I'm enjoying updating this when I can, but I seem to spending way more time over at facebook... good or bad it is what it is...
Feel free to add me as a friend on Facebook....
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Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Death by Storm-Petrel...
WHOA...
THAT WAS CLOSE.....
Ok, so maybe I'm being a little bit overly dramatic....
One of the cool things about being out here is seeing Storm-Petrel birds.
They are small birds that are often out here doing their thing... You can read more below...
Anyway, I was out for a walk on the deck and I saw one flying around.. They kind of look like bats because of the patern that they fly in.. its quite neat to see... anyway, I was watching this bird and its going off to port, and back... up to the Radar tower... back down over to port again... all this time I am on the Heli-deck...
So the bird makes a hard turn back towards the boat and right at me...
it turned off when it was only a couple of meters away.. I was sure it was going to hit me....And these little suckers are FAST....
Anyway, it missed me.. but it was cool...
It looked black and yellow to be, but it must have been the night sky, because apparently they are only black and white...
Here is what I found out about them online....
The Storm-petrels
While storm-petrels are almost unknown to people on shore, sailors have had superstitions about the hoards of these small birds for centuries. These seabirds spend their days feeding far out on the ocean. Usually they only approach land under cover of darkness. They are small, starling-sized seabirds with sooty brown plumage and a white stripe on the tail. They have a tube-shaped nose and clawed, webbed feet which aid them in digging their small burrows in the grass of offshore islands. A storm-petrel produced a rich oil from its seafood diet to feed its single chick. Many small islands off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador are honey-combed with tens of thousands of their burrows The common name of "Cary chick" or "Mother Cary's chickens" or "Mother Cary's children" is believed to be derived from an ancient Norse tale about a spirit that moved on the water and terrorized Viking sailors. And old Irish legend holds that the birds are the souls of lost sailors. The mysterious songs, oily odour, and unfortunate habit of crashing by the thousands onto ships at sea provide some modern understanding of these ancient superstitions.
The Wilson's storm-petrel is slightly smaller than its close relative, the fork-tailed Leach's storm-petrel. The Wilson's storm-petrel flies up from the southern hemisphere by the millions to feed off the province's coast. Both storm-petrels are among the most abundant birds in the world.
The wings, feathers, and bones of storm-petrels are often found along headlands and in other areas where gulls land to eat. Storm-petrels are seldom seen except far out at sea and at night around their many colonies. Occasionally summer or fall storms will drive them close to the shore during daylight hours, but it is a lucky birdwatcher who catches a glimpse of this secretive seabird.
Here is an artists interpretation of the Storm-Petrel.
THAT WAS CLOSE.....
Ok, so maybe I'm being a little bit overly dramatic....
One of the cool things about being out here is seeing Storm-Petrel birds.
They are small birds that are often out here doing their thing... You can read more below...
Anyway, I was out for a walk on the deck and I saw one flying around.. They kind of look like bats because of the patern that they fly in.. its quite neat to see... anyway, I was watching this bird and its going off to port, and back... up to the Radar tower... back down over to port again... all this time I am on the Heli-deck...
So the bird makes a hard turn back towards the boat and right at me...
it turned off when it was only a couple of meters away.. I was sure it was going to hit me....And these little suckers are FAST....
Anyway, it missed me.. but it was cool...
It looked black and yellow to be, but it must have been the night sky, because apparently they are only black and white...
Here is what I found out about them online....
The Storm-petrels
While storm-petrels are almost unknown to people on shore, sailors have had superstitions about the hoards of these small birds for centuries. These seabirds spend their days feeding far out on the ocean. Usually they only approach land under cover of darkness. They are small, starling-sized seabirds with sooty brown plumage and a white stripe on the tail. They have a tube-shaped nose and clawed, webbed feet which aid them in digging their small burrows in the grass of offshore islands. A storm-petrel produced a rich oil from its seafood diet to feed its single chick. Many small islands off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador are honey-combed with tens of thousands of their burrows The common name of "Cary chick" or "Mother Cary's chickens" or "Mother Cary's children" is believed to be derived from an ancient Norse tale about a spirit that moved on the water and terrorized Viking sailors. And old Irish legend holds that the birds are the souls of lost sailors. The mysterious songs, oily odour, and unfortunate habit of crashing by the thousands onto ships at sea provide some modern understanding of these ancient superstitions.
The Wilson's storm-petrel is slightly smaller than its close relative, the fork-tailed Leach's storm-petrel. The Wilson's storm-petrel flies up from the southern hemisphere by the millions to feed off the province's coast. Both storm-petrels are among the most abundant birds in the world.
