Sea Log: 2024-02-22

Published

February 22, 2024

Today was also a very excellent chill day,1 mostly spent looking at cool things above, below, and around me.2 Cool things include: sunrise, whales,3 sunset, rocket launch4, sea aliens, etc. etc.

I also spent my free time reading, journaling, deploying some equipment5, and helping sis with calculus homework.6

Tomorrow will be a long day:7 I’m getting up to see the sunrise again, and then we’ve finally got nets at night back on the schedule. Woohoo!

manta zooplankton net being towed through the ocean

The manta valiantly takes to the seas!8

pastel rainbow sunset with some streaky clouds over the ocean

Science and buckets and hard hats go hand in hand

image of through a microscope of zooplankton

Sea aliens!9

caro on the left corner looking out over the ship and the sun rising over the ocean.

Just a simple gal who likes pretty skies

pastel rainbow sunset with some streaky clouds over the ocean

Seeing the sunrise AND sunset in the same day has good full-circle energy

image of night sky with stars sprinkled throughout

The stars are coming out! Moon is nearly full and thus bright, so stars not quite as bright as they could be10

image of fog lingering over the steely gray ocean

Just outside of the safety radius, the rocket flies right over us!11

Sea fun fact of the day: I watched one of the space aliens12 poop today under the microscope and it was very cool. Since these critters are see-through, you can see them literally wriggling their insides to get brown stuff out. Maybe this is TMI, but I didn’t even know most of these creatures existed before coming on this trip, so watching stuff like this live is fascinating.

I must go to sleep now, but if you’d like some light reading, please feel free to read up on the bowel movements of space alien worms.

Footnotes

  1. We’re still close to shore, in the Santa Barbara basin, taking shallow water BBL samples. So, we’re not on our usual net schedule.↩︎

  2. There’s a lot to look at out at sea, lemme tell ya.↩︎

  3. Maybe orcas? Maybe gray whales? Maybe both? My animal identification skills aren’t necessarily professional and I really only saw the water spout and tail flippers↩︎

  4. Did a SpaceX rocket fly right over us? Yep. Was it cool? Yep. Was it also hella windy and I have the most gritty video ever? Also yep.↩︎

  5. Finally got a manta tow net in the water. And sent the DPI in for another undulating journey in the ocean.↩︎

  6. I know, I’m a nerd, we’ve already established this fact. Moving along now!
    ps: you’re welcome sis.↩︎

  7. Will I nap? That is indeed the question to be asking.↩︎

  8. And by takes to the seas, I mean we very precariously lowered this thing over the side of the boat and then watched it bob along the surface as we cruised at roughly a knot and a half. Speed demons we are!↩︎

  9. Disclaimer: definitely not actual aliens. At least, as far as we know.↩︎

  10. I am not a pro photographer, my night shots leave something to be desired, but hey, I tried. The stars looked cool so close your eyes and use your imagination if you must.↩︎

  11. I know, I know, this is a really thrilling image. In the video I have, the audio is essentially just us asking if something cool is supposed to happen still??↩︎

  12. a type of polychaete sea worm, specifically↩︎