Category: MATE Blog Archive Page 78 of 89

 As I finish my first week on the R/V Savannah I have quickly determined what I forgot while packing.  In actuality I figured it out the first day on the ship while digging through my suitcase, but over the course of the week I quickly realized I could live without the majority of the stuff I brought with me.  For some reason it is extremely nice to know I can live without the majority of the stuff I brought… though I wish I had discovered this sooner so I didn’t have to bring such a large bag.  In this blog I am just going to go over some items that I have found extremely useful during my trip thus far as well as the ways I have kept myself entertained after my watches. 

Clothing
-Extra Underwear
-Extra Socks
-Extra Shirts
-Boots and Sandals

When it comes to clothing I am very glad that I brought extras of socks and shirts.  I knew that I would probably get wet while working on the deck but the smell of dried saltwater, plus the stench of sweat (doesn’t matter how much deodorant you use…by the end of the day you’ll smell like sweat…it’s Georgia)…or dirty feet depending on the article of clothing.  It just sucks.  By having extra shirts and socks you don’t have to worry about changing in the middle of the day if you get too dirty.  As for extra underwear the purpose of that should go without saying…just bring it.  When it comes to clothing most research vessels have laundry machines on board however the number of times they can be run depends on the water level (also it seems that the science party seems to hog the machines most of the time…) Keeping this in mind I generally like to pack a week and a half’s worth of shirts/socks.  Personally I have no issue with re-wearing my work pants or shorts multiple times as long as they don’t smell so I generally pack less pants/shorts to save room. 

In terms of boots/sandals I believe it is best to have one pair of work boots (generally steel toed even if its not necessary) and a pair of sandals that you can wear while in the shower…cause who wants Athletes foot…. ewww.  I also brought a pair of running shoes with me for the times we are on shore or I’m on the plane.  It’s interesting to see the range of footwear you see on the ship, especially amongst the crew.  We currently have one crewmember on board who almost never wears shoes…he gets teased for it all the time but it’s still sort of amazing.  I guess if you spend enough time running around shoeless you get used to it.  Other than that it’s really common to see running shoes and while they are in the pilot house lots of sandals and Crocs. 

Utility
-Thumb drive
-Lighter
-Knife

I must say the thumb drive, lighter, and knife has been some of my most asked to borrow/use items.  All of them are extremely useful as most people forget to bring them.  For some reason it seems like most people in the science party forget about thumb drives and believe that emailing or burning a CD is the best way to transfer data…. internet connection is horrible on the ship and burning a CD is in my opinion a waste (most people I know have external hard drives if they are planning on large data transfers, so much quicker).  It’s also much easier to just use a thumb drive, especially if all they want are pictures that you’ve taken of their operations. 

While most people might find a lighter useless unless they are a smoker it can be a great way of breaking the ice with other crew and/or science party.  Since there are generally a few smokers on board it’s not that rare to be asked if you have a lighter and people generally remember if you were nice enough to let them borrow yours.  A lighter can also be useful when splicing. 

As a marine technician a knife can be extremely useful for multiple purposes.  In my case I generally used it to cut lines or zip ties during our mooring recoveries. 

Personal Stuff (Female Specific)

I personally don’t like to wear makeup while working with the exception of some lotion, but I did bring an eyeliner stick and mascara for use during the days I have at port.  In my totally biased opinion it’s probably best to keep the amount of makeup you bring to a minimum. 

Food
-Chocolate/Candy/Gum

This is another one of those icebreaker items.  It’s always nice to be offered candy/gum and generally works as a decent conversation starter for people like me (I’m really bad at finding topics to talk about…especially when you are sitting on watch at 2am in the morning). 

Recreation
-Laptop w/ music, videogames, books, movies

My suggestion when it comes to recreational items is to just bring a laptop and some thumb drives filled with music/games/books/movies/etc.  It’s much more efficient then packing hard copies of all the books you want.  Another good thing to remember is that most ships have their own DVD collections…I must say I am amazed at the current collection on the R/V Savannah, so many new movies which is awesome. 

Free Time

           So depending on your watch schedule you may sometimes be lucky enough to find a few minutes/hours to spend relaxing versus watching computer screens or operations going on.  In my case I have had a decent amount of free time due to the type of transects that our science crew is doing.  The chief scientist is essentially having us doing “triangle transects” which means the ship travels 200m, turns, goes another 200m, turns, and finally another 200m.  At that last point the ship will stop and the CTD will be deployed.  This repeats for 24+ hours…. you can imagine the excitement.  During the whole operation the ADCP is also running, so essentially we are trying to collect a time series of the water mass movement in the area of the transect.  I’m not really great at explaining the science that is being done so I apologize (Always fell asleep during my physical oceanography classes…oops). 
         Anyways, during my free time I have generally spent it learning about knots/rope work, marine navigation, Arduino microcontroller boards, and also all of the science that everyone is doing.  I know this might not sound like free time to some people since you are still learning and generally getting schooled…by everyone…I lost count of how many times one of the crew made me redo my splice, tad bit frustrating to do it wrong and have him take it apart and then correctly do it in seconds.  Or when I asked one of the scientists about his project over a game of cards (I essentially tried to regurgitate what he said to me about the triangle transects and I would say I miserably failed at conveying exactly what he is doing.)
        I highly suggest that anyone who is interested or plans to work on a ship (scientist, crew, or otherwise) learns how to do the basic knots and splicing.  Not only is it extremely useful but it can also be a good way to waste some time.  So far I have relearned the bowline (most useful knot ever…. in my opinion) and also learned how to do a basic splice.  I have also spent some time learning about marine navigation, mostly learning how to run the autopilot, use the radar, and proper radio communication.  Lastly I brought an Arduino microcontroller board with me.  Essentially I can write code and program it to do a whole bunch of different things (lots of people use Arduino boards for the ROVs or other small controlled robots) currently I have it set up so I can play an LED light game with it.  The goal of the game is to stop the light when it flashes green and each time you get it correct the flashes will get faster. 