The wings, feathers, and bones of storm-petrels are often found along headlands and in other areas where gulls land to eat. Storm-petrels are seldom seen except far out at sea and at night around their many colonies. Occasionally summer or fall storms will drive them close to the shore during daylight hours, but it is a lucky birdwatcher who catches a glimpse of this secretive seabird.
Here is an artists interpretation of the Storm-Petrel.
Perseids Meteor Shower & A lost boat?
Originally posted Monday, Aug 13
------------------------------------
Last night Kevin and I spent some time outside watching the Perseids meteor shower. It was quite spectacular. We saw over 30 meteors and some of them were extremely bright. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and just looking at the stars was quite awesome. It can be very spooky out there... lots of boat noises... engine sounds and darkness to keep things interesting. It didn't take too long for my eyes to adjust to the night sky and the stars just got brighter and brighter..
I set my alarm for 3:30am and went to bed.. the show was quite spectacular at midnight so I thought it would be even better at the peak time... 3 to 4 am. to be honest I was expecting more, and I think I saw more at midnight than I did at 4am ... but I did see one spectacular meteor that moved quite slowly and left a trail across the entire sky... quite exciting...
You can see more tonight if you missed it last night.. Try and get away from the city if you can... better view that way....
For those of you excitedly waiting for the 27th of August when Earth and Mars will have the closest approach in recorded history.... apparently its a hoax... its been going on since 2003... In 2003 the event was real... but its been repeated every year in hoax emails... not gonna happen....
I was excited about it, but when I did some digging found out it was fake.
Thanks Mr. Internet, you're so helpful...
....
More boat news...
Apparently there is a small fishing boat or recreational boat about 4 kms to our Port. Its just adrift and is not replying to our radio calls. I went outside to see it.. It is quite small, when I saw the Captain he seemed to think it might be a "Weekend Warrior" out for a cruise... but if thats the case, they are pretty far out for that kind of thing. The Captain is looking into it.. trying to find out if it might be lost or if the boat has gone missing.. I'll keep you posted if anything interesting comes of it.
....
I'll add some pictures I took..
Hope you enjoy...
Picture 1
Picture 2
------------------------------------
Last night Kevin and I spent some time outside watching the Perseids meteor shower. It was quite spectacular. We saw over 30 meteors and some of them were extremely bright. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and just looking at the stars was quite awesome. It can be very spooky out there... lots of boat noises... engine sounds and darkness to keep things interesting. It didn't take too long for my eyes to adjust to the night sky and the stars just got brighter and brighter..
I set my alarm for 3:30am and went to bed.. the show was quite spectacular at midnight so I thought it would be even better at the peak time... 3 to 4 am. to be honest I was expecting more, and I think I saw more at midnight than I did at 4am ... but I did see one spectacular meteor that moved quite slowly and left a trail across the entire sky... quite exciting...
You can see more tonight if you missed it last night.. Try and get away from the city if you can... better view that way....
For those of you excitedly waiting for the 27th of August when Earth and Mars will have the closest approach in recorded history.... apparently its a hoax... its been going on since 2003... In 2003 the event was real... but its been repeated every year in hoax emails... not gonna happen....
I was excited about it, but when I did some digging found out it was fake.
Thanks Mr. Internet, you're so helpful...
....
More boat news...
Apparently there is a small fishing boat or recreational boat about 4 kms to our Port. Its just adrift and is not replying to our radio calls. I went outside to see it.. It is quite small, when I saw the Captain he seemed to think it might be a "Weekend Warrior" out for a cruise... but if thats the case, they are pretty far out for that kind of thing. The Captain is looking into it.. trying to find out if it might be lost or if the boat has gone missing.. I'll keep you posted if anything interesting comes of it.
....
I'll add some pictures I took..
Hope you enjoy...
Picture 1
Picture 2
Comics have the power to bring people together...
Originally published Sunday, Aug 12
-----------------------------------
So I was sitting at my desk today when one of the russian guys came over to me.... Up until that very moment I had not heard this Russian guy.. Igor... say a single word to anyone on board. I mean I am sure he had, but he sure doesn't talk much and doesn't speak much english at all.... (There are currently 3 Russians on board... one left when we went back to Halifax..)
