March 27th, 2022. While our shelter in place in Hawaii was very comfortable, sunbathing in between work and diving into the local cuisine, the purpose of our time on Oahu had come to an end. After three COVID tests – pre-flight, post-flight, and before mobilization, we were cleared to join the vessel, the R/V Thomas G. Thompson. After a brief delay waiting for a part for the ship, we set sail towards the Lau Basin. When the cruise was initially planned, we aimed to leave out of Tonga or Tahiti for easier access, now leaving from Hawaii means we will begin our cruise with a 10-day transit across the Pacific Ocean. If you want to see where we are along this journey or throughout the cruise, click here!
As we boarded the ship, we said our final goodbyes to land. We won’t be making any stops during this voyage, the next time we set back on land will be around May 10th, back in Honolulu. It was a good thing to be staying on such a lush island, as we won’t be seeing much green out on the ocean. The only respite will come from a small succulent we brought on board, our little lab plant.
We crossed the gangway with all of our luggage to friendly crew members welcoming us on board. To some, the Thompson is an old friend, participating on another cruise just last May, but to many this was a new introduction. We made our way to the main lab where we began to familiarize ourselves with our new home. We learned where we would be sleeping, our berthing rooms, where we would eat, the galley, our meeting spot, the library, and other amenities on the ship including a small gym, the laundry room, and a movie lounge.
Once we were moved in, the first step was to set up the lab. Before heading to sea it’s important to ensure everything is tied down properly, avoiding any expensive crashes resulting from the rocking of the waves. We set down grippy shelf liner, drilled holes into the tables and secured equipment with rope, and ratchet strapped larger bins and technologies under tables and to the walls. We also set up our respective lab spaces for the different processing we’d be doing, and organized our equipment to avoid future headaches of digging through our various deep containers.
Now at sea, with such a long transit time to our study sites, it begs the question, what are our scientists up to? Here’s a list of what we’ve been doing to keep ourselves busy:
- Science meetings – informal presentations about the various project goals from the inter-institution science party.
- Writing proposals and preparing for post-cruise presentations.
- Setting up our equipment and running tests.
- Many board and card games including Rummikub, Ligretto, Egyptian Rat Screw, King’s Corner.
- Lab group photos.
- Movie nights – “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”, “O Brother, Where Art Thou”, “The Goonies”, “Ghostbusters”.
- Stargazing out on the bow.
- Lifting weights and running on the treadmill in the gym (getting off a treadmill on a rocking boat is a very disorienting feeling).
- Curling up with a good book (I’m currently reading The Shining, maybe not the best book when being *voluntarily* trapped somewhere remote).
- Drawing analog and digital art.
- Journaling and reflecting on times in Hawaii and life at sea.
- Getting to know each other – sharing stories and comparing the different regions we’re from.
- German lessons from Livia.
- Texting and calling our friends and family (yes we have internet all the way out here!).
- Sunset watching.
- Searching for whales and watching flying fish off the boat. Apparently humpback whales are currently migrating to Alaska from Hawaii.
- An intense hula hooping contest (current record of 303.74 seconds held by Melissa Betters of Temple University).
We’ve managed to keep ourselves occupied, enjoying the free time to pursue our hobbies and make friends before the hectic science begins. We will have a lot of different processing to do, and around the clock work to ensure everything is done before the next batch of science is brought up. While we will be spending nearly two months together, the science party is already becoming a family, and staying relatively sane on this metal home in the middle of the ocean. The first challenge on this cruise however, will be overcoming the noises of the ship. Down in the berthing rooms, we have constant booms from the waves crashing into the metallic hull, reverberating through the structure. Eventually it will become a soothing, familiar sound, for now, a constant anxious reminder of the strength of the ocean around us.
I can’t believe Egyptian Rat Screw is still a thing.
I could talk about travel always, I will always have this in my heart and mind. In addition to an assortment of pictures from every nation I traveled to. I found this knowledge to be a wonderful find on the website. Ultimately, I had never recorded and edited using a mobile device, but I made the decision to give it a go today.