Ahhh, were to start? Well firstly I would like to thank the mass of families who’s emailed me today! The original idea of this website was to keep everyone in touch with their loved ones and give some sort of idea what we were doing when we were thousands of miles away from home. I know that a lot of the people back home have no idea exactly what we get up to and it has been good hearing peoples thoughts and views on the website – keep them coming!
I’m also amazed at the bird spotters – or twitchers as they like to be called who have emailed me about albatross pictures. I’ll keep adding pictures of these truly majestic birds – although I did like Sheldon’s description “An old Datsun with two bits of 6x4 attached to them”
The other thing that seemed to scare the scientists was me saying that the last cruise we had pictures of all the scientists when they were kids (See the JC015 blog) – i.e a “before they were famous” gallery! I bet a lot of emails were sent home saying “Please don’t” or “If you do I’m going to kill you…” Hahahah lets wait and see ;-) It’s always fun to break the ice. I’ll be putting up info about our scientists in the next few days!
So – I bet you all want to know what happened today!! Well not much really taken a turn and its getting very very cold! I spent 10 minutes on deck earlier and had to wait just as long to get the feeling back in my fingers!! It is bitterly cold on the working deck of the ship and it’s only going to get worse!
So today there was a little bit of training for some of the deck lads on the winch system so they can get familiar with the mass of CTD’s we will do during the cruise!!
The scientists from UEA were having a problem with one of their sensors that forms an integral part of a complex bit of kit. The sensor is used to see if there is fluid left in a sample bottle but had failed. They had a spare but the connections were different. Alan, swung into action and took the sensor to our electronics workshop where he took it apart and modified it so that it could connect to the system. The scientists are all smiles now that there machine is doing its thing once again..
At 10:00 our principle scientist (Sheldon Bacon) gave a talk on the objectives of the cruise. The reasons why we are down here and what exactly the cruise will involve. The cruise meetings are good because you finally find out what exactly will be going on and who will be doing what. We have a busy cruise ahead of us with 24hr operations for the next 30+ days – during that time we will do dozens and dozens of CTD deployments to study the water characteristics around Antarctica and the surrounding islands… Should be fun
If all goes to plan – which it really does in this sort of job where so many factors are thrown into the equation. We should meet the British Antarctic Survey Royal Research Ship Ernest Shakleton somewhere in the vicinity of Signy for a transferral of mooring equipment towards the middle of January. That should be fun and I hope that I can convince the Captain to let me go out in the workboat and get a shot of the two Royal Research Ships together… Would be good for publicity
In the meeting the requirements for foul weather gear was discussed and the Antarctic weather gear was made available to the scientists. Everybody rushed around grabbing the available “You’ve been Tango’d” padded suits that will keep you nice cosy in the increasingly cold weather we are encountering. Everyone has started wrapping up warm with hats and big coats.
Just after lunch I had a problem with one of our data processing machines – I have to admit I got a little bit annoyed at it…… I think it finally started behaving after listening to me blasting music for 45 minutes and glaring at it. After that it started behaving itself and the panic was over…..
Later in the afternoon I showed the scientific party around the various systems onboard with brief descriptions of what each one does. What data comes out of it and what to do if it goes wrong at three in the morning – which unfortunately 9 times out of ten the solution is wake me up!!
I found out today that I am on the bar committee as well… That means I have to ensure that the bar is stocked and that the rules are followed.
The captain came to see me to print out the plans for the new RRS Discovery. Very nice looking ship J
Ahh, I decided to have one of my units (of beer) last night (we are limited in how much we can drink). I also lost at bowling on the wii yet again and then lost at tennis. Damnnn that infuriating little computer console! I have to work with computers throughout the day then one takes pleasure in beating me in my spare time….. To bed!
Some Pictures from yesterday's emergancy drill....
Above: Mark trainning with the CTD system
Above: The excitement at the appearance of a giant roll of bubble wrap in the main lab...
Above: Roisin looking slightly displeased at me bursting all the bubbles
Above: One of the scientific whatchammacallit devices had a technical issue with one of it's sensors and super Alan swung into motion to help get it working again!
Above: Shaun removing the faulty sensor
Above: The Hospital - Helen's last patient lies slumped against the wall after a massive overdose of Fanta. Only joking! The little orange dude is a dummy for practicing man-overboard and casulty evacutaion drills...
Above: Sheldon addressing the troops - what a mottle bunch of......
Above: The Captain gives a little talk
Above: The cold weather gear is distributed as it gets nice and cold.... Brrrr
Above: It's hard to look cool when wearing an X4...... But least it keeps you warm
And back by Popular demand...... Albatross Pictures
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