Category: USCGC Healy Page 11 of 12

Introduction and Anticipation

Hi all, my name is Nick Benz and I will be sailing on the USCGC Healy for the next six weeks. In approximately eighteen hours I will have finished packing and repacking, and then board my first flight on my way to Anchorage. I’ll then board the Alaska Railroad south to Seward, where the US Coast Guard Cutter Healy is docked. From there the opportunity of a lifetime will begin. 

I have had a bit of experience working on research vessels, but I expect Healy to be unique because it is a Coast Guard ship. Also, I have learned that the primary goals of the cruise will target the biology of the focus sites. My background is in geophysics so I’m sure there will be a learning curve for becoming familiar with the intricacies of the survey methods. This should make for fairly exciting blog posts. 

By this time next week I will be able to report those details. For now I would like to thank those who were instrumental in my attaining this awesome internship. I am honored.

Nick

      I arrived in Honolulu on June 19th after a grueling sixteen hour travel day that started at 2:30 AM in Boston, Massachusetts. My first two days aboard the Healy were spent in port, where I used that time to familiarize myself with the ship and got to know my fellow companions that would be accompanying me on the voyage. Once we left port, my mentor Andrew Woogen had us set-up and trouble-shoot both flow-through systems connected the the Science Seawater System. The main flow-through system went together rather painlessly, but the flow-through in the wet lab was not so easy. Everytime we were able to get the sensors related to the TSG box online the other sensors would seem to cut out and stop working. Once we ironed out the problem, all the sensors in the wet lab came back online and we then began to organize and label the rats nest of wires that were associated with the flow-through system.

    The following day we were met with much rougher seas and my fears of becoming seasick finally  vanished. I had no problems tolerating the rough conditions and actually found the situation rather exciting. The task of the day was to install and connect all the necessary sensors associated with the CTD.  My duties included installing the altimeter, the PAR sensor, and mounting and installing the transmissometer. I was also shown the basics of how the software associated with the components onboard the CTD work and how all the instruments are programmed. I ran into some trouble finding all the correct wires necessary for each sensor, but with the help of my mentor together we were able to source all the appropriate cables and get the CTD completely wired up and ready for a connection test.

    Since the cables for the CTD were difficult to find and some important ones were scarce, the following day I was put in charge of categorizing, organizing, and inventorying all of the CTD cables aboard the Healy. I decided to organize everything first, then when through and created a spreadsheet and checklist of everything we had, and what we needed. In my spreadsheet I noted that the cables I inventoryed were only the ones that I deemed “Plug and Play” or “Complete”, being that a majority of the cables have been cut or spliced at some point. My mentor also suggested that a particular Y-cable that would run both the fluorometer and the transmissometer off of one connection would be helpful in future deployments of the CTD. My second task that afternoon was to source that particular Y-cable using Sea Bird Electronics website as a guide. I was able to narrow my search down to two options of cable that I believed to be the correct ones for the application. Since I wanted to guarantee I had the correct cables, I decided to email Sea Bird Electronics to ensure I had the correct ones. 

     My mentor was pleased with the way that I organized and inventoried the CTD cables, and suggested that I email my spreadsheet/checklist to an incoming marine technician so he could get a head start on gathering the required cables for his future research mission. At that point, I hadn’t heard back from Sea Bird Electronics on whether I had the correct cables or not, so I decided to email the incoming marine tech the two cables that I thought were the correct ones, and noted that I wasn’t one hundred percent sure they were the proper cables. I also added in my email other necessary supplies that we knew we in need of.

    I look forward to updating this blog later on this week or sometime early next week as we cruise toward Seward, Alaska. At some point we are supposed to start in on the Science Seawater System so in the next installment of my blog I will hopefully have some good info and experience with that equipment. 

