Another week down. This one was even calmer than the last, with only a few OBS deployments. The magnetometer continues to function as we “mow the lawn” southwest of Fiji, collecting bathymetric mapping data.

With the extra downtime, we’ve continued lessons and hands-on challenges to learn as much as possible from the onboard marine technicians. So far, that coursework has included networking challenges, cable management and termination, serial data communication, CTD setup, and a variety of other technical skills.

I presented some of my past research experience which was a fun opportunity to bring some physical oceanography and ecology topics to the onboard science team which largely consists of seismologists and geophysicists.

I am also learning an important lesson about the dangers of having auto updates enabled on a computer actively being used for data collection. Not only did we lose data during the update, but a driver had to be manually updated before we could resume data collection. Learn from our mistakes.

The menu onboard continues to impress. My favorite meal this week was a Rueben wrap, tuna steaks, and salad with Italian dressing.

The weather has been fantastic, with swell between two and five feet and many sunny days. I’m trying to enjoy the calm before the storm as we brace for a schedule packed full of deployments, larger swell, and rough weather in a few days.

Please enjoy this amazing sunset, which included a visit from some red-footed boobies!

-Avery