Wednesday - Day 4
Jul. 25th, 2007 11:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishRoomie's Teacher@Sea log: http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/2007/eubanks/pdf/eubanks_log4.pdf
Got to sleep in this morning. The only thing I brought with that I can use as an alarm clock is my iPod, which only goes "dee-doo, dee-doo, dee-doo, dee-doo" and then stops completely. So I've have to set it multiple times in case I don't hear it the first time. Good thing you can set an alarm for nearly as many cities as there are on the West Coast. Anyway, I kept it set for the same time as when we have to get up early, thinking "Oh I don't have to get up now, I'll just get up when I hear the bell for breakfast." Well, I never heard it, and crawled out of bed at 7:30, nearly missing it altogether. Ah well, I don't need pancakes and french toast every morning - I contented myself with just oatmeal and yogurt. Generally, I only have toast and coffee, so it's still way more food than I'm used to.
Some of the data monitors in one of the Jordan's labs; below, shows the ship's track off Catalina...
The NOAA officers seem much more relaxed than the last time I was on this ship. Last time, the officers wore their uniforms at all times, at least while they were on duty, and the CO admonished me one time for reading on the mess deck, "because it wasn't a place to just hang out." The only time they've worn their uniforms this time was leaving port, and the ensign always looks like he just rolled out of bed - which is often the case. One of the NMFS biologists told me it depends on the CO - some are a lot more hard line than others. She also told me a friend of hers is an officer and confided that they have the worst fitting, most uncomfortable uniforms in the world. They're polyester and, it doesn't matter how skinny you are, they give everyone who wears them a "muffin butt."
Hauling: 10 am.
Job: Unclipping the gangions. This is a little exciting because you have to put your right hand on the clip and squeeze it a bit while you hit the mainline with your other hand to knock it off. All while the line is moving and before it hits the rollers directing it onto the reel. The guys running the winch are watching pretty closely and slow it down a bit if they think you're not going to make it before it hits. It sort of a matter of pride though, to do it without having to slow down the mainline. Three makos caught; one was pretty wrapped up in the gangion and came in tail first; I asked how he did, when we were done, and was told he was fairly lively once he got unwrapped, so he was tagged and let go. Another pod of common dolphins and a sleeping sea lion, floating with her flippers out of the water in the jughandle position (I say she because she looked very small and slender, but could have just been a juvenile). As the ship very slowly approached, she lifted her head, noticed the ship and the U the longline was forming around her, gave us the hairy eyeball as if to say "Thanks for disturbing my nap, you jerks," then dove and disappeared.
During the hauling we were approached at full speed by a sportfishing boat, threating to run right over the line - the CO blew the (extremely loud ship's whistle) at him, which he completely ignored the first time; he blew it again and the boat finally turned and crossed the Jordan's bow. At lunch, the skipper said, "You guys didn't even see the whole show - as he came across the bow, he stepped outside and peed over the rail, right in front of us!" Several of us remarked that that was probably a statement, given that some sportfishers don't really care for government agencies.
Suzy giving us some instructions before setting.
Second set:
I baited again - and was a tiny bit proud that I kept three baits ahead of the NMFS biologist who's been out here the whole time - I think. At least he's been out on several cruises since I have. He claimed he was putting them on in an experimentally different fashion, and I was taking all the big mackerel before he could get to them. It takes about 2 coolers full of mackerel to bait the entire longline, which is two nautical miles long. While we were baiting, a pod of Risso's dolphins visited us, quite close to the ship. I was busy, so I couldn't go look, but E. who was doing floats, was able to go over and take pictures of them. She managed to get a great shot of one leaping partway out of the water. I'm rather envious of her lens; I know none of the dolphins have approached close enough to get a decent shot with my camera. She showed me her downloaded pics after setting - they're gorgeous! I hope she'll send me a few copies. Edit: E's pictures of Risso's dolphins are included with her log, linked to above.
I mentioned before a pelagic stingray was being kept for someone's (apparently thought nefarious) research purposes.
...and this morning, these notes appeared on top of the tank where he (it was a male) was being kept:
Later in the afternoon, this reply appeared. Suzy is the chief scientist on this cruise; I'm guessing it came from her.
Slightly fuzzy, but I think it's still readable - Ray, you can be free on condition you name your first female offspring "Suzy" and your first male offspring "David Starr Jordan."
And a little later, he was released.
Setting free the rays...
CTD drop.
We're right off Two Harbors, so I was hoping we were close enough for phone reception. I managed to connect long enough to get a message Beth left me, but when I called John didn't answer. Ah well. I think today should have been Angus's last day of summer school.
One of the EMFS biologists came inside and said "You need to come outside and look at the sky, it's really beautiful!" And indeed, it was. Coming south along the front side of Catalina in the twilight was just gorgeous. There was a pink line above the horizon to the northwest where the sun had set, above which the stars were coming out, but it was still light enough (along with the gibbous moon, also on its way to setting) to make out the craggy hills. I pointed to a radio tower on one of them and reckoned that it would eclipse a brightly shining planet in a few seconds - and so it did, for another second. We stood on the aft deck, watching the sky until the Jordan stopped outside Avalon Harbor.
I did manage to get a call through when we approached Avalon (the town, not my daughter) to pick up another grad student. I had thought we might have an opportunity to go ashore there for a bit, but I guess it was too late - about 9 pm. I called home and talked to John and the kids for a few minutes each. The kids are all excited about some Simpsons toys they got at Burger King, and Avalon sounded shocked to hear that I'm not going to be back until next Friday, although I know I told her. John is doing ok but always says he can't sleep very well when I'm gone. Poor guy.