    Stay Tuned–

        Kyle Yusen

Hi my name is Gerardo Acosta, a student from Long Beach City College. I have been given this chance to participate in the MATE internship. This internship is a great opportunity and I intend to take full advantage of it. This is the first of my blogs that I will do throughout the two weeks I will be at sea on board the USCG Healy. To begin with, going into this internship I feel it to be a bit intimidating. The science coordinator, David and I had a phone call in which he briefly discussed my job on the ship. We talked for about thirty and while on the phone I typed notes on my laptop of the details about the job so that I can research specific components at a later time. When I talked with David, I was able to speak with Kyle Yusen who is the other intern that will be joining me on the cruise.  Kyle Yusen sounded like a very intelligent and friendly person. I look forward to working with him on this cruise. David briefly explained to us the complex system of piping that Kyle and I will be working on. The components I will be working on for the ships vital information system that the crew needs in order to make decisions for navigation. The whole idea of this cruise seemed very intimidating for several reasons. One, the people I spoke with were well education and had lots of experience. The last reason is because the moment I learned that I received the internship, I researched the history, missions and accolades of Healy. I googled the name and clicked on the first Wikipedia page. The first sentence on Wikipedia read, “The United States’ largest and most technologically advanced icebreaker“. This gave me the idea that work here will be serious because one, I will be working with US coast guards, two, even if it’s just an internship I will need to give it my full attention to have correct data for the ships navigation, and three because I feel like I have a duty to do my job with zero mistakes to get our ship to safely cross the ocean. When I finished talking on the phone with David, I was under the impression that he had lots of experience and that if I had any question about the trip he would answer. Also, after telling my professor at Long Beach City College about this cruise, he told me to just focus on my work and try to get as much experience as I can in this trip and if I had any questions to no hesitate to call and ask him.

A few days later Nandita the MATE internship coordinator called me to conduct a phone interview and discuss the details of my flights and travel plans. Nandita was very helpful when it came to setting up travel plans. The plan is to leave from LAX to Honolulu and meet up with the rest of the team. Then conduct all emergency details required to be on the boat. Then, be on our way for our cruise and arrive at Seward Alaska. There, we take a train to Anchorage with Andrew Woogen and Kyle and then catch our individual fights back home. In this cruise I will give it my best and gain as much experience as possible to someday get that dream job.

After this cruise my goal is to use this experience to get a job in the field. Most importantly though, I will try and network with ship crew members to see if they would happen to know any opportunities to actually work with them and getting paid full time to conduct research on the ship. Over all though I think this will be an excellent work experience opportunity. My dream job involves doing something I love to do. Being able to travel the world while working in the field I studied is life goal.

   I’m about a week away from flying out to Honolulu, Hawaii to board the USCG Healy. My trek will take me from Hawaii to Seward, Alaska and will last about ten days. Although this voyage is seemingly shorter than your typical internship, I look forward to learning and experiencing everything this opportunity has to offer. My internship is set to begin on June 20th and last until June 29th (give or take a day or two).

   My case is no exception to the apparent norm for the first pre-internship blog post; as I too have been scrambling to make sure all the neccessary paperwork and forms are completed in a timely fashion. With that said, I finally feel like I have all my “ducks in a row” and can truly begin to gear myself for this fantastic opportunity.

   In my next post I intend on hitting the nitty-gritty parts of my specific voyage and plan on getting more in-depth with my specific duties and experiences aboard the Healy. I must take a second to thank everyone who has helped me along the way and provided me support and guidance to make this dream of an opportunity come true.

  I look forward to keeping everyone updated on my quest,

       Kyle Yusen

Well, this is it.  My last day afloat.  In an hour we will put in to Dutch Harbor and tomorrow just after noon, I start my trip home.  I’m not going to lie…I can’t wait to see my wife and daughters, eat food that I make myself, drive a car, and walk on a surface that is not moving:)

But I will miss life afloat, the people I have met, my mentors, the scientists and crew.  And what a load of memories I take away!  