Anyways, I have to get back to work.  Next week I’ll probably discuss the biology of Georgia seeing that we have seen a lot of cool critters and will be starting a new fishery related cruise. 

Personal Adjustments

       As a marine technician one is generally faced with many adjustments.  These can include things such as climate and time differences, but also larger changes such as the upheaval of ones regular schedule and living situation.  As a MATE intern one of the easiest adjustments I had to make revolved around the time and temperature changes.  As mentioned in my previous blog I generally live in Seattle, Washington.  What this means is that I am accustomed to rather mild weather.  Summers are generally in the 70s-80s (though the week that I left we had a heat warning due to the consistent 90 degree days…I know some people will be laughing at this, but for some reason Washingtonians don’t know how to deal with 90 degree weather).   Winters are also relatively mild, usually in the 40s-50s with plenty of rain.  Similarly to the 90-degree days when the occasional snow shows up everyone freaks out.  I should also mention one more thing…. there really isn’t such a thing as “humidity” in Washington., every once in awhile we have a “humid” day…but its rare.  Then there’s Georgia.  Honestly I have loved Georgia so far, but one thing is for certain, it is much hotter and I was pretty sure the humidity was going to be the death of me that first day.  Luckily ones body can adjust to climate changes relatively quickly and I was fine by the day we left. 
        The second small change that I will quickly address is one of time differences.  This is another change that your body can adjust to relatively quickly, however it is still strange to jump 2 hours ahead of time.  For my flight to Georgia I left at midnight Seattle time before arriving at Chicago O’hare airport at 7ish am Chicago time before finally arriving in Savannah Georgia at 11 am Georgia time.  I can definitely say I was jet lagged even with such a short time change, it probably didn’t help that I never seem to be able to sleep on planes. 
      The last topic I’d like to address is the separation of marine technicians (as well as crew members etc) from their families.  While researching this position one of the most common negativities that I heard was the loneliness that came with the job.  Many marine technicians and crew are separated from their wives/husbands/kids for days to months etc.  After awhile this can cause a toll on their relationships.  While most are able to handle it it still is something to consider if you want a career on a ship.  While I do not have this particular issue (no kids etc) I can imagine that it would be tolling after awhile. 

Scientific Adjustments

     In the scientific community there is one thing for certain…. it doesn’t matter how fool proof your plan may be…. things happen.  Going into this internship I have been lucky to have a good scientific background with a double major in oceanography and aquatic and fishery sciences.  This is nice since I am able to pick up on the research that is being done much quicker then I might have without this background.  Since my background is in the marine sciences I am also familiar with a decent amount of the scientific instruments in use by the current science party (or at least understand the deployment mechanism if I don’t understand the actual data). 
       When it comes to the relationship of scientists and the marine technicians I always remember the description our Intro to Oceanography professor gave us on our first day cruise; “Marine technicians are there to translate the science parties demands in a way that will make the ships crew not want to murder them.  This includes telling the scientists straight up if their plans will not work [due to limited equipment, ship capability, weather/time constraints, etc] and how to adjust their ideas.  As you can imagine scientists that are limited on ship time and by budget constraints do not like hearing that they cannot collect the data that they would want/need.  “  Overall my classmates and I gained an understanding that while we may get disappointed if we are told our original plan may not work we needed to remember that the marine technicians were there to keep us and our equipment safe and if you ask they will more then likely be willing to help you come up with an alternate plan for your data collection. 
      With this mindset I went into my internship knowing that things would most likely go wrong and that I was there to make sure that science could still be done.  So far during this cruise things have been going relatively smoothly.  The main issues we have faced revolve around the CTD as well as a device use to collect ocean optical data, which we nicknamed “the donut”.  For the CTD we have had random misfires, where the niskan bottle will fire yet the bottom plug will not set all the way resulting in the bottle draining as soon as its out of the water.  While this is generally just a random occurrence with no particular fault my mentor and I are currently taking off the niskan bottles one by one to adjust the way the bottles are cocked.  This may not help the setting issue but it will surely make it easier to cock the bottles while prepping for a CTD cast.  The second issue we’ve had on this cruise so far is the “donut”.  I have included a picture of the device.  Overall it is merely an intertube with a Pelican case cooler with electronics attached in the center.  Coming out of the pelican case are two pvc pipes, one enters the water and measures the optics at the surface and the other points upwards to measure the amount of sunlight hitting the device.  When we first deployed the device it did not have enough weight to successfully float away from the ship by itself, so we had to “bump it” by turning on the thrusters.  However the lack of weight also made the device prone to flipping if the bump wave was too big and the lines weren’t taught.  So of course during one deployment the device flipped.  Luckily we were able to retrieve it and none of the electronics had gotten wet.  To make the device more stable we decided to attach a weight to the wooden board on the bottom of the device.  So far this has worked out great. 

Conclusion

     Overall I am still having a blast.  The crew and science party has questioned me multiple times as to why I would ever want to do this job.  The funny thing is as more days pass I’m starting to clarify why I want to be here, and what it comes down to is adventure.  At this point in my life I have multiple job opportunities that I can pursue, but I really don’t want another old lab position where you might get the funding to do one research cruise a year.  I love being on the water and working on ships too much.  By working as a marine technician intern I not only get to meet new people but I get to constantly learn about new science and explore new places.  I know the good always comes with the bad, but I think I am willing to deal with that.