Day 23

Since I last wrote 5 days ago, a few things have happened. First off, a fellow intern and I finished a project which I am proud of the end result. We assembled the Flow Through System, located at the bow thruster, which allows the ship to have constant real time data for the sea surface water. We added new instrumentation to the system, like a transmissometer, flowmeter, thermosalinograph, rotor flow sensor, a fluorometer, and a de-bubbler. After installing them in order based on water flow, we connected it all with tubing, quick releases, and fixed some leaks and hiccups. It took us two full working days to finish it but I am glad we did because it looks great.

On day 21, August 2nd we arrived in Panama. We were not scheduled to cross the canal until the evening of the 3rd, so we dropped anchor and hung out along with dozens of other ships in the bay. On the evening on the 2nd I spent my time outside admiring the ships passing by and the surrounding landscape. Panama looked beautiful; tall hills, huge city, emerald green jungles. I would have loved some port time in Panama but unfortunately we didn’t have that option. Nevertheless I am thankful to have been able to enjoy the view for a full day. On the 3rd there was a lot of excitement on board as we prepared to go through the canal. We took on inspectors, more food, and finally at 1630 we took on the pilot and began the journey down the canal. Almost immediately after we started moving it began pouring rain so hard that we couldn’t even see the city as we passed by it. Thankfully that only lasted 45 minutes, and once the rain let up it didn’t rain again the entire night, it was great! This was my first time going through the canal and it was really interesting to observe. It was also weird to think at the moment we were cutting straight through an entire country. It was a long night, but I am thankful I stayed up watching from the 01 deck for the entire canal along with others. All in all, we were in the canal from 1630- 0230- that was 10 hours and 3 cups of coffee! Needless to say I only got 4 hours of sleep that night… worth it!

And this morning, I woke up in the Atlantic Ocean!

Nowadays we are focusing on emptying out vans filled with furniture, moving the furniture around into different labs, and then packing the furniture back up into the van.(ish). We have finally cleared out the main lab and will begin working on that. Another little side task I had earlier this week was assisting the Chief Engineer. He was testing out the hydrographic winches on the 01 deck from a new control panel in the computer lab. I worked the control panel to lower and hoist the winches while he observed the winches in person and confirmed they were doing what they were supposed to. This reminded me of when I had worked the A-Frame on my school ship, the R/V Cape Hatteras.

Until next time-