Visit the kelpforest....

Shortly after Avalon's birthday last summer, I bought a Groupon deal for half-price for whale watching, and bought six, thinking it could be a birthday present and she could take a friend. And of course, I almost forgot about them. They expired at the end of January, and earlier in the month, there was stormy weather and after that, a huge swell. Sunday was sold out already when I called to make reservations, so we decided they could take a day off for something educational. ;) Instead of a friend, we took John's grandmother along, as she's never seen them off this coast.

We left out of Dana Wharf Sportfishing on the F/V Dana Pride - GGma was a little surprised we went so far south as she was expecting for us to go out of Long Beach. Well, we only saw small whales. Common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins, and sea lions of course. And tons of shearwaters, seabirds that don't usually come very close to the coast. But that was fine. The kids had never been out on a boat like this before or seen wild dolphins, so it was all good. It was a nice day for it, especially for January. John's grandma had a nice time too.

And I forgot the stupid card for the big camera, so I put it away and there's only crap phone photos. Which I couldn't remember where the stupid lens was so my fat finger is in the way half the time. >:p



Sea lions on the buoy outside Dana Point Harbor.

( blurry dolphins and fingers ahoy... )

Gareth wanted to try to fly kites Saturday, and Avalon's had gotten its tail tangled up with a bunch of kite string. By the time I got that mess unraveled, it was an hour or two before sundown. Instead of parking on one of the residential streets across from the beach, for some reason I chose to park right on PCH where the parking meters are, which I was chagrined to see have increased their fees. A quarter only gets you 10 minutes, and the time of day they were active used to end at 6 p.m., it now extends to midnight. And the damn thing didn't register 50¢ of the coins I put in, so it ripped me off.

Anyhow, we got down on the sand and I took my clogs off as I hate walking in sand-filled shoes. There is what looks like a riverbed cutting through the beach to the water where storm run-off from the recent rain has cut a path. There are three foot sand cliffs where the water cut through the berm. The sand was freezing and my toes were getting numb, so I forbade any getting near the water, as someone always gets soaked, even when they're not supposed to get any wetter than their knees.

We had left the kites in the car because the wind was absolutely dead (probably because we'd brought kites). But once we got to the beach's berm, we did get to watch a pod of wild dolphins swim by. The kids had never seen wild ones before, but I noticed birds circling and told them to watch the water below them. Sure enough, dorsal fins surfaced in groups, and once I saw a little one leap clear of the water. The kid's attention had shifted to chasing each other around by that time, so they missed it.

I like the beach in winter time - although I suppose it wasn't actually winter just then, but the last day of fall. It's nearly deserted except for a few who've come to watch the sunset and some devoted surf fishermen. I only saw one surfer.

Roomie'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.

	DFG Block	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

Roomie's Teacher-at-Sea log: http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/2007/eubanks/pdf/eubanks_log3.pdf

Well, more of same. I'll just start listing my job was for each haul as that's going to be about all that's new for setting.

E. and I's day to get up early, and set at 6 am. I baited for both sets today when setting; morning haul, I debaited, afternoon haul I coiled float lines. I think that's the most tiring thing I've done yet. I haven't been looking at the data, but I think we got skunked on one haul, and a couple of makos and a blue on the other. The morning spot was picked because there were a lot of fish caught here on an earlier leg; and one of the other biologists joked that the chief scientist had caught them all already; "I saw a few swimming by, rubbing their jaws." I remarked that, being shortfin makos, they probably couldn't reach their jaws with their fins - the blues probably could though.



Waiting while the line soaks...



Gloves drying in between hauls...

When setting we are using two kinds of hooks, circle hooks and straight J hooks. Suzy is performing an experiment as to how sharks are hooked and how easy they are to release using the circle hooks. The J hooks were originally used because of that was what the old experimental shark longline fishery back in the 80's used; however, circle hooks have been touted as being easier to release bycatch from and less likely to be swallowed. Given that this project's main concern is tagging and releasing, an easier releasing hook is a good thing, as long as the catch rates are similar.

We've seen common dolphins several times each day - they pass in a hurry, always looking as if they have somewhere to be. Shortly after we finished hauling the second set, off the east end of Catalina Island, the sun ducked under the layer of patchy clouds and disappeared behind the mountain of the island, however not before lighting the water and sending rays out beneath the cloudy layer, making for a rather ethereal atmosphere.



Santa Catalina Island, East End Sunset.



The biologist from CICESE, a Mexican agency in Ensenada, is very friendly - she came over and asked me why I was by myself and not talking to anyone. I was a bit at a loss; for one thing, I'm sort of shy. While I'm ok if someone else initiates and asks me questions, it's harder to think of questions to ask other people and I'm very uncomfortable with small talk.

We discovered last night there are waffle cones and ice cream in a cooler on the mess deck. I've told myself I'm only allowed one every other day. Another perk is that NOAA ships get all the movies that Navy ships do. A glance at recently acquired movies shows a few that were only recently in theaters; I don't think they're even out on DVD yet. I was talked into watching Happy Feet, which was cute, but really pushed the limit of my suspension of disbelief. It irritated me a bit that Mumble never got all of his adult plumage and all the female penguins looked like they had boobs. And no one can come up with original music for movies anymore?

