Other items to pack: The ship will provide bath soap, towels, sheets, and blankets. Bring your own shampoo, toothpaste, and other toiletries. A beach towel is useful if you wnt to sunbathe. Meals will be provided, but if there is something you cannot do without (chocolate?) bring your own. We will most likely be able to stock up on some things in Panama before the ship leaves. We will have a few digital cameras, but you my want to bring your own. There will be a CD player in the lab, so bring CDs to sharre. A portable CD player is useful for exercising or while in your cabin. Earplugs are handy since a ship can be very noisy. Depending on your sleeping habits, an alarm clock may also be useful.

Seasickness: Many people get seasick on these cruises. You can get a prescription patch which works for some people or else try some over the counter drugs such as meclizine, bonine, or dramamine. Most people also get "sea legs" after a few days and need no further medication. Click Here To Learn More On Seasickness

Life Onboard: Once at the scientific area we will work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Hess Deep cruise watchstanders will work 8 hour shifts, with 16 hours off. Shifts will be midnight to 8 a.m., 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and 4 p.m. to midnight. Please arrive for your shift a few minutes early in order to discuss the current status with the previous watch team. Meals are served from 7:30-8:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., and 5:00-6:00 p.m. The 4 - midnight shift will either be relieved for dinner or will go one at a time. There is a night tray in the refrigerator for the night shift. Fruit, popcorn, cereal, toast, etc. are available during non-meal times.

Officers and crew: The officers on the ship are the captain, chief engineer, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd mates, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd engineers. The crew includes a cook, bosun, able-bodied seamen, ordinary seamen, oilers, and mess help. The Ewing will provide several members of the science party including a science officer, an electronics technician, a network/data reduction technician and 2-4 air gun technicians.

Money: Going out to sea is a great way to save money, since there is very little to buy. There are usually t-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, etc. with the ship's logo on them to purchase, but otherwise you will only need money for before and after the cruise.

Health: The ship does have an infirmary, and maintains a contract with a medical service for phone support at sea, and will thus be able to dispense antibiotics and other common drugs if necessary. Use common sense during all deck operations since we will be several days from medical help while on site and lost time means lost data.

Hello to all from aboard the R.V. Ewing, cruising westward toward the Hess Deep research site. I haven't written earlier as my first few days at sea are always focused on my stomach--and staying seaworthy. But limited activity and the regular use of meclizine (one pill every six hours) seem to be working. Ethan, our systems and computer guru, informs us that sending large video or still photo attachments will also be limited. Gail is planning to send 2-3 daily, and all photos taken can be downloaded to a central file and later saved on CD. I know that Gail, Alejandro, and Astrid are all taking digital pics and movies. I have started my teacher logs and will be sending them either as e-mail attachments or embedded as I am composing on an iMac with OSX. Hope all is well in Austin.

Mary

Role of Watchstander

Once all data collecting instruments are in the water at the research site, many members of the science party assume the role of watchstander. Watches will be held 24 hours per day, around the clock, until all instruments are safely back aboard the Ewing.

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Not everything here aboard the Ewing focuses on our research. One of our science party, Steffen Saustrup, seismic data processor, is also a biologist at heart. Several mornings ago, during our transit leg from Panama, he was on deck during a windy, rainy day with Astrid Markowitz, a graduate student watchstander, when he suddenly observed a small bird cowering and shivering at Astrid’s feet. Steffen realized that the bird was either sick or injured, for it looked really forlorn to him and lay perfectly still in the same spot. After observing it throughout the day and noticing that it could barely crawl, Steffen decided to take action and came to its rescue. Read complete report

Ping-Pong Tournament at Sea

This morning we got a sheet of plywood from the bo'sun and used some OBS stands and made ourselves a ping-pong table. I'm going to organize a tournament in a few days. Matt, one of the engineers is the local ping-pong hotshot. The problem with the ship's players is that they're used to playing on a variety of homemade tables of every size and height, all while pitching and rolling at sea, definite home court advantage. They know how to time a high roll shot so the table will rise up to meet it or lay a soft lob as the table's falling. But we scientists will soon choose our David to go up against Goliath. I'm thinking of getting a Calcutta going if I can remember how to run one.

Peter the Petrel

Several days ago I rescued an injured bird, kept him in my cabin and fed him tuna fish and water until he was healthy enough to fly away, which he did. Here's a photo of me and Peter the Petrel.

Now that we are on a watchstander schedule of eight hour shifts, time aboard the Ewing seems to have changed as most of my daytime hours are spent in the main lab on watch. The chances to actually get on deck in the fresh air are limited by my 8 am - 4 pm hours.

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Since we are so isolated on our vessel, 600 nautical miles northwest of the Galapagos Islands, a very important requirement for all aboard applies to safety rules and regulations. Captain Jim Laughlin acts as the ship’s medical officer, and yesterday evening in the lounge I overheard him discussing a minor finger injury that had occurred to one of the galley’s crew. It appeared to be a slight burn, but The User’s Manual for the Ewing emphasizes that crew and visiting parties “not attempt to hide any abnormal conditions you experience while on the vessel”; without proper attention, even a small problem can escalate into a more serious one.

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And the Winner is...

For ping-pong fans, the championship doubles match last night ended with Alejandro and Matt victorious in two straight games: 21-15 and 21-13. The “rec room” will be devoted to the all important OBS retrieval today, but more competitive action lies ahead...

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