Another Day on the Kaharoa, September 8th, 2010

It’s 5AM, and the engine grumbles to a start.  I’m nudged awake as the ship bumps against the wharf.  The calls of birds are replaced by the squeaking of the hull against a tire. When I gain consciousness, I realize that it is pitch black, and it’s time to get moving as the Captain, Simon, and crew are preparing the R/V Kaharoa, our research vessel and temporary home, for another day at sea.   I’m comfortably nestled in my bunk, so I’m not looking forward to wrestling myself out of my top-bunk perch and getting to work.  I heard rainfall during the night, so I suspect the sunshine of yesterday has been replaced by windy, wet conditions.  As the first scientist into the mess area, I fill the French press with ground coffee and hot water and say hello to the stirring crew.  Carol the cook greets with me with a warm smile and “G’day” and asks what I’d like for breakfast.  Her standard breakfast includes eggs (any style), toast, hash browns, baked beans and bacon.  Knowing that Carol will be serving lots of other great food during the day, I opt for a couple eggs and toast. Everyone soon fills the mess to “have a feed” before the first core is on deck.  I check in with Simon on the bridge to make sure the latitude and longitude positions for the first few stations are acceptable as we steam toward our first site.

The crew and scientists are a seasoned bunch.  Upon reaching the station, everyone has their foulweather gear on and is ready for sampling.  Despite light rain, deck operations move efficiently. As this is our second cruise on the Kaharoa, the coring procedure is well choreographed.  Steve (Chief Mate), Dan (2nd Mate), Pete (AB) and Alan (NIWA scientist) guide the multicore on and off the ship.  When cores are landed on deck, Alan orchestrates their disassembling and sub-sampling with the help of Rip (Univ. of Washington), Reide (East Carolina Univ.) and me (J.P., also of ECU).  Our typical duties are:  core x-raying (Alan), core slicing and bagging (Rip and Reide) and sieving for macrofauna (me...note in picture that I do get dirty).  All the while, students Joey Kiker (ECU) and Julia Moriarity (Virginia Inst. of Marine Science) work endless hours in the lab, conducting erosion analyses of cores; they are excellent workers.  Once we get into a routine, the coring moves pretty quick, and before we know it, it’s time for another meal or snack.  Thanks to Carol, we are very well fed.  In New Zealand, they have “smoco” at 10AM and 3PM.  “Smoco” is short for smoke and coffee break, and on the ship, Carol serves up tasty snacks, like cake or cookies.  Her éclairs are fabulous (see last cruise), but I think my new favorite treat is the freshly made donuts with whipped cream and raspberry jam.   Now, I know all this mention of food sounds pretty decadent, but when you’re working hard on the deck of moving ship, discussion of and anticipation for food can really help keep people going.  The other thing which aids in enjoyment of the day is the endless teasing and joking that goes on, and it seems on this ship, everyone is involved in the fun.  The reality is that is it can be tough working on the ocean.  Sleep, food and some fun make it manageable.

Although the day started like a routine one, our scheduled plan had to be shifted because of unforeseen events (which seems to be typical)  As most of the world knows, Christchurch, New Zealand experienced a major (7.1 magnitude) earthquake a few days ago (the day we left, September 4th at 4:30 AM).  Obviously, this was/is big news across the country.  Although we were not directly impacted, everyone aboard knows people who were there.  The person most affected was Simon, our Captain, who lives in Christchurch when not at sea.  Indeed, we were really happy to have Simon as our Captain because he’s not only a very competent seaman but also a great guy.  Unfortunately, on the morning of the 8th, Christchurch experienced another strong earthquake, and as a result, Simon had to get home to deal with problems caused by the recent events.  As a result, we returned to port about mid-day on the 8th.  A replacement captain, Evan, met the ship that evening.  He has lots of experience.  He has captained  the Kaharoa previously and now typically works on the larger Tangiroa.  Evan is friendly and relaxed and will certainly prove to be a very good captain for us as well.  Of course, we wish Simon and all in Christchurch well.

Boarded by Fisheries!!!

Sept 7th,

It was a good day.  Weather was pretty nice, and the coring went well.  Of course, the food was great as usual.  Attached are some pictures.  The highlight of the day was definitely being followed by the Navy ship and boarded by the Fisheries officers.  We certainly were not in violation of anything, but a ship we saw earlier in the day throwing lingcod over the side likely was not behaving appropriately.  Apparently, Fisheries works closely with the Navy on managing the waters.  Unfortunately, I need to get back to eat some dinner.  I'll let the other pics speak for themselves.  Enjoy.  J.P.