So he sits down, and in very broken english begins to tell me how when his children were young he couldn't go to see... so he took a job with Marvel comics in Russia doing the lettering in Spiderman and Silver Surfer comics... how friggin cool is that.. He had obviously seen me reading my comics and thought I might be interested to know... I have to admit, at first I didn't quite understand what he was saying and thought he said he used to draw the comics... but that didn't make much sense since I am sure they probably use the same illustrations and just translate the text.
So when I asked him if he could draw Spiderman for me... I finally understood that he just did the lettering... still pretty neat. I gave a couple of my comics away to one of the other Russian guys, Alex. He asked me for one to give to his daughter so I gave him a couple that I thought she might like... apparently she reads and knows more english than Alex does.
Today has been a good day...
I went outside to read for an hour or so... its beautiful..
And I am excited to see the meteor shower tonight. I need to read up about it..but I'll take some pictures. Right now there is barely a cloud in the sky, so if it stays like this it should be quite the show...
And BEST OF ALL...
NO FUCKING CIRCLES TODAY...
(Knock on wood)
I can't remember if I wrote this in my last post or not, but we have had a lot of breakdowns with equipment, and each time something breaks down we need to stop working, fix the equipment while circling back... this takes about 3 hours everytime something breaks.. and it was happening a lot....
But today has been great, we should be finished this line at around 5 AM.. at which point we will pull up the streamers (I offered to help take off the sippican cables that got tangled in the streamers... its causing noise in the record.. plus it gets me some time working on the back deck... and I can sleep after that because we have to transit to another line which will take a few hours.. if not longer... )
ok, what else....
Bah.. thats enough for now...
Peace out....
Any questions?
-----------------------------------
So I was sitting at my desk today when one of the russian guys came over to me.... Up until that very moment I had not heard this Russian guy.. Igor... say a single word to anyone on board. I mean I am sure he had, but he sure doesn't talk much and doesn't speak much english at all.... (There are currently 3 Russians on board... one left when we went back to Halifax..)
So he sits down, and in very broken english begins to tell me how when his children were young he couldn't go to see... so he took a job with Marvel comics in Russia doing the lettering in Spiderman and Silver Surfer comics... how friggin cool is that.. He had obviously seen me reading my comics and thought I might be interested to know... I have to admit, at first I didn't quite understand what he was saying and thought he said he used to draw the comics... but that didn't make much sense since I am sure they probably use the same illustrations and just translate the text.
So when I asked him if he could draw Spiderman for me... I finally understood that he just did the lettering... still pretty neat. I gave a couple of my comics away to one of the other Russian guys, Alex. He asked me for one to give to his daughter so I gave him a couple that I thought she might like... apparently she reads and knows more english than Alex does.
Today has been a good day...
I went outside to read for an hour or so... its beautiful..
And I am excited to see the meteor shower tonight. I need to read up about it..but I'll take some pictures. Right now there is barely a cloud in the sky, so if it stays like this it should be quite the show...
And BEST OF ALL...
NO FUCKING CIRCLES TODAY...
(Knock on wood)
I can't remember if I wrote this in my last post or not, but we have had a lot of breakdowns with equipment, and each time something breaks down we need to stop working, fix the equipment while circling back... this takes about 3 hours everytime something breaks.. and it was happening a lot....
But today has been great, we should be finished this line at around 5 AM.. at which point we will pull up the streamers (I offered to help take off the sippican cables that got tangled in the streamers... its causing noise in the record.. plus it gets me some time working on the back deck... and I can sleep after that because we have to transit to another line which will take a few hours.. if not longer... )
ok, what else....
Bah.. thats enough for now...
Peace out....
Any questions?
Ice Cream....
Originally posted August 10th
-----------------------------
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
I got the last of all the Ice Cream on ship....
so now there are no more cookies... no more ice cream...
Maybe now I can actually start losing some weight on this trip!
Although we did have turnovers and fresh made donuts today...
Its figgin' crazy...
I'm really looking forward to getting home...
I want to go swimming....it really really sucks being surrounded by water and not being able to go for a swim....
I want to play street hockey...
I want to play my bass.....
I want to go to Montreal for Osheaga...
So many things I want to do when I get back...
-----------------------------
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
I got the last of all the Ice Cream on ship....
so now there are no more cookies... no more ice cream...
Maybe now I can actually start losing some weight on this trip!
Although we did have turnovers and fresh made donuts today...
Its figgin' crazy...
I'm really looking forward to getting home...
I want to go swimming....it really really sucks being surrounded by water and not being able to go for a swim....
I want to play street hockey...
I want to play my bass.....
I want to go to Montreal for Osheaga...
