So last Friday the R/V Atlantic Explorer made it back safe and sound from a very successful cruise. It was a great learning experience seeing how things are wrapped up at the end of a science research cruise. Once back at the dock it there was still a fair bit of work to demobilize. The spectacular Filopino crew worked quickly and efficiently using the crane to hoist the heavy equipment off the vessel and on the dock. I gathered with the other MT’s to the tech lab to clean up the data folders, organize it in a neat/orderly fashion, and then all of the data collected was burned on to a CD with two extra copies.
After the hustle and bustle of the demob, we gathered with the science crew to get opinions of how the cruise went (very successful I may add) and just talked about things other than work before they made there way back home. Luckily for me I had the following two days off (Saturday and Sunday) to relax as well as explore Bermuda (it is a travel destination after all). I borrowed one of the Marine Technician’s bikes to get around more efficiently since its not too big of a island.The waters all around are bright turquoise blue with rich culture and history around every corner. I stayed moderately close to BIOS so I wouldn’t risk getting lost or too worn out to make it back safely. I managed to find a secluded beach were I decided to swim around and cool off. The water was warm, clear, and quite inviting. After many miles on the bike I made my way back to BIOS. The remainder of the weekend was designated to touching base with loved ones and catching up on some sleep.
The first day back at work we hit the ground running to get everything in order for the upcoming cruise. First task to tackle was reassembling our CTD and doing some fine tuning to make sure everything is running properly. After a couple cable splices and troubleshooting we had all of our sensors working well and then all that was left was to mount on the Niskin Bottles which was an easy task.
After taking care of the CTD we moved on to the next mission critial task which was fixing the issue with our 12 kHz Depth Sounder. This proved to be an easier than expected task. After searching through the ceiling panels we discovered the plugs were not connected to anthing and just had to made a terminal box for them to plug into. A few soldered wires and connections later it was back up and running.
At this point we have knocked off all the tasks needed for our next departure so we have been working on smaller issues that just have been pushed to the back burner. We will be leaving next Monday for a day cruise to a Hydrostation that will be a quick out and back trip. That is all for now but will have more next week!
