Mary Phillips, Teacher In The Field
Tue, 22 Jul 2003

Unfortunately, he also reported that two or three OBS units provided only limited data after their weeklong stay on the ocean bottom. Only five more to pick up and process today during my last watchstander's shift from 8 to 4. With any luck, these will all give us the information we have worked so hard to obtain.

During Monday's shift, Alejandro and I alternated between times in the Main Lab and assisting with the OBS's on the Waist Deck and dry science staging area. This provided us with an opportunity to work hands-on as we joined Ben, Yosio, and the chief scientists on duty in retrieving the remaining instruments, opening them in the staging area, cleaning parts, and checking voltages.

Geophysicists, I've discovered on this trip, really enjoy the hands-on aspects of their work aboard a ship. Part of that enjoyment, I now know from personal experience, comes from being out on the open decks exposed to the constant movement of the waves and the wind in the summer tropics. Despite wind speeds ranging from 15 to 20 knots, tee shirts and shorts feel comfortable, even on the partly cloudy days that have been normal for this cruise. Rarely have I seen anyone wearing a jacket and then only in the early evening hours just before sunset or up on the flying bridge where observers are still on watch starting at sunrise, continuing to collect baseline data on the marine mammals in the Hess Deep area.

If all continues to go well, we'll be throttling up to our full cruising speed of 11 or more knots later this afternoon and setting course back to Panama on the last leg of our trip.