So many things I want to do when I get back...
Line GSC0713 is Cursed....
Quick note..
I haven't been updating this site lately, but I have been posting my blogs on my facebook page..
Feel free to add me as a friend on Facebook....
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=514419664
Originally posted August 10th.
-------------------------------------
Yeah after debating this in my head for a few seconds I'm going to go with ketchup bottle... minus the ketchup... and the ketchup bottle would have my bed in it.. along with my other stuff.. and right outside the ketchup bottle there would be this fire extinguisher that would constantly knock on the entrance to the ketchup bottle. Only this was a real fire extinguisher and the ketchup bottle is really my cabin... Do you follow? The whole thing comes full circle...This is what lack of quality sleep can get you people...
I also had a weird dream last night.. That I was back in Montreal... and we we're being invaded by aliens. It had a very 'War of the Worlds' feel to it.. The original movie, not the Tom Cruise version... except there were hummers and crazy military helicopters and some soldiers put my Mom in some kind of container because she wouldn't stop talking.. HA.. I didn't mind for some reason... I'm a bad son... I remember watching the original War of the Worlds on TV when I was a kid.. and it scared the pants off me...
So as I said earlier, we had a weather day yesterday and didn't get much work done... which sucks because it means I will be out here a bit longer.. I'm hoping to be back around the 24th.... keeping my fingers crossed. We are also having problems with the streamers.. so not much work today yet either... I'm running out of comics to read.. so it looks like I'll be reading novels soon.
We've been watching Battlestar Gallactica. So far we have watched the mini series and the first 5 episodes of season 1. Pretty darn good I must say.. better than I expected... I was never a fan of the original series. Those fracking Cylons are gonna pay!!!That's all for now folks... as you were...
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Sloooaaaaan
Well, it was mentioned to me on my return to Halifax that my notes have been epic and hilarious... or hilariously epic.. or something like that...I just hope some of you enjoy them...I'll try and make all posts as epic as I can...
So it was nice to spend a couple of days back in Halifax. Tropical Storm Chantal forced us back to the safe confines of Halifax harbour for a couple of days and I was able to sleep in my own bed for a couple of nights.
Not only that, but I got to see Sloan again.. and finally IN HALIFAX. I've seen them close to 15 times now, but that elusive Halifax show is finally crossed off the list. SLOOOAAAAANNNNN F%@*ing rocks...I think they are one of the most underrated bands around... The show was fantastic as usual... but I was a little bit... uhm... well I did a fair share of drinking last night... so I don't really remember parts... but what I remember was excellent...
I have to pick up their latest album, I think its the only one I don't have....
I got to see my cousins as well!... I was pretty happy about that...I didn't think I was going to see them at all, but we got to hang out Wednesday night before they headed to Cape Breton. I also ran in to some of them yesterday at Perks. So again, I was happy to be able to spend some time with them.
ANYWAY...
So we are headed back out to the Abyssal plain and should be there around 10am Sunday.. we will be out there for about 20 more days.
Pavel has left back to Russia and we got two new Russian guys. Shitty thing is their luggage got lost on the way here. So when they got to the boat all they had was the clothes they had on. So the Captain gave them 400$ to go to Walmart and buy some clothes.. He will get reinbursed of course, but I hope the airline makes it up to these guys somehow.... thats pretty damn shitty if you ask me. I've been told it happens frequently with flights out of Russia. I've had luggage lost before, so hopefully they will get theirs back... too bad it won't be until we come back to Halifax.
I found my battery charger for my digital camera... so I will add more photos again soon.
So it was nice to spend a couple of days back in Halifax. Tropical Storm Chantal forced us back to the safe confines of Halifax harbour for a couple of days and I was able to sleep in my own bed for a couple of nights.
Not only that, but I got to see Sloan again.. and finally IN HALIFAX. I've seen them close to 15 times now, but that elusive Halifax show is finally crossed off the list. SLOOOAAAAANNNNN F%@*ing rocks...I think they are one of the most underrated bands around... The show was fantastic as usual... but I was a little bit... uhm... well I did a fair share of drinking last night... so I don't really remember parts... but what I remember was excellent...
I have to pick up their latest album, I think its the only one I don't have....
I got to see my cousins as well!... I was pretty happy about that...I didn't think I was going to see them at all, but we got to hang out Wednesday night before they headed to Cape Breton. I also ran in to some of them yesterday at Perks. So again, I was happy to be able to spend some time with them.
ANYWAY...
So we are headed back out to the Abyssal plain and should be there around 10am Sunday.. we will be out there for about 20 more days.
