150°W! We had A LOT of bad weather last week but we have managed to make
up to station 25 on the P16S line northward (with a bit of a detour back
south after a storm) and only skipped two stations along the way. Last
week I wrote about the science goals on our research cruise and how we
go about taking measurements of the ocean. This week I am going to talk
about what we do when we are not doing science: having fun! A research
vessel can be a very isolating place, as we can't go outside for a walk
in the park on the weekend, in fact we don't have weekends at all. We
are stuck for 50 days in a confined space with the same people. We also
have very limited connection to the Internet (15 MB each daily which
will last about 3 checks of your Facebook feed…) and only one satellite
phone shared between everyone on board. So we don't have the normal
forms of entertainment that we are used to having on land. However, the
Palmer is well equipped to keep it's crew and scientists entertained and
happy and we find MANY ways to entertain ourselves while we are working
and in our free time. In the past week especially we have had a lot of
foul weather, which meant we couldn't collect any samples, and so there
were many, many hours of free time. Here is an outline of some (but not
a comprehensive list) of the ways we keep ourselves busy and keep morale
high.
Exercise:
Being in such a confined space for a long time means it is very
important for us to get some exercise in the gym to stay fit and healthy
(and for some of us to stay sane!). The ship has a very nice little gym
(in comparison to other ship gym's that I have seen) with a bike, rowing
machine, step machine and a weight machine and dumbbells. There is also
a treadmill and…. wait for it… a sauna!! The sauna is wonderful and
relaxing, especially in a polar climate!
Motivation to work out can be hard out here, especially when you are
tired from working and used to exercising outside in the sunshine (not
much of that in the Southern Ocean). So along with a few other students
on the cruise, I came up with a plan to have a team competition to see
which team could travel the furthest distance on the bike, treadmill,
rowing machine or step machine. We named the competition the "Meters
Club" and the Chief and Co-chief scientists lead the two teams.
Currently the "P16Stacked" team is in the lead but the "Kill-ometers"
aren't far behind and are catching up! The prize for the winning team is
as yet undecided but may involve a chilled beverage when we get off the
ship in Tahiti.
Movies:
While there are some people on the ship training for a marathon, some
of us are training for ultimate movie marathons! There is a movie lounge
on the ship with extremely comfortable couches (more comfortable than
the beds!), a big screen and an enormous collection of movies on hard
drive, DVD and even VHS!! Also there is a Fussball table and a few
guitars (more about music on board soon). There are movies being played
pretty much 24 hours, although a lot of the time there are more of us
sleeping on the comfy couches in the lounge than actually watching
movies!
Games:
Board games, cards and puzzles are another popular form of
entertainment at sea. One of the crew members prints a large copy of the
New York Times daily crossword for us to work on as a group but it is
usually finished in less than 10 minutes and if you aren't there in time
you'll miss out (sometimes we do multiple a day so everyone gets their
chance)! There are also a few game tournaments going on: the "Cribbage:
Tournament of Champions" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cribbage if you are like
me and don't know a lot about cards) and the "World Series of Cornhole"
which is yet to commence. There have been a lot of intense Cribbage
games going on around the place!
Music:
I have been amazed by the amount of musical talent of the scientists
and crew on board the RV Palmer! Mike (NASA scientist) is lead singer
of a band in D.C., Lynne (Chief Scientist) is a pianist on the side,
Barry (Electrical technician) repairs guitars and plays well and John
Calderwood (CTD deck leader) has the voice of an angel! There are many
more talented musicians amongst us (or at least a lot of us that really
enjoy music, especially singing) and my fellow night shift CTD
watchstander's Tyler and Isa and I do sing-alongs all night long for fun
and to stay awake. I'm not sure how much our talent is appreciated
though as George (Electrical technician) ran into the room and shot us
with a Nerf gun (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerf) one morning after we woke
him with our angelic singing. Mike brought recording equipment on board,
which is totally awesome! I've been recording a lot of video footage
using Go Pro cameras and we are working on some songs to go with the
video so stay tuned for the resulting masterpiece at the end of the
cruise!
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