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.