The experience has been AMAZING.  I have lived and worked aboard two very different vessels for nearly six weeks, I have expereinced work-life in a shop setting as well, I have loaded and unloaded ships, programmed computers, swung loads aboard in high seas, seen polar bears, whales, seals, wlaruses, and dolphins, fixed electronics, travelled farther north than most people will ever dream of, and made some lasting relationships with great people.  I am humbled by the opportunity I was given by the people at MATE and honestly can’t wait to get back to school and brag about the experience:)

I am hopeful that next year by this time I will be working as an ROV Technician, back on the water, doing the job I have been trained for.  If I am employed quickly, as I plan to be, I have no doubt it will be in large part due to this internship.  

Well, I should go pack.  The ship is slowing in the narrows and we have to clean our rooms and get ready to disembark.  Hears wishing you all fair winds and safe travels and thank you very much to the folks at MATE!

Working 12 hour shifts filtering water to preserve the phytoplankton can be fun..even when those shifts are at night, because in the Arctic, it really doesn’t matter….there is no night.  24 hours of daylight, so that when you go on deck for air, its bright and clear even at 0200 in the morning.  That happens to be the time I have to go to the bridge to record ice conditions for another part of the scientific mission.  I always linger on the bridge.  The ship breaking through the ice is mesmerizing, and there is always the chance that you will see wildlfie.  So far I have seen two polar bears, walruses, whales and a LOT of seals.  The BEST part of the last few days was when  Master Chief invited me up to Aloft Con, the crows nest like pilot house high above the bridge and let me pilot the ship through the ice floes…obviously under very close scrutiny.  It was a real dream come true for me – a real bucket list item!

My normal work is not so fun.  collect CTD water, filter it, preserve the filters…repeat.  The breaks come as we transit from point to point, that is when I do my work for my mentor, programming a microcontroller, configuring winch monitors, cleaning the seawater flow through system and making educational videos about the mission for out-reach..I stay busy.  

The trip to Dutch Harbor was about what you’d expect, progressively smaller planes in progressively worse weather, but the scenery flying over the Alaskan Panhandle was AMAZING. I lived in Alaska for many years, but have never been out to the Aluetians.  

My mentor got me situated on the Healy and within a day of my arrival we were at sea.  The transit north through the Bering Sea was nearly flat calm!  Not at all what I’d come to expect from the stories I’ve heard.  It took us three days to get to the ice in the Bering Straights.  We hit the ice for the first time while we were at supper and the Coast Guardsmen cheered…I guess the crew of an ice breaker is happiest in their natural element.  It was very cool.

I split my time doing tech work for my mentor and doing science with the science party.  We do CTD casts along long transects, planned to sample phytoplankton growth under the ice.  We have a quest this cruise to find a phytoplankton bloom.  The hypothesis is that with thinning ice conditions more light is making it through the ice earlier and causing abnormal growth conditions for phytoplankton…that may be, but what it means for me is long nights sampling and filtering water and afternoons spent getting my geek on with the ships data acquisition system.  My tech watch is from 1600 until 2000, my science watch is from 2000 until 0400…I’m pretty busy!

The food is great, the company is amazing, the crew of the USCGC Healy is wonderfully professional, and the scientists are flexible…they have to be because about 36 hours into our first transect we got word that we were being diverted to rescue a sailboat stuck in the ice 200 miles east of our position.  The Healy ran through ice at speeds of up to 12 knots.  It was a real bone rattling ride with the ice thundering down the hull, and the ship would frequently lurch violently as it careened off ice ridges and thick floes.  We found the sailboat completely surrounded by sea ice, where he had been for 8 days.  The crew inched the Healy in close, pushing floes aside carefully, and passed him a line.  We then, very gingerly, towed him clear of the ice and escorted him on his way to Barrow.  The sailboat captain is doing his SECOND solo sailing of the Nortwest Passage!  He is 67 years old!  He built his boat himself. He inspired me, which my wife was not pleased to hear.

