Sunday August 9,
2004 22:03:33 GMT, 3:03pm shiptime
Welker Seamount 55N 140W
We transited overnight to Welker Seamount,
continuing our northwest trek. Weather
has deteriorated somewhat, due to one
of those low pressure systems deciding
to head north instead of the expected
south. It is more or less just keeping
us company for the next three days while
we dive at Welker. Nothing too calamitous
yet, just grey skies and bigger seas,
about 6 feet at the moment. It was a bit
bumpier earlier this morning, and some
things were flying around my room, but
I figured once they hit the ground they
really weren't going to go any further,
so I stayed up in my bunk and let them
fly. We had a delayed Alvin launch this
morning, but so far no cancelled dives.
Yesterday we were due for our weekly
fire drill, and this time the Chief Mate
decided to make things a bit more interesting.
I was given instructions to ignore the
alarm bell and remain in my room, to make
sure the "sweepers" who go from
door to door looking for stragglers were
doing their job. Sure enough, I only got
a couple of pages into my book before
I got caught up in Carl's straggler sweep,
and was herded down to main lab. Where
we discovered that...shock, horror...Catalina
was missing. In a real fire emergency,
a search team would be dispatched, so
that was exactly what we did. Three of
us were assigned the main deck level,
to find the miscreant Catalina. Fortunately
one of us was Gavin, who knew all the
secret hidey-holes that Shinobu and I
would have passed by. It was an educational
tour, with all sorts of secret passageways
and even...the bosun's bathroom. I had
no idea the bosun had his own bathroom,
but there it was, replete with claw-foot
tub and rubber ducky.
But no sign of Catalina. We even tried
to make her laugh by trying on funny voices
and luring her out with chocolate, but
to no avail. We had come to the last door
of the last space on main deck, the forward
hold. This is the home of stowed science
gear, luggage, and the like, and also
the treadmill. At the back is a door that
leads to the bosun's locker (the bosun
has an awful lot of rooms on this ship).
I hadn't been in the locker since my Galapagos
cruise, when I was imprisoned there with
all the other hapless and shivering wogs,
including Tony the Alvin pilot and his
fish necklace (that's a story for another
day).
No Catalina, at least until Gavin went
up a ladder at the back into a kind of
loft-space. We heard a low cackle and
knew that our quarry had been tracked
down. We dragged her out and back to main
lab, where everyone was happy to see her.
It's good to know that if, for some peculiar
reason, somebody decided to go meditate
in the loft of the bosun's locker, we
would be able to find them in an emergency.
Some of the safety drills reach even
loftier theatrical heights. On one of
my 2002 cruises we had a full-scale chemical
emergency drill. I was again selected
to play witless scientist victim (should
I be getting a message here?). This time
I was Crumpled-in-the-corner-and-overcome-with-fumes
Woman. My room-mate Julie was Slumped-over-desk
Woman. We were just getting into character
when the rescue squad appeared, kind of
scary in protective suits and respirators
that gave a Darth Vader hoarseness to
their breathing. They were also blindfolded,
to simulate rooms and corridors full of
smoke, and had to feel their way around
the lab. Julie and I were successfully
rescued, and removed to the Alvin hanger
with all the other witless scientist victims.
 |
Naomi Ward collects
mucus from a large bamboo coral specimen
as Kevin Penn looks on. Click image
for larger view.
Image courtesy of of Jeff Pollack,
- From NOAA
Website |
Yesterday was a great Alvin dive day.
Tony and his observers brought us a great
trove of sea life, including five Niskin
bottles of water collected at different
depths (great for me), and...the Big Bamboo.
This was a beautiful bamboo coral specimen,
about 3 feet across. It gets its name
from the slender skeleton which is smooth,
white, and banded with black at intervals.
Big Bamboo was the Holy Grail of Pete
Etnoyer, one of the yesterday's observers,
and also good news for us microbe-hunters
as bamboo coral produces lots and lots
of mucus. As Aurelie and Kevin carried
the trophy into the lab in a big plastic
tray, I was standing by with an open Falcon
tube, ready to catch the nasty big blobs
of mucus dripping off the coral. Later,
the big bamboo was rather unceremoniously
flayed out on the fantail, its pink fleshy
surface stripped off to reveal the skeleton.
The coral tissue degrades very quickly
once it is brought up from depth. The
skeleton is now sitting in the hydro lab,
beautiful fragile white branches arranged
like a candelabra. Shipping it intact
back to Peter's lab will be quite a challenge.
Yesterday was also Peter's first Alvin
dive, and so he received the requisite
welcome. Several buckets of ice water,
a liberal sprinkling of flour, and his
pristine white sneakers decorated with
"Big Bamboo" lettering. He seemed
to appreciate all the attention.
Last night's featured movie was Moby
Dick. Great stuff, although all the whale
butchery was starting to get to me towards
the end. I took a quick walk out on deck
afterwards, but no sign of a great white
back, studded with harpoons, so I felt
it was fairly safe to go to bed.
OK, time to go prepare for Alvin's return.
They've been down all day today, even
though it's a shallow dive, so we are
all curious as to the nature of the haul.
More news from Welker Seamount tomorrow,
Naomi
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