![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Return to the Shore...
Aug. 7th, 2007 01:24 pmWell, I'm back - we arrived in San Diego Friday morning.
The previous day had been a bit subdued, since we all realized it was the last day of fishing. We were south of San Clemente again, and the first set was uneventful; about four sharks tagged and released. Then a run of about an hour as the Navy again told us to leave the area; while the ship was under weigh, the Mexican biologist and I heard a couple of sharp reports, loud enough over the ship's engines to startle us. We looked astern at the horizon, where a large Navy ship was barely visible through the near constant haze; it had a cloud of dark smoke over it, which dissipated as we watched. It must have fired a couple of shells; clearly audible at least several miles away - I'm no judge of distance; large oil tankers sometimes appeared as a small white box on the horizon as the superstructure was illuminated by the afternoon sun, and the entire ship did not become visible for another half hour.
Before hauling the last set, the chief scientist had us all get together for a group shot, holding a large cardboard numeral "2" and two of the oval floats to symbolize "200," since this year is NOAA's two hundredth anniversary. Then we set to work for the last time fishing anyway. By coincidence, the very last hook of this very last haul was occupied by a very large blue shark; and since the gear was all aboard, and everything else was finished, everyone not tagging got to observe the process and take pictures if they wanted. He cooperated quite nicely for such a big shark, and was let go without incident (as most of them were). But it was nice that everyone got to watch the very last shark being tagged.
That evening, we attempted to fish for Humboldt squid, as NOAA is trying to find out as much about them as possible as well. They're the squid that have made a large influx here on the West Coast from the south in the last few years - they are voracious predators and there is concern they could be affecting the entire ecosystem. The fishing equipment for them uses a heavy pole and reel, and a giant glow-in-dark jig about a foot long and weighing two pounds, to which a glowing Cyalume is also attached. I sent it down to about 100 meters about three times, jigging for awhile between times, until my arms and back got tired and I finally gave up. If I'd actually caught one, I think I would have had trouble reeling it in - they can be up to six feet long!
Overnight, the ship headed back to San Diego; it was due at the fuel dock at 8 am. We weren't able to leave the ship at that time, since the fuel dock belonged to the Navy, so we spent the morning cleaning and putting away all the cruise equipment. I scrubbed a lot of counter fronts and mopped the lab floors, in addition to vacuuming our cabin, and cleaning the sink and mirror. I also emptied the trash; since we were back in port, it all went into one bag, whereas the entire time we were at sea, plastic had to be sorted into a separate trash can.
While at the fuel dock, we were joined by a large Coast Guard vessel, probably twice as big as the Jordan. And an aircraft carrier came into the harbor - I took a few pictures as it went by for Gareth - he has a toy one he flies all of his planes off (hoping he's not getting predisposed to a military career, but he says he just likes the vehicles). They actually finished refueling a couple of hours early, so I called John and told him he should probably leave as soon as he could, and went to take my final shower on the ship before he arrived. So hot - I couldn't believe the difference in temperature from shore and off the coast, although we'd been hearing about it on the news all week.
Security at the Scripps Marine Facility is tight, so when he arrived, I had to go to the gate to let him in - one of the NOAA biologists gave me a ride the short distance to the gate. John had brought the kids, and I still had to grab all of my stuff, so after asking if it was ok, I got to give them an extremely short tour, my cabin, the galley and the mess deck - but people were already starting to get the ship ready for the arrival of all the Congressional staffers the next day, so I didn't want to get in the way. The ensign had the souvenir closet open, so John bought another t-shirt and a hat; then we hit the road back to Orange County.
So I'm back. To my own bed that I don't have to climb a ladder into and that doesn't have a big U in the middle. Trying to catch up on all my email and such that piled up while I was gone. Oh and you guys, too. Slowly, but surely. ;)
Someone tell my desk to stop rocking.
