Week 1 Arrival in Bermuda

April 2, 2023

Unfortunately, when I arrived in LA on the 2nd, my flight was canceled and I wouldn’t have been able to make it onto the connecting flight to Bermuda. The only flight that the airline company was able to schedule me on didn’t depart for another 2 days. And so I waited. Luckily the ship wasn’t scheduled to leave for another few days and so though I would miss the safety briefing I should make it for the first cruise.

April 4, 2023

Airplane departs at 11:50pm without any difficulties.

April 5, 2023

I finally managed to arrive and I came right when the staff was having an Easter party. There were games and prizes for different little events. For food there was traditional “Hot cross buns and Fish cakes” which I had never had before, nor would I think to have the combination of a sweet roll made with cinnamon and raisins and inside place a savory fish cake, but it tasted great! Lydia (Marine Technician) showed me to my cabin and said we’d be departing at 9am in the morning. 

April 6, 2023

Luckily even though I missed the safety briefing the day before, they still let me onto the first day-long cruise, and the first mate Emmy gave me a make up safety briefing. This included donning a full immersion suit made of thick neoprene.

This cruise was with BATS, and was only for the day. My goal was to get accustomed to the ship and its operations. There were two scheduled CTD deployments at 3450m and then again at 100m. 

The only problem that arose while on the cruise was the seawater intake pump filter got clogged. It was noticed by Matt, one of the scientists, who saw that the flow rate of sea water had significantly decreased. Oban, one of the marine technicians, knew exactly what the cause was, “the pump is clogged with sargassum seaweed.” When we went to turn off the pump and check the strainer, sure enough there was sargassum seaweed blocking the flow. It’s got small pneumatocysts that hold air. When chunks are broken off from the main organism they float to the surface. This is a problem for valves that intake seawater under the ship because the seaweed is floating at the top and will get sucked up instead. Once the algae was cleared, once the pump was turned back on we could see that the flow was moving smoothly again.

While we were checking the flow rate, Oban had noticed that the fluorescence of one of the sensors was significantly different than the other. Since the day was almost done he wrote it up in the to-do log to check on the next maintenance day. He mentioned that a good way to tell which one is off is to compare the values to the CTD fluorescent values and likely the one that matches is the one that’s accurate.

Once we got back to shore, some of the crew and I went to a local restaurant called “White Horse” where I got a ginger soda. 

When we got back to the ship, Emmy told me where the “soft” blankets are, and that there are a limited number of them so I should grab one while I can!

April 7-9, 2023

Apparently the marine techs have this weekend and Friday off, which leaves me plenty of time to rest up, adjust to the time change, and explore. 

Luckily one of the crew said that I could use his bike, and so I’ve been riding as far as my legs could take me. Rory also lent me some bus tickets for a bus that runs all over the island, though I’ve yet to come close to following the bus schedule.

P.S.

A lot of the people on the R/V AE have accents from all around the world, and I noticed myself inclined to mirror them. I remembered hearing that there’s a phenomenon that after you spend a lot of time with someone with a different accent you’ll pick up a bit of it. A quick internet search found that this is called the chameleon effect, and is a natural occurrence where we unintentionally mirror others in order to bond and feel safe in social interactions. So it stands to reason that I will eventually adapt an English, Australian, Filipino, and a swashbuckling West Country “Long John-Silver” concoction of an accent. I endearingly look forward to it.