Time for bed...



Back off man! We're scientists!



Our spacious abode...



My refuge.

	DFG Block	Lat:	Long:	Macho	Blue	Pelagic Stingray
Morning set* :	805	33.195N	118.01W	3	1	0
Afternoon set :	806	33.245N	118.173W	1	0	0

*mako shark satellite tagged

Roomie's Teacher-at-Sea log: http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/2007/eubanks/pdf/eubanks_log2.pdf

Worried about waking up this morning - the only alarm I brought with me was the one on my pod - which only beeps about four times. I did hear it, but I think only because I start waking up about that time anyway for work, and if I'm nervous about waking up I often don't sleep that soundly. I'll have to ask my roommate (E., a participant in the NOAA Teacher-At-Sea program - aliki, you might be interested in this) if she has more effective alarm clock. Turned out we didn't need to get up at 5:30 anyway, we're in the "Even" group, so we make the the morning set on even days and put out the afternoon set on odd days. So I got up in time for breakfast at 7, then read for awhile until it was time to haul.

Last night I got to take all the bait off the hooks before handing them to the person who snaps them back into the barrels and arranges the wire so that it doesn't tangle when they are next taken out; today I did the snapping. For the afternoon set, I got to snap the floats onto the line as it was going out; the mainline has a pair of stoppers every 50 feet or so - the pattern is five baited hooks and then a float, so I got to count to five and then snap a float on. Whee! It's been a long time since I've done this, so I'm a bit rusty - but someone else told me it's like riding a bicycle; it comes back very quickly.


Floats and a basket of clipped-together lines, waiting to be clipped on to the mainline...


The high-flyer (with radar reflector) that signals the end of the mainline; the pile of yellow is a sea-anchor that keeps the line taut. The other end stays attached to the vessel.

Several pods of common dolphins came by; they appeared to head straight for the ship, then went right past, porpoising and jumping as they went. E. was wondering if she would see any (she's never been to sea before), so she was happy to see some so soon.

Between sets, there were two safety drills, one for fire, and one for abandon ship - when we heard the alarm for the latter we had to grab long pants and a long sleeved shirt, hat, our life vest and immersion suit, and remember on which sides lifeboat we were supposed to assemble - I'm on the starboard side. After that drill was over, all of us who were on the ship for the first time ( or first in a long time, in my case), took our immersion suits down to the mess deck to practice putting them on. They're a type of neoprene suit designed to put on quickly over your clothes and increase your chances of survival in cold water - make you look like a giant, bright orange Gumby. I remember in observer training in Seattle, we had to put them on and jump off a dock into Lake Washington in January, paddle across to a life raft and climb into it.

I forgot how much they feed you on this ship. There are always several choices for each meal, plus snacks set out in the afternoon - today, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies! Then later one of the crew -Jose I think his name is - fried up some rockfish they'd caught the night before; he was giving me a hard time for not coming back and getting some sooner. He said he remembered me from the last time I came on one of these cruises because of my long hair. When I sat and thought about it, I realized the last time was probably a year or two before Angus was born. Yikes!

The morning set caught one mako and two blues, the afternoon set got skunked, although I did spot a fin near one of the floats. It turned out to be a mola (ocean sunfish), and if it was hooked, it got itself off.

Last night we caught three makos and a blue, plus one pelagic stingray, which was saved in a tank on deck for a researcher studying them. The gangion (dropper line) with a hooked shark is walked along the side of the ship to the stern, where a platform is set up, and the biologists measure them, determine their sex, tag them with a Floy dart tag, and some are given a shot of tetracyline. these also get a rototag. The tetracycline leaves a mark on their vertebrae that will fluoresce under UV light. Sharks don't have any bones, but nevertheless leave rings on their cartilage vertebrae like a tree. With the information recorded from tagging, a verification of the shark's age and growth can be determined, if it is caught later, and its vertebrae
collected. There has been debate in the past whether makos lay down one ring per year or two - whether they grow quickly or are as slow growing as thought.


This is the platform mounted at the bottom of the Jordan's trawl chute; scientific staff kneel on the platform, while the semi-circular cradle lifts a shark out of the water to be tagged.

Nice weather so far - Cloudy in the morning, clearing to partly in the afternoon. We were in the area between San Clemente and Santa Catalina Islands, Clemente being the most visible most of the day. Actually got fairly warm this afternoon. Parts of Clemente came and went as cloud banks built up in front of it, while above was a lovely layer of herringbone clouds. I never get tired of watching the sea and sky.



I have the Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows book, but I'm not the only one. ;p I've told myself I'm not going to read it until after I finish Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrel for my book group though...

	DFG Block	Lat:	Long:	Macho	Blue	Pelagic Stingray
Morning set :	848	32.978N	118.197W	1	2	0
Afternoon set :	848	32.902N	118.315W	0	0	0