Pavel has left back to Russia and we got two new Russian guys. Shitty thing is their luggage got lost on the way here. So when they got to the boat all they had was the clothes they had on. So the Captain gave them 400$ to go to Walmart and buy some clothes.. He will get reinbursed of course, but I hope the airline makes it up to these guys somehow.... thats pretty damn shitty if you ask me. I've been told it happens frequently with flights out of Russia. I've had luggage lost before, so hopefully they will get theirs back... too bad it won't be until we come back to Halifax.
I found my battery charger for my digital camera... so I will add more photos again soon.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
It's oh so quiet...
Hello to the people who read this...
It's been pretty quiet the last couple of days.. so nothing to really write about.
It rained a little bit yesterday, but not much... looks like we are getting more rain today and expecting a bit rougher seas tonight... nothing too significant I don't think...
Launching a probe... watching the sun set over the Atlantic....
like in this picture by Kevin D....make things a little easier....
The sunsets have been pretty nice...
I am not sure if they are as nice as they were when I was on the Coriolis.. but they are certainly nice enough to watch....
Other than that.. not much else is going on...
I'm trying to find things to do with my days... I've been reading a lot of comics.
I still have a couple left to read, but the unread ones are disappearing quick.
I went for a couple of walks around the Heli-deck.. and around the boat. Its nice, but I can only go in circles for so long.
Christopher Jones (The Navigator) and I have been playing a lot of Roshambo (Rock Paper Scissors). The Russian observer team, Pavel and Alex, think we are crazy. Especially Alex. He might be right...
Christopher Jones
The food is still quite good. A little bit too much junk food.. Way too many cookies.. I try to avoid them as much as possible..but its hard when they are EVERYWHERE... I opened a cupboard looking for cereal the other day and was faced with 15 boxes of oreo cookies.. I closed the door as fast as I could and found my rice crispies...
I'll continue posting news here when things of interest happen... or when I am bored out of my mind...
Hope all is well back in the real world...
It's been pretty quiet the last couple of days.. so nothing to really write about.
It rained a little bit yesterday, but not much... looks like we are getting more rain today and expecting a bit rougher seas tonight... nothing too significant I don't think...
Launching a probe... watching the sun set over the Atlantic....
like in this picture by Kevin D....make things a little easier....
The sunsets have been pretty nice...
I am not sure if they are as nice as they were when I was on the Coriolis.. but they are certainly nice enough to watch....
Other than that.. not much else is going on...
I'm trying to find things to do with my days... I've been reading a lot of comics.
I still have a couple left to read, but the unread ones are disappearing quick.
I went for a couple of walks around the Heli-deck.. and around the boat. Its nice, but I can only go in circles for so long.
Christopher Jones (The Navigator) and I have been playing a lot of Roshambo (Rock Paper Scissors). The Russian observer team, Pavel and Alex, think we are crazy. Especially Alex. He might be right...
Christopher Jones
The food is still quite good. A little bit too much junk food.. Way too many cookies.. I try to avoid them as much as possible..but its hard when they are EVERYWHERE... I opened a cupboard looking for cereal the other day and was faced with 15 boxes of oreo cookies.. I closed the door as fast as I could and found my rice crispies...
I'll continue posting news here when things of interest happen... or when I am bored out of my mind...
Hope all is well back in the real world...
Friday, July 27, 2007
Man Overboard..... not a drill.. but a false Alarm.... *PHEW*
So we had a bit of a scare this morning.
The Man Overboard alarm went off...
They take this shit very seriously...
We rushed up to our muster station and then up to the Heli-deck to look for anyone who may have gone overboard. But there was no one..
Once we all got checked off we realized no one was missing...
There were a couple of possible ways the alarm could have been tripped. But we are not sure what happened right now.
After they determined no one was missing we all met in the mess hall and discussed the incident. Sounds like we might be doing another practise session since we didn't do very well on this go round....
I'm just glad no one really got thrown over board.
By the time we would have launched the rescue boat, the guy would have been over a mile.. almost 2 miles behind us.
Imagine trying to find a little head bobbing up and down.. presumably with no lifejacket... in an area that large...
I can understand why they take this stuff so seriously...
The Man Overboard alarm went off...
They take this shit very seriously...
We rushed up to our muster station and then up to the Heli-deck to look for anyone who may have gone overboard. But there was no one..
Once we all got checked off we realized no one was missing...
There were a couple of possible ways the alarm could have been tripped. But we are not sure what happened right now.
