May 8, 2006 - Getting Ready for the Science! Options

[Samantha_Dassler_Barlow]

Date: Monday, May 8, 2006
Weather: Overcast, windy and freezing cold!
Latitude: 57 53’ North
Longitude: 169 37’ West

Map - May 8, 2006


I didn’t sleep well during my first night on the ship. My room was pretty cold. I’ll have to remember to sleep in more layers tomorrow. I said the word tomorrow on purpose. I have been assigned to the midnight to noon shift in the science labs. So, I will take a nap and stay awake all night in order to adjust to this schedule.

We are still experiencing a gentle sway on the boat. The seas are pretty calm, except for…the ice! This morning, we encountered scattered ice and I could feel small tremors and rumblings from the ship as she pushed it out of her way. Now, we are in ice that is several feet thick in some places. It makes the whole ship shake and the rumbling is pretty loud. It feels like trying to do your homework on a school bus or a train. This is also how I would imagine an earthquake to feel. In fact, we have just now encountered a spot where the ship has to back up and move forward to ram through the ice. I heard the guys on the bridge say that they weren’t looking forward to steering the boat through ice in the dark. They have to use spotlights when it is dark.




Today we hit ice and it is getting thicker and thicker by the hour.

It is my day to stay out of their way. The scientists are setting up all the equipment that they had flown to the Healy before it left Seattle last week. So, we are catching up on all of our journaling and pictures.

Head counts start today. We have to log into the ship’s network and check off our names on a list twice a day, 11:30 and 17:30 (5:30 pm). It is important to stay accounted for so that in case someone falls overboard and is not noticed, then they would know to look for you. There are too many people and plus they are all on different shifts to notice if someone is missing during lunch or dinner. So, we check in twice daily.

My day is not over yet and it is already 1:56 am. In fact, it is only just beginning. I am on the graveyard shift, waiting in the science lounge to be paged when we reach our first sampling station.

Other news… I am having camera issues, so I will probably not post very many pictures for a while. Patty and I are together a lot, so she is seeing the same things I am seeing and she has some great pictures to post. ARCUS is working on having a different camera sent to St. Lawrence Island so I can pick it up when we get there around May 14, 2006.