Now we are back at work looking for the phytoplankton bloom.  Wish us luck!

Call me Erik _{(Ishmael is also fine…)}

This journey to Alaska will be the farthest north I have ever been, I have some idea of what will happen, it has been years since I have experienced the dancing sun but this will be a great time.  In fact I have not seen much cold weather in a long time so it is a refresher. I am an intern aboard the USCGC Healy http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/cgcHealy/ working with a CTD measurer. Anyway, on with the list of packings

• Warm socks, Under stuffs, shirts, intuitive garments sutable for ship work
• Jackets x3
• Jeans x 4
• gloves (cold weather and workout gloves _{(seirously, one of the best things ever created, the ATV of quadraped movement…. like hand shoes(are those a thing?))})
• Tom and Findus
• books, NOOK, Laptop, external hard drive filled with media to last a month at sea, sketch book
• toiletries
• dossier 
• backpack

Looks like everything is almost in order, I hope to be posting pictures of polar bears and other cool critters as I cross them in Alaska (hopefully not being eatten by them).  

More to come!

/EN

I am headed out shortly for Oregon and the R\V Oceanus.  I am honored to have been selected for this excellent opportunity.  Tami and Nandita have been great getting me squared away and my host Toby at Oregon State University has been full of great information to prepare me for the internship.  I am somewhat in awe of the resources put into making this opportunity happen.  The emails have been flying as the folks at MATE, OSU and even the USCG have been coordniating my travel.  I am very grateful for everyone’s efforts and will do my best to deserve the attention!  In a couple of days I start a great learning advenure….can’t wait!

As we approached the third and final week of the voyage, I was beginning to fear that the lack of fresh vegetables and lettuce as well as limited sunlight might have a permanent effect on my psyche.  I also knew that that the chances of seeing Arctic wildlife were diminishing by the day.  So I was I was filled with mixed emotions as we wrapped up the research and began our journey home. Over the course of the trip, we had completed 13 CTD transects for 183 CTD casts and, as we headed back towards Dutch Harbor, the last few days of the cruise were spent relaxing and catching up on much needed sleep. I also finally got the chance to stand on the bridge and was lucky enough to spot several whales, most likely humpbacks, three pods of porpoise and two ringed seals, one of which was eating a large crab of it’s chest. The time also gave me the chance to reflect on how lucky I was to have had the opportunity to join the scientific crew aboard the Healy. Not many people can say that they have traveled above the Arctic Circle, cruised along the International Date Line, conquered the Gumby suit, witnessed the loss of sunlight at the rate of ten minutes/day, fallen asleep to the pitch and roll of 20 foot swells or listened to the eerie sound of miles upon miles of meter thick frozen ice being broken apart or dropped a personally decorated Styrofoam cup to the depth of 3,000m and seen it return as a perfect miniature of its original self, all while learning about and assisting with important scientific research.  Now that I am back on land, I can truly say that I will miss life onboard the Healy and would jump at the chance to return for another expedition. The experience was one that I am extremely grateful for and will be difficult to forget for all the right reasons. There are so many memories that I want to hold on to—some big, such as the confidence I built up in learning to operate the CTD or seeing the Northern Lights—others, small moments such as clumsily walking into a Conex box and scarring my forehead, thus giving inspiration for a hastily put together Halloween costume as a blind mouse. I would like to thank everyone who supported me along the way, especially, Bob Pickart, Carolina Nobre, Scott Hiller and Alex Quintero for putting up with my slow learning curve of both the CTD and the science, the US Coast Guard for providing support for important research, the MATE program for providing me with the opportunity and the science team (Tanja, Lauran, Liza, and Maria) and crew (Brian, Kevin, Mo, Gianna, V-dub, and Jeremy) for keeping me honest, helping me laugh at least once a day and appreciating the simple things.  A very special salute goes to the Coasties, who do such an amazing job operating the ship—I am in awe of their discipline and efficiency. Thank You.