After they determined no one was missing we all met in the mess hall and discussed the incident. Sounds like we might be doing another practise session since we didn't do very well on this go round....
I'm just glad no one really got thrown over board.
By the time we would have launched the rescue boat, the guy would have been over a mile.. almost 2 miles behind us.
Imagine trying to find a little head bobbing up and down.. presumably with no lifejacket... in an area that large...
I can understand why they take this stuff so seriously...
Thursday, July 26, 2007
What a day...
Today has been pretty interesting. I had yet another Sippican fail, thats 4 in a row.. so I decided it was time for drastic measures. With the aid of a couple of the Phillipino crew members the cable to the launcher has been spliced and an extra 100Ft has been added. They did an awesome job. The splice looks great, and I can launch my Sippican's from almost anywhere now. And now I am safely away from the water and I won't be needing to wear all that crazy getup anymore..
This will help a lot... I HOPE...
I haven't launched another probe yet, but I did run throught the setup and it seems like everything is working fine.
Its also a beautiful day.. I just went for a walk on the Heli-deck.
Its such an awesome view up there... a lot of the crew go up there just to walk around and get some air.. Its loud up there, really loud, so I had my ipod on, with my big headphones.. which help block some of the outside noise.. listening to Sigur Ros... made that much more enjoyable then the churning noise of the engines. You can see forever up there... well almost...and the sea is incredibly calm today.. I'll add some pictures shortly.. I know I keep saying that, but I really will..
This will help a lot... I HOPE...
I haven't launched another probe yet, but I did run throught the setup and it seems like everything is working fine.
Its also a beautiful day.. I just went for a walk on the Heli-deck.
Its such an awesome view up there... a lot of the crew go up there just to walk around and get some air.. Its loud up there, really loud, so I had my ipod on, with my big headphones.. which help block some of the outside noise.. listening to Sigur Ros... made that much more enjoyable then the churning noise of the engines. You can see forever up there... well almost...and the sea is incredibly calm today.. I'll add some pictures shortly.. I know I keep saying that, but I really will..Things are going good.
It looks like I will be back in town on the 11th to refuel. Thats the plan anyway.. its unfortunate that we didn't have a full load of fuel because we could have finished the job in one run. Instead we have to spend 2 days going back to Nova Scotia.. a day or 2 refuelling, then 2 days back to finish the survey, more survey time and then 2 more days back to Nova Scotia again... So I am estimating that this trip will be done around August 20th. Will see...
We had a safety meeting a couple of days ago.. which I was late for...oops. I got the time wrong.The medic/safety guy was talking about putting little pink ribbons around things that he saw that could be a safety hazard... some people didn't think to highly of that idea. I kind of feel bad for the Medic. I won't get into it... but anyway, I try to be nice to him when I can....
More stuff on my facebook page...Here...
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Discharge
Just a funny note.. Apparently the captain was looking for me earlier because one of the deck hands told him that I was "discharging" something over the side of the boat...
He thought I was dumping toxic material overboard... WTF?
Someone explained the situation to him ... that all I was doing was launching a Sippican.. to do a CTD cast and get a Sound Velocity Profile...
As you can probably tell from the photo, thats not me... just a pic I found online, but thats what I do... a little rocket looking thing falls out of the gun and it goes down to 1800 m and it takes a sound velocity reading.
I'll try and get a picture of me doing it.. Its much more dramatic... She looks like she at least one deck up... I am right next to the waves.
He thought I was dumping toxic material overboard... WTF?
Someone explained the situation to him ... that all I was doing was launching a Sippican.. to do a CTD cast and get a Sound Velocity Profile...
As you can probably tell from the photo, thats not me... just a pic I found online, but thats what I do... a little rocket looking thing falls out of the gun and it goes down to 1800 m and it takes a sound velocity reading.
I'll try and get a picture of me doing it.. Its much more dramatic... She looks like she at least one deck up... I am right next to the waves.
Sippicans
So Sippicans are this neat little rocket looking thing... I might have mentioned them before, but what they do is measure depth, time and the velocity of sound in the water.
Not a big deal, but the fun part is when I actually launch the sippicans. Its a really simple process, but the physical aspect of it can be a bit scary. On "nice" days its easy... all days have been beautiful out, but that doesn't mean the waves aren't big.. I have a new appreciation for the power of the Ocean.
For my first launch, I shot a probe over the side and it was a pretty average day. I didn't wear a harness, and really didn't NEED to... rookie mistake... I should have worn one, nothing happened, but I should have worn one.
