Journals 2008/2009

Nancy Sills
Creekside School, Cataula, GA

"Assessment of Freshwater Resources Offshore New England and Marine Mammal Observing" R/V ENDEAVOR August 12 - 25, 2009

Journal Index: August 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18            19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25

August 19, 2009
What's happening below!

The sea is choppier today than it has been. There are swells of a couple of feet and the ship is rocking. The gun is firing just fine and we are cruising down one of our long lines since last night. We are approaching the end of it and will turn in a couple of hours. The depth of the ocean floor is 110 meters. That is about the deepest I have noticed. This line ends the farthest away from Martha's Vineyard about 150 km.

There are thunderstorms off to the south of us and you can stand on the flying bridge and hear the thunder. We saw a blue shark while up there but he just lazily went past unaffected by what we were doing.

I skip lunch and took something for my nausea. I am told by a reliable source that once I got my sea legs - I'd be fine. He obviously does not know my stomach or inner ear!

Mid-afternoon the sea is now calmer and we are back on line and the gun firing. My seasickness is gone. All good news!

Hurricane Bill is headed our way!

Mini conference between Brandon, Dan and Mark

Being on watch is interesting. It is not as active as I thought it would be, at least for me. The graduate students and scientists have reports and I am watching the screens to see if anything unusual is happening. I can tell if the birds are where they should be in the water and is the data being recorded properly.

What are the birds doing?		Watching the ocean sub-surface