. I missed class. Woke up at 10:00 and figued out that I
missed class so I decided to go back to bed. At 11:00 I woke up again, but
this time very very tired. I wandered down stairs and had some food, did
some work for about an hour, however really unaware of what I was doing.
Knowing this I went back to bed. I slept from 12:00 to 3:00. I woke up
again and was still tired, but this time with a headache. After drinking
about 64 oz (1800 ml) of water I stated to feel better. Until I tried the new
game on the boat, kick the ceiling. You grab a table and a pole, which is
holding up the ceiling, and try to kick the ceiling many times. There was
some paper on the pole, it ripped, I ended up horizontal 6 feet off the
floor, then I was horizontal on the floor. I landed on my hip, which is fine
now, and my hand, which has a slight bruise. I shouldn't have done that.
Oh yeah and we skipped Monday.
Day 20 - (-28.00064, -174.10921)
Today is the day we watched more TV and made pretty maps with the Swath
Bathymety data. It has been getting cloudier as the days go one. Some
people are sleeping out on the bow tonight. The stars were amazing. I have
never seen stars that close to the horizon or seen the sky that beautiful.
No extra light, no buildings, no nothing. Just stars, the boat, and the
ocean. The saw the southern cross named Crux.
Day 19 - (-26.99870, -171.56538)
Seismics are finished. We are off to New Zealand and one of the deepest parts
of the ocean, 10 km or about 6 mi. That is a lot of water.
We will be turning twice in the next couple of days, one to go west and the
other to parallel the Tonga-Kermadec Trench.
Day 18 - (-23.99656, -171.55949)
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who I didn't see today. This is everybody.
Arise at 2:00 pm after watching TV during the night. Food all day long as the
kitchen was open all day. Today we also turned due South and started
seismics. This means putting microphones off the back of the boat and firing
a air gun in the water. It is slow going but gives a good picture of the
sediments on the seafloor bottom.
Day 17 - (-20.75420, -167.41142)
I gave my talk today about the Louisville Ridge. I went ok, but as normal I
think I could have done much better. I wasn't given much advance notice
about when I was to give the talk. They only gave me 12 hours. Since there
is no class tomorrow. We are staying up to watch TV all night long. Why?
Because we can.
Day 16 - (-18.39766, -165.15950)
This day was forgettable except for the sunset. Oh My!
Day 15 - (-14.76772, -161.87080)
Today was like any other day. Wake up around 8:55. This is five minutes
before class at 9:00. Walk up two flights of stairs and then try not to fall
asleep in the warmest room on the boat. For some reason the room we have
class is 15 degrees F hotter than all the other rooms on the boat. It is
even warmer than outside. Then after class, have a small breakfast. Work
out for about 45 minutes. Shower. Check email and pretend to work. Lunch.
Relax after lunch and chat with others about nothing. Watch TV for two to
three hours. Do some actual work for another two hours. Keep in mind that
during the whole time I wasn't working I was thinking about working so
therefore making me more productive while I am working. Plus if you have
less time to work then you must be more productive. Oh, then Dinner. Then
maybe play games or work after dinner until watch standing from 8-11. At
this point, more email may be sent, work maybe done, candy will be eaten, but
messing around will certainly not happen. Yeah right. At 11pm Vala wanders
in and asks if I am taking over her watch from 11-2. I reply "No" and go to
sleep. The whole process repeats then next day. However, If I want to watch
TV all day and all night while eating sweets and cakes from the kitchen, I
can and I have.
Day 14 - (-12.36016 -159.72383)
Well after updating the dail enty yesterday, Vala convinced me to watch TV at
2:00 in the morning. Sice I didnt have anything else to do and didn't have
class the next day, I said sure. So we watched Queer as Folk, a Showtime
original series that somebody has on DVD. The first four episodes are very
good. So that took us until 6:30. Then we walked up to the bridge and
watched the sun rise. Beautiful. The sky looked like easter. Then Breakfast
at 7:30. I setup some software to help display bathymetry data and then I
was off to bed until 2:30. I then played Quake for 45 minutes before my
watch. Vala did some work, whatever..
Day 13 - (-9.25, -156.95)
Did lots of work today. Why, I dont know?
Lots of sitting in the mess hall was done,
which involved tasting all the cookies and cakes and flan and other things
that people think that make them fat. But they really don't, the boat
hasn't sunk yet.
We need to watch more TV.
Vala thinks I am getting fat because I am not working out. She is right.
Oh yeah and I got a tattoo, pictures forthcoming
Day 12 - (-4.98760, -153.03961)
I cant remember what we did this day. No TV was watched, weird?!?!
I did some work today.
Day 11 - (-1.33726, -149.70541)
Equator Crossing Ceremony, lots of nasty gross things happened involving fake
puke and vomit. They are different.
We have pictures!
We had another BBQ on the Helo deck.
We have more pictures!
Diese sind spitze vann das wetter sehr schon ist.
Eric's Note: The translates to: "These are sharpen vann the weather very
already are." I have no clue, sorry. Maybe someone with better german
background could help here.
Day 10 - (2.02120, -146.64552)
Finished watching Third season of Sex and the City
Vala watched some other movie later too. Something like 8 hours to TV
plus another one or two of Queer as Folk, which makes 10 hours.
I am impressed.
Day 9 - (5.33754, -143.61053)
Someone said it looks as if we are going in a straight line. Well I hate to
break it to all those who think that we aren't, but we are. With the help of
GPS satellites and 3 GPS systems on board we will only be following a
straight line. No curly loops, no words, no spelling things out, no making
funny faces with out path. Just a boring straight line. I can send more
points, but that would be an overkill. Would you like a point every second
to prove that we are going in a straight line. That can be provided, but
that would be overkill.