The waves come up over the railing at the side of the boat... and as waves do.... they go up and down.... ALOT.. I get wet .. alot...nothing I can do about it, its part of the job...and I don't mind. I wear rain gear and I stay as dry as possible... its also really warm back there, I have to walk throught the engine room to get to the area where I launch the Sippicans. I don't know how those guys deal with the heat.
Anyway, as I am launching the probes picture walls of water the height of a basketball net or higher coming up towards you.. and every once in a while they come up over the railing and I get drenched. Needless to say I wear my harness everytime now.. I could EASILY get swept up overboard.. VERY easily...yesterday was the scariest.. the waves were BIG.. and it was still beautiful outside.. 18 Knot winds.. but the waves were 3m, thats what the weather report said anyway, sure looked bigger to me. Especially when you are right next to them.
I am able to keep my cool... but lets just say I am VERY awake when I do this... I usually do one first thing in the morning, and it wakes me up faster than any cup of coffee ever would. Funny how I have yet to have a coffee while on the cruise. Its actually fun once you get used to it and know you are safely strapped in. I get to enjoy the beautiful view. And watch the power of the waves... I often see some kind of coral looking thing floating around. I always hope one comes up onto the ship so I can get a look at it.
I'd love to take my camera out and take some pictures while I am launching the Sippican, but I know that I would just get the camera wet.. and the salt water wouldn't do my camera much good. I might ask one of the guys to take some pictures for me.
Not a big deal, but the fun part is when I actually launch the sippicans. Its a really simple process, but the physical aspect of it can be a bit scary. On "nice" days its easy... all days have been beautiful out, but that doesn't mean the waves aren't big.. I have a new appreciation for the power of the Ocean.
For my first launch, I shot a probe over the side and it was a pretty average day. I didn't wear a harness, and really didn't NEED to... rookie mistake... I should have worn one, nothing happened, but I should have worn one.
The waves come up over the railing at the side of the boat... and as waves do.... they go up and down.... ALOT.. I get wet .. alot...nothing I can do about it, its part of the job...and I don't mind. I wear rain gear and I stay as dry as possible... its also really warm back there, I have to walk throught the engine room to get to the area where I launch the Sippicans. I don't know how those guys deal with the heat.
Anyway, as I am launching the probes picture walls of water the height of a basketball net or higher coming up towards you.. and every once in a while they come up over the railing and I get drenched. Needless to say I wear my harness everytime now.. I could EASILY get swept up overboard.. VERY easily...yesterday was the scariest.. the waves were BIG.. and it was still beautiful outside.. 18 Knot winds.. but the waves were 3m, thats what the weather report said anyway, sure looked bigger to me. Especially when you are right next to them.
I am able to keep my cool... but lets just say I am VERY awake when I do this... I usually do one first thing in the morning, and it wakes me up faster than any cup of coffee ever would. Funny how I have yet to have a coffee while on the cruise. Its actually fun once you get used to it and know you are safely strapped in. I get to enjoy the beautiful view. And watch the power of the waves... I often see some kind of coral looking thing floating around. I always hope one comes up onto the ship so I can get a look at it.
I'd love to take my camera out and take some pictures while I am launching the Sippican, but I know that I would just get the camera wet.. and the salt water wouldn't do my camera much good. I might ask one of the guys to take some pictures for me.
Friday, July 20, 2007
See ya in 6 weeks!!
Well after several days of delays I am finally off.I actually left thursday afternoon from Pier 28 in Halifax.
We are working in the Sohm Abyssal Plain south east of Nova Scotia. Its incredibly deep here. Right now our depth is 5631.2 meters. Yeah thats right, over 5 kilometers deep... thats pretty crazy if you ask me.
The crew that I have met have all been pretty nice so far. I think I've been nicknamed 'shorty' but I might have heard wrong.. I am rooming with one of the cooks who is from the Phillipines. He seems like a very nice guy. He told me that the Phillipino crew members sign on to 6 month contracts. He got on right around the same time as I did, so he will be on here until around January. Thats pretty crazy if you ask me..
One of the Phillipino crew members saw me as I was heading to the back deck. I, along with the other crew members, had on bright orange coveralls. Mine were 2XL. So a tad on the big side.. I think the Phillipino guy thought I looked pretty silly... I have to agree.. I'll try and get a picture of myself in it sometime tomorrow.