The previous day had been a bit subdued, since we all realized it was the last day of fishing. We were south of San Clemente again, and the first set was uneventful; about four sharks tagged and released. Then a run of about an hour as the Navy again told us to leave the area; while the ship was under weigh, the Mexican biologist and I heard a couple of sharp reports, loud enough over the ship's engines to startle us. We looked astern at the horizon, where a large Navy ship was barely visible through the near constant haze; it had a cloud of dark smoke over it, which dissipated as we watched. It must have fired a couple of shells; clearly audible at least several miles away - I'm no judge of distance; large oil tankers sometimes appeared as a small white box on the horizon as the superstructure was illuminated by the afternoon sun, and the entire ship did not become visible for another half hour.
Before hauling the last set, the chief scientist had us all get together for a group shot, holding a large cardboard numeral "2" and two of the oval floats to symbolize "200," since this year is NOAA's two hundredth anniversary. Then we set to work for the last time fishing anyway. By coincidence, the very last hook of this very last haul was occupied by a very large blue shark; and since the gear was all aboard, and everything else was finished, everyone not tagging got to observe the process and take pictures if they wanted. He cooperated quite nicely for such a big shark, and was let go without incident (as most of them were). But it was nice that everyone got to watch the very last shark being tagged.
That evening, we attempted to fish for Humboldt squid, as NOAA is trying to find out as much about them as possible as well. They're the squid that have made a large influx here on the West Coast from the south in the last few years - they are voracious predators and there is concern they could be affecting the entire ecosystem. The fishing equipment for them uses a heavy pole and reel, and a giant glow-in-dark jig about a foot long and weighing two pounds, to which a glowing Cyalume is also attached. I sent it down to about 100 meters about three times, jigging for awhile between times, until my arms and back got tired and I finally gave up. If I'd actually caught one, I think I would have had trouble reeling it in - they can be up to six feet long!
Lat: | Long: | Mako | Blue | Pelagic Stingray | ||
| Morning set : | 866 | 32.683°N | 118.287°W | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Afternoon set : | 885 | 32.592°N | 118.355°W | 5 | 6 | 0 |
Overnight, the ship headed back to San Diego; it was due at the fuel dock at 8 am. We weren't able to leave the ship at that time, since the fuel dock belonged to the Navy, so we spent the morning cleaning and putting away all the cruise equipment. I scrubbed a lot of counter fronts and mopped the lab floors, in addition to vacuuming our cabin, and cleaning the sink and mirror. I also emptied the trash; since we were back in port, it all went into one bag, whereas the entire time we were at sea, plastic had to be sorted into a separate trash can.
While at the fuel dock, we were joined by a large Coast Guard vessel, probably twice as big as the Jordan. And an aircraft carrier came into the harbor - I took a few pictures as it went by for Gareth - he has a toy one he flies all of his planes off (hoping he's not getting predisposed to a military career, but he says he just likes the vehicles). They actually finished refueling a couple of hours early, so I called John and told him he should probably leave as soon as he could, and went to take my final shower on the ship before he arrived. So hot - I couldn't believe the difference in temperature from shore and off the coast, although we'd been hearing about it on the news all week.
Security at the Scripps Marine Facility is tight, so when he arrived, I had to go to the gate to let him in - one of the NOAA biologists gave me a ride the short distance to the gate. John had brought the kids, and I still had to grab all of my stuff, so after asking if it was ok, I got to give them an extremely short tour, my cabin, the galley and the mess deck - but people were already starting to get the ship ready for the arrival of all the Congressional staffers the next day, so I didn't want to get in the way. The ensign had the souvenir closet open, so John bought another t-shirt and a hat; then we hit the road back to Orange County.
So I'm back. To my own bed that I don't have to climb a ladder into and that doesn't have a big U in the middle. Trying to catch up on all my email and such that piled up while I was gone. Oh and you guys, too. Slowly, but surely. ;)
Someone tell my desk to stop rocking.
