Month: May 2022 Page 1 of 2

Week 2 was very similar to Week 1, as we finished the second cruise at the end of the week. As time progressed and I had more time on the aft controls, I got more comfortable with maneuvering the boat during CTD casts. I also got to interact with the scientists onboard helping them recover the CTD on deck and learning the computer aspects to deploying a CTD with knowing how deep it is, the depth until it reaches the bottom, how to fire Niskin bottles, and a lot more. During my down time onboard I had the chance to play card games and learn a new one, Scopa, an Italian card game. 
On the way back to the docks, the port engine had troubles once more. This time it was a coolant problem, we had none. Because of that, more coolant was added to the engine and the engineer wasn’t sure if it was a quick or slow leak, so every 15 minutes levels were checked along with engine temperature to try and figure out the problem. It was in fact a slow leak because after 2 hours of checking, the levels were staying the same and the engine temperature was staying consistent. Right before we entered Biscayne Bay, for the final stretch before the docks, we heard a distress call over the radio. All crew was up on the bridge wing looking for flares and informing the Coast Guard of their location.  Once we finally made it back to the docks and tied up it was time to relax for a nice 3 day weekend. It was spent relaxing at the beach, exploring the area on some bikes (getting caught in the beginning of the thunderstorm) and SCUBA diving were I saw many Florida lobsters “bugs”, massive sea stars, lion fish, tarpon, a nurse shark, an eagle ray, some barracuda, and conch.
I cannot wait for more weeks to come to learn more. 

Cape Florida lighthouse, built in 1825, on Key Biscayne, FL. This is the oldest structure in Miami-Dade and has survived almost 200 years of hurricanes. Today, the lighthouse is a cultural landmark and part of the National Register of Historic Places. 

Today, marks my seventh day onboard the F.G. Walton Smith and it has been a bundle of great experiences so far! On the first day, I arrived to the RSMAS campus after a long redeye flight just in time to meet with the Marine Operations Manager, Don Cucchiara, and the whole shoreside team. We caught the lines for the F.G. Walton Smith as it returned from a 4-day cruise diving to recover a few 3-5 year old moorings off the coast of Jupiter, Florida. While underway on that cruise, the crew was having trouble keeping the port main engine alive, so they were limping back to the dock on one engine. 

My introduction to the ship and the crew was quick as I dove right in! Right away the Chief Engineer and previous Mate Intern, Jonathan Raymond, took me and Alesha Gregroire to troubleshoot the engine. We first tried to switch the Fuel Actuator and High Pressure Sensor from the starboard engine to the port engine as we wanted to test if those had gone bad on the portside. We also tested the connections with a multimeter to see if there was a short somewhere in the Engine Control Module (ECM). Finally, we deduced that the ECM was cutting power to the engine when it sensed there was a problem with something internal. As the engines are upon their death bed at a little over my age, 22-23 years, it was decided for the next cruise we would bypass the ECM on the port main engine. Essentially, we hotwired the solenoid of the ECM straight to the battery as we didn’t have time to find out what the internal problem was. 

The second day, we spent some more time with the engine as we figured out it couldn’t be shut down with the bypass wire. So, we added a switch. There was also a problem with the head system as it wasn’t providing enough suction. So, we replaced some duckbill valves by the pump. We helped load stores when the cook arrived and helped load the scientists gear when they arrived as well.

At 0400 on Friday, we set sail with both engines up and running on a 7-day cruise to collect water samples and CTD profiles from stations outside of Miami down to Key West and back around to Tampa and Florida Bay. Onboard there were scientists working from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Lab (AOML), the MOTE Marine Lab, and Kristin Buck’s Lab at the University of South Florida (USF). This was a great introduction and experience to research vessel operations as Alesha and I learned how to deploy and recover the CTD, Net Tows, and collect trace metal Samples over the side. We also stood navigational bridge watches and learned new card games from the scientists. 

By the third day of the cruise, the F.G. Walton Smith was becoming super hot as the A/C system was struggling in the Florida humidity. Jonathan and I took a look into the compressor system and found numerous pinhole leaks, which were contributing to loss of cooling abilities. We worked to fix the leaks and everyone onboard was grateful to have the A/C back up and running as it was 82 degrees with 90% humidity throughout the trip. 

Watches were exciting as their was plenty of life to watch between pelicans divebombing fish, dolphin pods following the ship, and bioluminescence at night. There were also plenty of boats to avoid as Florida is riddled with amateur boaters and crazy for fishing. 

This has been a great experience so far and looking forward to spending more time with the crew!

To start my MATE internship, I boarded the R/V F. G. Walton Smith Monday afternoon and set out for a cruise that evening. The mission of this cruise was to recover 3 moorings, that were deployed over the past 5 years, and deploy 2 others in Jupiter, FL. My job for this cruise was to stay within close proximity to the divers with the vessel while they were in the water because our vessel was flying the dive flag. Before we left the docks I was able to help the chief engineer with the pre-departure checklist and starting the engines and generator.  As we were leaving Miami Channel I got to see about 8 dolphins riding the bow. That night as I was on watch we lost the port engine, it wasn’t until early the next morning that it was able to be turned back on. We finally made our way to Jupiter that evening before sunset and the divers were able to located and tag one mooring to recover the next morning. Having engine problems, we were only able to deploy one mooring and recover instruments off another. We were able to limp back to port on one engine and about an hour to two hours out from the university we were able to restart the port side engine to have full maneuverability to get to the dock. After docking, I met the other MATE intern and we helped the engineer with trying to troubleshoot the engine problem. We swapped the actuator from the starboard engine to the port issue engine to see if that was the problem, but unfortunately not, it had to be the engine computer. To fix this I was able to crimp wire to run from the battery to the engine. Before we left for the next cruise I was able to help with the fuel delivery, replacing the racor filters for both engines and added a switch to the wire that was place the day before Sri the port engine. 
 

For this second cruise, the scientists onboard ere collecting data on red tide aloof the Florida keys and into the Gulf of Mexico along the western coast of Florida up to Saint Petersburg area. They are performing net tows, CTD casts, and collecting water samples to observe trace metals. For this cruise I am helping in the bridge with bringing the boat from station to station, holding the boat steady with the wind off the stern for CTD casts, and helping out on deck with steadying the CTD upon entering and exiting the water. So far for this cruise, the only wildlife I’ve seen was a sea turtle and a bunch of pelicans. I’m still on the hunt to see more aquatic life everyday.

Dolphins off the bow.