Monday, February 21, 2011
Dolphins!
Now that I'm at home and have some bandwidth I thought I'd post some of the videos of dolphins we saw on the way home. I know the kids will love these. It is alwasy fun to have a pod of dolphins visit!
Back to Wellington
17 Feb 2011
We made it back to Wellington without any troubles and after a night on the town celebrating our arrival back to port, we spent the 17th packing and preparing our equipment and supplies for shipment back to the U.S. Fortunately, the weather was absolutely perfect for our arrival and unloading. Days like that are few and far between in Wellington, so we appreciated it!
We have had a fun and very successful series of cruises in New Zealand, and it is bit sad that our fieldwork has concluded. But, I'm sure we all look forward to spending some time working on data at home... and then returning for a meeting at some point in the future!
Again, I need to thank the Captain and crew of the Revelle and the Kaharoa who helped make our fieldwork safe, enjoyable, and productive. Also, I want to thank all the scientists and volunteers who worked long hours and in some tough conditions to generate some great samples and data.
J.P.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Life on the Kaharoa
The ship has a comfortable mess area (where we eat) with a TV (with occasional reception) and a nice large and rotating library of DVDs and books, a moderately sized galley, a spacious bridge, two staterooms for scientists (a quad and a double, both with bunk beds), heat and even air conditioning (which we needed on this trip), and well-stocked freezers and dry stores. There are two labs, a wet lab and dry lab and the deck is large enough for most oceanographic research operations. All in all, its a very practical, functional and pretty cozy ship. One drawback of the ship is that it is a pretty lively vessel during a rough sea as we have had the chance to experience on a few occasions. The best part about the ship are its Captain and crew who really have made us feel at home and as I have said earlier are tremendously helpful, skilled and knowledgeable.
Another Good Day
On our last day of work, we conducted a lot of coring near our shallowest tripod location. It was a nice morning to start but the wind had picked up, and the seas were developing. After completing several stations, we headed back to the Port of Gisborne where a small boat was lauched to pick up Dr. Andrea Ogston who was finalizing some details of our stay. Once she and Dan were safely back onboard safely, we starting coring and CTDing near the Waipaoa River mouth and moved our way offshore. The wind was blowing about 30 knots, so by the time we made our way into deeper waters, the swells and seas were much bigger, and working was challenging. We finished our last station at ~6 PM, and started our steam towards Wellington. But, it was hardly smooth sailing. At our cruising speed (~10 knots), the boat pitched pretty wildly about making it difficult to accomplish pretty much anything. Carol, unphased by the weather, whipped up a fabulous meal... meat pie, mash potatoes, gravy, peas and cauliflower. We ate happily and then watched Diehard 4 and then Bruno. Both were very entertaining, and the relaxation was much appreciated.
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