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September 7, 2010 Day 2…or is it 3?

We have spent a full day coring…collecting multicores along a shore normal transect from inside Poverty Bay to the upper slope.  Amazing how everyone quickly moves back into the needed roles in order top efficiently collect and process the samples coming up on deck.

 

Julia and Joey feel right at home back in the wet lab…like they never left the comforts of home.  The Gust microcosm is working well, at least initially…some modification was eventually needed on one of the flow through turbidity cells, but we got it running again.  That is one thing that you have to deal with when "at sea"…you can't simply run to the hardware store when something breaks.  You simply figure out a way to make it work…you have no other choice!

Rip and I have been on core cutting duty…efficiently slicing through meters of sediment through the course of the day.  Doesn't that sound pretty exciting…yes, we are mud slingers!  Alan has taken command of our deck operations…at least we let him think he is in charge.  Al never stops moving until everything is processed, cleaned up, and the multicorer is ready to go over the side again.  He's an animal…after collecting several cores from different stations, Alan leaves the deck long enough to shoot the x-rays of those cores, but that is about it.

Then there is our fearless leader…Walsh tirelessly orchestrates the whole sampling scheme, when and where, and how…if only he would actually get his hands a bit dirty!  OK, OK, I am joking…it is quite the team we have out here, everyone working hard and getting the job done.

On shore, Andrea and Dan are busy downloading data from the tripods and prepping them for the next deployment.  Hopefully it all comes together over the next few days…still plenty of stations to occupy and need to redeploy the tripods.  The weather has been on our side so far…let's see what the next few days have to offer.

Monday Sept. 6, 2010

9/6/10  Day 1

We made port in Gisborne around mid-day on Monday (6/9/10) with three tripods in tow (not really towing them, they are on deck).  Yes, all three tripods were recovered successfully thanks to a truly exception captain and crew, as well as the experienced scientific party  (pat, pat, pat…sorry, had to do it)…everyone chipping in when needed.

We spent the first ~26 hours of the cruise steaming for our first site.  Once arriving at our deep water station (~350 meters) at about 1945 hours on 9/5/10, we started several hours of CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) stations.  We completed a detailed shore normal and parallel transect at about 0400 and then re-rigged the A-frame in order to deploy the multi-corer at two additional stations.  Not a bad nights works…finished it off with a big breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast, beans, and fresh coffee).

Aaahhh, but the day was just beginning.  As the winds picked up to more than 20 knots (expected to reach a gale this afternoon), white caps as far as the eye could see, we were all anxious to retrieve the three tripods that have been collecting data (waves, currents, temperature, salinity, turbidity) for the last four months…always an unnerving time.  Will the tripods still be there, will they respond, send their float to the surface?  As you can see, all three are present and accounted for…YES!!!

See the faces of surprise, excitement, elation…or is it confusion?  The fun is just beginning…we start first thing in the morning, collecting cores along the margin.

Return to the R/V Kaharoa: Third Ocean Research Expedition

Hello! We have returned to Wellington, New Zealand to board the R/V Kaharoa for our third oceanographic research cruise (of four). It's winter in Wellington and a "Southerly" storm blew through last night. It rained long and hard, and the wind was fierce and cold, but today is gorgeous. The skies are clear, and the strong sunshine is helping to warm the chill in the air. Scientists from the University of Washington (Andrea, Rip and Dan), the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (Julia Moriarity) and East Carolina University (J.P., Reide and Joey) are joining Alan Orpin of New Zealand's National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research aboard the Kaharoa to recover instruments on the seafloor and take water and seabed samples. Our team of scientists is excited to be back aboard the Kaharoa as the Captain and crew were great to work with on our last voyage. Everyone quickly gets reacquainted with firm hand shakes and warms smiles and then back to work getting ready for our next adventure. Today has been spent loading gear and provisions, testing equipment and discussing plans and issues. We are happy to know the ship was just in yard and lots of maintenance, repairs and improvements were made. Of course, "improvements" some times need to be tested, so we'll see how that goes. Fortunately, the crew is very helpful and understanding of our needs, so we are confident they will help us anyway they can.
We have worked quickly and now have equipment lashed down or stowed, so it's time to head off into Cook Strait (the channel between the North and South islands which is notorious for unpleasant conditions). Although it is clearly a beautiful day in Wellington (as you can see from the yacht race pics above), it likely won't be so pleasant on the open ocean. Unfortunately, because of the recent weather, the first part of the our journey looks to be bumpy!

We'll keep you posted. G'day, J.P.