Sea Log: 2024-03-03

Published

March 3, 2024

Last night, I participated in an essential seafaring activity: decorating styrofoam cups to be sent down in the ocean and shrunk due to the pressure.1 Many a cup were decorated and sent down on this morning’s 0600 deep CTD,2 so I woke up to a fun treasure this afternoon.3

We also all signed a head that got shrunk. No notes about how it turned out, the eyes are perfect. If you must see the before: video link

sunset drawn on styrofoam cup, more cups and art supplies in background of photo

Naturally, I had to do a sunset view on my cup

sunset drawn on styrofoam cup, more cups and art supplies in background of photo

Before, pt. 2

shrunken cup held up in front of the CTD on deck

After, with the CTD in the background

several people coloring cups surrounded by other decorated cups in a computer lab

Some people’s cups were truly works of art

a signed and shrunken styrofoam head. looks a little creepy, with sunken eyes

Definitely not a demon head, nope, nuh uh.4

PS: Swells were big when we recovered the DPI this afternoon and we snapped two carbon fiber tagging poles.5 And the ocean ate one of the poles. Oops.6

Sea fun fact of the day: Bow thrusters7 are propellers located in the bow that help with ship maneuverability. They allow the ship to move port and starboard (left and right) without needing to go forward or backwards, and are especially useful for holding in position (something we do a lot), and in high winds/currents/swells (things we also have a lot of right now).

Footnotes

  1. Basically, the ocean equivalent of Shrinky Dinks↩︎

  2. Down to 3000m!↩︎

  3. When I greet people in the hallway just after waking up at 1400, do I say good morning? good afternoon? Greetings are fumbled constantly when time is an irrelevant construct.↩︎

  4. The real question is, whose desk is getting blessed with this back on land↩︎

  5. carbon fiber snaps are rather loud, in case you were wondering↩︎

  6. Much better to let go of the pole, than the alternative if one of us fell into the ocean trying to hold on. Thankfully no one went overboard and no one hurt.↩︎

  7. My stateroom is directly above the bow thrusters. Since these things are so loud and the background noise to my slumber, I figured I should actually learn what they’re used for. ↩︎