Naomi Ward - Atlantis Science Expedition
Journal - Live July 30 to August 23, 2004
Saturday July 31, 2004 15:23:32
GMT
The Straits of Juan de Fuca, 49N 126W
Hello landlubbers,
I left DC on a drizzly
and miserable Thursday morning, kissed
Bryce and the somewhat soggy duck goodbye,
and hopped in a cab to Dulles. Met up
with Kevin Penn (my research assistant
at TIGR) and boarded a non-stop to Seattle.
My journeys to the northwest always seem
to bring atypical weather; Seattle was
gloriously sunny and hot, and after I
had checked in with the ship and made
sure my eight TIGR crates of equipment
had arrived safely, I took off to explore.
Mostly around the university district,
which is green and lovely. This was my
first time in Seattle, and I loved it
on first sight. Fabulous coffee, quirky
stores, and frighteningly fit and good-looking
people. Also very politically aware -
just about every store was urging people
to register to vote. I resisted the temptation
to buy a "I hated Bush before it
was trendy T-shirt"; you can never
be sure of the political leanings of your
shipmates, and with 25 days at sea you
don't want to irk people needlessly.
Friday was spent stowing
gear and moving on to the ship, and then
we had a fun last night on land. A smallish
group of us went out to a restaurant called
the Salmon House, which is right on Lake
Washington with an outside deck. The evening
was beautiful, and the amount of boat
traffic on the lake was amazing. We even
saw a sea-plane take off! We had some
excellent Washington pinot gris, and my
friend Catalina and I shared a "salmon
sampler" -king, sockeye, and keta
salmon, all grilled over alder. It made
me very nostalgic for Bryce's applewood
smoked salmon (by the way, his wins hands
down). We joined some others in the science
group, and some crew, at a bar afterwards,
where the wine was definitely not of the
same caliber - it had a bit of a Windex
tang to it. But a good time was had by
all, especially after the karaoke started
up. Our group was surprisingly restrained
and didn't join in, which is probably
just as well as the performance standard
was really high.
All hands had to be on board
by midnight, so we trotted back to the
ship at 11:30. I really tried to stay
up for the departure at 2am, because I
wanted to see us go through the locks,
but the festive evening and jet lag took
its toll and I nodded off. I did, however,
get up at 5 to see the sun rise and watch
as we made our way towards the navy fueling
dock at Bremerton. I love watching them
"park" the ship - the lines
are HUGE, and the fenders are the size
of my car.
The fueling was pretty interesting
to watch - 120,000 gallons of diesel!
I asked the Chief Engineer how much that
cost them, and he said about $130,000.
Now you know why the Atlantis costs $30,000
a day to run. There was a big tanker from
Baltimore alongside (the Galena Bay),
which was doing some serious transfer
of fuel. It kind of made us look like
a Mini pulled up next to an 18-wheeler.
We sailed from Bremerton
around the middle of the day, and left
the Straits this morning, it has got a
bit bumpier. I am all dosed up with Bonine,
so hopefully will not be sick. There is
no bad weather coming, as far as we can
see right now. One spanner in the works
is that the Navy refused us clearance
for some of the seamounts, as they are
doing ops up here. So we have had to redesign
our dive schedule.
Coming through the Straits
yesterday evening was very picturesque
- purplish hills all around, some of the
higher peaks with snow that turned all
orange and pink when the sun went down.
After dinner I came out on deck for a
few minutes before going to bed, and there
was a full moon blazing a trail of white
light across the water.
OK, think that's all my
news for now. We have two days of transit
to the first seamount, and the first Alvin
dive will take place on Monday. So not
much to do now but read, watch movies
and sleep. And of course eat, which is
a real pleasure on the Atlantis.
Hope all is well back on
shore, take care, and I'll write again
soon,
