Sea Log: 2024-03-16

Published

March 16, 2024

The last proper day of doing science. Wowzas.

End of an era this evening. I’ll probably never process another net, or cock another moc. I am so grateful for this experience to see stuff I’d likely never see anywhere else, and yet I also now know that I am a land gal; that I love having my diversity of activities and community and hubbub of ‘regular’ life.

pastel colored cloud at sunset, over the ocean. Photo is slightly blurry

Writing this recap in July 2024,1 I’m reflecting on this blurry sunset picture. The clouds are pretty and drifty and I almost like the photo better because it is a little blurry.2 Not everything in life is clear and that is okay. When I returned from sea, not everything was certain and now writing several months later, some things have changed while others have remained the same. Flowers take time to bloom and sometimes we must learn to be patient;3 a perfectly clear and steady life wouldn’t be as fun, interesting, and unexpected as the life we’ve been given to live.4

Some mundane notes from the day:

  • I ate my weight in crumble today and I have no regrets5
  • When I nearly missed the sunset (egads), turns out I also missed a spectacle6 where they found a dead seal floating by and Andrew tried to catch it on a pole.
  • I chomped a pyrosome tonight. It was my last chance since these were the last nets of the whole cruise. It was a gooey one. Very salty for the first taste, kinda hard and then liquidy texture, then the aftertaste is the taste-equivalent of how zoop smell.7 Honestly, not pleasant but I had to try it.8

a collection of small creatures with one long green one that are in a white canvas Manta tow net

A collection of small critters from the surface9 Manta tow

clear goo and green phytoplankton stuck in a mesh container

A final ode to all the snot10 I pulled out of mesh

Sea fun fact of the day: That thing that looks like a piece of grass in the Manta tow is actually a fish! Probably a bay pipefish if my research is correct.11

Footnotes

  1. Using my notes from sea; I promise, this is the last of the sea logs that was delayed. After this I’m done.↩︎

  2. I did have alternate sunset pics but this one won↩︎

  3. whether we want to or not↩︎

  4. I’m getting philosophical now. But as my notes say, this evening marked the end of an era.↩︎

  5. tho I’d really love a crumble without the weird dried fruit chunks that were in this one. but beggars can’t be choosers↩︎

  6. Real bummed I missed this spectacle because it sounded funny to watch↩︎

  7. like vaguely rotting sea↩︎

  8. Max says “nauseating” but proud of me for trying it↩︎

  9. Really is incredible how much life is teeming right in the top few inches of the ocean↩︎

  10. aka sea goo & phytoplankton↩︎

  11. I definitely don’t remember what we called it when we pulled it up from the ocean↩︎