I did some practice runs at collecting and processing data and I think everything looks good. Still a bit nervous about it... It hard getting used to working when everything is rocking back and forth and you are trying to concentrate. The only thing I can compare it to is trying to concentrate during a mild earthquake... everything is always moving.. I'll get used to it. I did last time.
I've been taking my Bonamine, so I haven't got seasick yet. And at this point I don't think I will. When we were transitting from Halifax to the work site we were going 9 knots. My room is at the front of the boat, so when things are rough the stuff at the front experiences the most rocking.. know that it woke me up a couple of times last night.. currently we are only going 3.6 knots. Considerably slower than last night. I believe that our speed during the survey will be around 6 knots. I'm not about to stop taking my seasickness meds just yet... but I think I'm in a safe 'no-puking' zone now.
Some of the crew just started putting the seismic streamers into the water and it will be some time before they will be ready to start collecting data.I haven't taken any pictures yet.. its 11:30 Atlantic time now, so there isn't much point of taking pictures.. I'll be sure to post some up when I take them. I was feeling a little bit homesick yesterday, mostly because I was pretty bored. I've got plenty of stuff to read and DVDs to watch.. but I was still worried about making sure everything was going smoothly so didn't read too much, or watch any DVDs.
Feel free to write to me and let me know whats going on back in the world.
(WRITE TO ME!!)
We are working in the Sohm Abyssal Plain south east of Nova Scotia. Its incredibly deep here. Right now our depth is 5631.2 meters. Yeah thats right, over 5 kilometers deep... thats pretty crazy if you ask me.
The crew that I have met have all been pretty nice so far. I think I've been nicknamed 'shorty' but I might have heard wrong.. I am rooming with one of the cooks who is from the Phillipines. He seems like a very nice guy. He told me that the Phillipino crew members sign on to 6 month contracts. He got on right around the same time as I did, so he will be on here until around January. Thats pretty crazy if you ask me..
One of the Phillipino crew members saw me as I was heading to the back deck. I, along with the other crew members, had on bright orange coveralls. Mine were 2XL. So a tad on the big side.. I think the Phillipino guy thought I looked pretty silly... I have to agree.. I'll try and get a picture of myself in it sometime tomorrow.
I did some practice runs at collecting and processing data and I think everything looks good. Still a bit nervous about it... It hard getting used to working when everything is rocking back and forth and you are trying to concentrate. The only thing I can compare it to is trying to concentrate during a mild earthquake... everything is always moving.. I'll get used to it. I did last time.
I've been taking my Bonamine, so I haven't got seasick yet. And at this point I don't think I will. When we were transitting from Halifax to the work site we were going 9 knots. My room is at the front of the boat, so when things are rough the stuff at the front experiences the most rocking.. know that it woke me up a couple of times last night.. currently we are only going 3.6 knots. Considerably slower than last night. I believe that our speed during the survey will be around 6 knots. I'm not about to stop taking my seasickness meds just yet... but I think I'm in a safe 'no-puking' zone now.
Some of the crew just started putting the seismic streamers into the water and it will be some time before they will be ready to start collecting data.I haven't taken any pictures yet.. its 11:30 Atlantic time now, so there isn't much point of taking pictures.. I'll be sure to post some up when I take them. I was feeling a little bit homesick yesterday, mostly because I was pretty bored. I've got plenty of stuff to read and DVDs to watch.. but I was still worried about making sure everything was going smoothly so didn't read too much, or watch any DVDs.
Feel free to write to me and let me know whats going on back in the world.
(WRITE TO ME!!)
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
GSI Pacific....
So I am heading out for around 6 weeks on the GSI Pacific Seismic boat. This will be my second time working offshore and while I am still relatively new at it, I am looking forward to it. I'm not sure how my time away will be but I've brought plenty to read and lots of DVDs to watch, and I will have internet access on the boat as well, so I will try and keep this blog updated regularly. My job on board is pretty simple.. I have 3 things to do.
1. Launch Sippicans every 12 hrs and convert the data they collect into sound velocity profiles. Basically sound travels at different rates depending on the temperature and pressure of the water. We collect this data to correct the data that is collected by the single beam echosounder (Depth data).
2. I have to collect the Single beam data. Everything has been set up for me, all I have to do is turn on the data collection... poof.. and it collects data... It will collect data pretty much 24 hrs a day as long as we are running lines that we need to collect data on.
3. I need to process the data. I won't go into details on this, but I just clean the data and get it ready for use. Its a pretty simple process.
I've been going to the boat almost every day to check things out. As of now it looks like I will be leaving thursday or friday. Wish me luck....
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