Anyway, today was a fun day and Vala will agree with me. After class and
working out we watched six episodes of Sex and the City from Season 3. Yes,
Six. Vala kept saying "One More, One More". Then dinner was held out on the
Helo deck. A BBQ on the Helo Deck. It was sunny and warm. We spent a while
out there after eating burgers, hot dogs and ice cream just messing around
on the back Helo deck.
It is the end of the day again and I have watch. It appears the ocean floor
has tuned into Iowa. All flat, all yellow, and nothing for miles. But that
is just fine with me.
Day 8 - (8.47985, -140.72411)
Today was a beautiful day. The rain went away and we were left with lower
humidity and sunshine, along with a few clouds. We finished watching
Laurence of Arabia, which is really good and really long. Around 6 pm almost
the entie science staff went to the front of the boat to watch the sunset.
And what an amazing sunset it was. Many pictures were taken.
Day 7 - (11.81774, -137.62976)
Today is hot, today is humid. It feels like the east coast in summer time
outside, only it is much hotter. The termperature is about 85 degrees and
the humidity is nearing 100%. I think everybody has settled into their boat
life and routines. All out here would probably agree that there is little to
do and we must amuse ourselves in any way possible. Movies, video games,
books, homework, research, anything to pass the time. It is sort of like a
prolonged vacation or summer time when you are in elementary school.
Day 6 - (14.23631, -135.36810)
Today it rained and we crossed a time zone
Nothing else much happened.
Day 5 - (18.71017, -131.15253)
Nothing much happened today excpeth science stuff. We started watching
Lawerence of Arabia and only got about 1:15 into it. Around 11:00 pm we
tavelled over a fractue zone, which had impressive topography onthe sea
floor, It was basically a clif of about 1 km. It was very impressive.
Well, if you had little to do then everything becomes very interesting
and riveting.
Some people are wandering around tell me that they are bored, so I tell
them to go to the crow's nest and back and I will time how long it takes
them. It took anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes.
It is rather humid out and warm as we ae deep within the tropics.
Day 4 - (21.76422, -127.98640)
Regular Normal Day
- Class at 9:00,
- Breakfast at 10:00 ( I miss braekfast vecause I get up late)
- Work until Lunch
- Lunch at Noon
- Sun Tanning at 1:00 to 2:00
- Do a little more work 2:00 to 3:00
- Tea Time 3:00
- Dinner at 5:00
- Screq around until Watch 8:00 - 11:00
- Sleep at 12:00
Day Three (Wednesday - 11/13/02) - (25.15979, -124.49725)
The power for all the computers and science equipment died today. The crew
was changing something in the engine room and killed our data collecting.
Good thing we were not above anything interesting. Had more classes today
and leaned about remote sensing of the ocean bottom. Made some maps of the
study areawith pretty colors. Wached the sunset from the bow of the boat.
today. Is is very peaceful out in the middle of nowhere, I would like to
retire here, land is cheap.
Day Two (Tuesday - 11/12/02) - (28.27911, -121.06457)
All the computers are basically set up and nobody feels too sick from the
swaying back and forth. I watched Wayne's World and worked on research for
my thesis. Now I should be able to track the seismic waves through
complicated structure. Watchstanding was boring again, but I think it will
always be. Saw the sunset from the top of the ship and it was beautiful.
Day One At Sea - 11/11/2002 - (31.70146, -118.47575)
Instead of directly heading off for New Zealand, we heading southwest into
the Continental Borderland, off the coast of southern California and Mexico.
Today we had and orientation on the magnetometer and XBT which measure
temperature aganist depth in the ocean. We need these to get accurate
seafloor topography. I have a shift everyday at 8:00 - 11:00 pm localtime
(today PST -8:00 UTC). We also have class from 9-10am localtime everyday.
The sunsets and sunrises are beautiful, but there is too much light to see
the stars at night. I need to find a secluded spot to look at the stars.
Port Hueneme - Sunday 11/10/2002 - (34.14870, -119.20539)
This was the day of meetings and orientation. We must have had thee
orientations including a tour of the boat, emergency drills, and the things
we are suppose to do. The boat was also moved in the morning to allow for a
larger ship, Nippon Highway, to take our spot. The ship was about 5 time
long and 3 time higher that ours. At 6:00pm we finally took off of Port
Hueneme. Immediately out of port we began to record Ocean temperature,
seafloor topography, with sonar ( I can hear it out of my window, it sounds
like a bird is in trouble), location with GPS, and gravity with a gyroscopic
gravimeter. We then all felt a little queasy because the boat is short and
rolls a bit. Hopefully this feeling will go away. I have my patches, life
is good.
Port Hueneme - Saturday 11/09/2002 - (34.14870, -119.20539)
We arrived around 4:00 in the afternoon at Port Huenene. We found our
rooms, got new linens and started to explore the boat. Then we stayed up
playing cards and video games.
Pasadena - (34.17557, -118.13102)
The bus left for Caltech to wisk us away to Port Hueneme at 1pm. But first
we stopped off at the Oxnard airport to record a gravity measurement. This
is one of those things that needs to be done or we cannot be assured what is
coming out of the instrument. Finally after more driving and wrong turns we
made it to Port Hueneme.
Sun, 10 Nov 2002 23:52:35 - Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean
Brian has not given any updates as of yet.
He is quite busy with orientation. I guess they have to tell him not to
fall overboard.
Brian wrote to say:
I got email set up:
The address should be
Brian.Savage@nbp.usap.gov
Dont send me anything big cause then I have to pay for it