Got to sleep in this morning. The only thing I brought with that I can use as an alarm clock is my iPod, which only goes "dee-doo, dee-doo, dee-doo, dee-doo" and then stops completely. So I've have to set it multiple times in case I don't hear it the first time. Good thing you can set an alarm for nearly as many cities as there are on the West Coast. Anyway, I kept it set for the same time as when we have to get up early, thinking "Oh I don't have to get up now, I'll just get up when I hear the bell for breakfast." Well, I never heard it, and crawled out of bed at 7:30, nearly missing it altogether. Ah well, I don't need pancakes and french toast every morning - I contented myself with just oatmeal and yogurt. Generally, I only have toast and coffee, so it's still way more food than I'm used to.
Some of the data monitors in one of the Jordan's labs; below, shows the ship's track off Catalina...
The NOAA officers seem much more relaxed than the last time I was on this ship. Last time, the officers wore their uniforms at all times, at least while they were on duty, and the CO admonished me one time for reading on the mess deck, "because it wasn't a place to just hang out." The only time they've worn their uniforms this time was leaving port, and the ensign always looks like he just rolled out of bed - which is often the case. One of the NMFS biologists told me it depends on the CO - some are a lot more hard line than others. She also told me a friend of hers is an officer and confided that they have the worst fitting, most uncomfortable uniforms in the world. They're polyester and, it doesn't matter how skinny you are, they give everyone who wears them a "muffin butt."
Hauling: 10 am.
Job: Unclipping the gangions. This is a little exciting because you have to put your right hand on the clip and squeeze it a bit while you hit the mainline with your other hand to knock it off. All while the line is moving and before it hits the rollers directing it onto the reel. The guys running the winch are watching pretty closely and slow it down a bit if they think you're not going to make it before it hits. It sort of a matter of pride though, to do it without having to slow down the mainline. Three makos caught; one was pretty wrapped up in the gangion and came in tail first; I asked how he did, when we were done, and was told he was fairly lively once he got unwrapped, so he was tagged and let go. Another pod of common dolphins and a sleeping sea lion, floating with her flippers out of the water in the jughandle position (I say she because she looked very small and slender, but could have just been a juvenile). As the ship very slowly approached, she lifted her head, noticed the ship and the U the longline was forming around her, gave us the hairy eyeball as if to say "Thanks for disturbing my nap, you jerks," then dove and disappeared.
During the hauling we were approached at full speed by a sportfishing boat, threating to run right over the line - the CO blew the (extremely loud ship's whistle) at him, which he completely ignored the first time; he blew it again and the boat finally turned and crossed the Jordan's bow. At lunch, the skipper said, "You guys didn't even see the whole show - as he came across the bow, he stepped outside and peed over the rail, right in front of us!" Several of us remarked that that was probably a statement, given that some sportfishers don't really care for government agencies.
Suzy giving us some instructions before setting.
Second set:
I baited again - and was a tiny bit proud that I kept three baits ahead of the NMFS biologist who's been out here the whole time - I think. At least he's been out on several cruises since I have. He claimed he was putting them on in an experimentally different fashion, and I was taking all the big mackerel before he could get to them. It takes about 2 coolers full of mackerel to bait the entire longline, which is two nautical miles long. While we were baiting, a pod of Risso's dolphins visited us, quite close to the ship. I was busy, so I couldn't go look, but E. who was doing floats, was able to go over and take pictures of them. She managed to get a great shot of one leaping partway out of the water. I'm rather envious of her lens; I know none of the dolphins have approached close enough to get a decent shot with my camera. She showed me her downloaded pics after setting - they're gorgeous! I hope she'll send me a few copies. Edit: E's pictures of Risso's dolphins are included with her log, linked to above.
I mentioned before a pelagic stingray was being kept for someone's (apparently thought nefarious) research purposes.
...and this morning, these notes appeared on top of the tank where he (it was a male) was being kept:
Later in the afternoon, this reply appeared. Suzy is the chief scientist on this cruise; I'm guessing it came from her.
Slightly fuzzy, but I think it's still readable - Ray, you can be free on condition you name your first female offspring "Suzy" and your first male offspring "David Starr Jordan."
And a little later, he was released.
Setting free the rays...
CTD drop.
We're right off Two Harbors, so I was hoping we were close enough for phone reception. I managed to connect long enough to get a message Beth left me, but when I called John didn't answer. Ah well. I think today should have been Angus's last day of summer school.
One of the EMFS biologists came inside and said "You need to come outside and look at the sky, it's really beautiful!" And indeed, it was. Coming south along the front side of Catalina in the twilight was just gorgeous. There was a pink line above the horizon to the northwest where the sun had set, above which the stars were coming out, but it was still light enough (along with the gibbous moon, also on its way to setting) to make out the craggy hills. I pointed to a radio tower on one of them and reckoned that it would eclipse a brightly shining planet in a few seconds - and so it did, for another second. We stood on the aft deck, watching the sky until the Jordan stopped outside Avalon Harbor.
I did manage to get a call through when we approached Avalon (the town, not my daughter) to pick up another grad student. I had thought we might have an opportunity to go ashore there for a bit, but I guess it was too late - about 9 pm. I called home and talked to John and the kids for a few minutes each. The kids are all excited about some Simpsons toys they got at Burger King, and Avalon sounded shocked to hear that I'm not going to be back until next Friday, although I know I told her. John is doing ok but always says he can't sleep very well when I'm gone. Poor guy.
Lat: | Long: | Mako | Blue | Pelagic Stingray | ||
| Morning set : | 806 | 33.538°N | 118.65°W | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Afternoon set : | 742 | 33.507°N | 118.492°W | 2 | 1 | 1 |
