Subject: Tropical Storm

Jen Costanza, Shipboard Education Coordinator, University of Delaware

Subject: Tropical Storm Update

I will not be writing a daily log today since Bekki wrote one and you got an extra one from me and an extra one from Hepsi last night since we didn’t know if we’d be able to work today. I just spoke with Dr. Craig Cary, Chief Scientist, and he gave me an update from the master. The storm, Kenna, is still a tropical storm; however, it will turn into a hurricane tonight sometime. It is currently sitting right on the dive station, so we’re all pretty happy it didn’t blow through a week from now! It is about 420 miles South of Puerto Vallarta. Normally, storms in this area tend to move west out toward Hawaii. This one seems to be on a trajectory into the coast. In order to try to avoid the storm, we have altered our course away from the storm, a little more southwest.

Life on the ship today is pretty dull. We have tied everything down in the labs and staterooms and basically every room of the ship. Right now we are just waiting. A whole lot of nothing going on. At first, everyone’s nerves were kinda jumpy, but now everyone is pretty calm. You’ll be getting a lot of pictures of the crew sitting around today. I think the Alvin guys are the only ones working … they never seem to stop.

Bekki Helton , Viral Ecologist, University of Delaware

After having a day delay in San Diego, we are finally out to sea. However, the extra day did serve some good for all of us. We were able to run to the store and buy anything we may have forgotten to bring with us. Now we’re all ready and prepared for our sea adventure. When we pulled away from the dock in San Diego, a group of us sat up on the bow to wave goodbye to land, since we won’t be seeing it for quite some time. A few U.S. Navy ships were sailing by as well as a fishing boat, which was being followed my a million birds and seals. It was very cold up there, but well worth the view.

Now we’re somewhere in the Pacific Ocean heading south to our predetermined site. I’ve been working with my lab partner, Kurt, to get things organized and ready for our experiments once we get there. We have a large sampling device we have to assemble in order to collect water from the vent areas. It’s not very complicated, but will take some time to set up. Our professor isn’t here to help us, but he’s taught us well and we are sure we can handle the challenge. It keeps my mind busy and I have less time to think about missing friends.

My first night on board, I had a very hard time sleeping. I kept waking up looking for my dog, Sampson. I wish I could have brought him along, but that just wasn’t possible. So I have pictures of him up in the stateroom I’m sharing with Hepsi and Jen. It feels strange not to be able to pick up the phone and call my friends, or e-mail them constantly. I’m pretty much an e-mail junkie, and its tough to deal with not having the comfort of unlimited e-mail. But, I will be meeting up with one of my friends in Costa Rica after the cruise. Her name is Kirsti Ritalahti and she’s a scientist at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. We will stay a few days to explore the country’s rainforests and volcanoes.

So I get to look forward to not only getting some awesome samples from the depths of the ocean but also hanging out with my friend in the tropics! I’ve also been busy decorating the Styrofoam cups for my friends Betty, Leann, Katie, Neen, Jamie, and everyone else. The cups shrink from the increased pressure at the extreme depths the submersible Alvin dives. I’m also surprised at how calm the ocean is, very little rocking in the ship. I hope it stays that way for the entire cruise. I think we all hope for that!

Jen Costanza, Shipboard Education Coordinator, University of Delaware

I know that Bekki wrote a log earlier today for you folks and Hepsi and I each wrote extras last night, but I miss writing them, so you get another. Today wasn’t terribly exciting. There is a whole lot of nothing going on today on Atlantis! Since everyone’s stuff is tied down and secured no one can do any work. I spent my morning working in the galley helping Linda and Jockie since they are down a person. I can’t cook to save my life, but I chopped vegetables and cleaned for them. They certainly feed us well out here. It’s like dining at a five-star restaurant.

After lunch I went out on the bow and stared at the ocean and read. It was gorgeous out there! Not as gorgeous as being out on the deck last night but pretty close. We took some good sunset pics we’ll be sending your way. The most eventful thing that happened today was the Emergency Breathing Apparatus (EBA) fitting. That should produce some quality entertainment for everyone for sure when you see the pictures! We have the EBAs for the Alvin dives in case anything goes wrong, and we need some air to breathe. Always a good thing to have. Speaking of Alvin, Hepsi and I have our Alvin orientations tonight. Before you dive, you have to get interior and exterior orientations with the sub. They are all about preparation and safety out here, which I certainly appreciate!

I did learn a very important lesson about life at sea today: when working out it is important not to attempt to do push-ups — one tends to get their face slammed into the ground when the ship rocks. I saw Noel, one of the Alvin techs doing push-ups and he didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Perhaps there is some trick that my naïve self has yet to learn in the short time I have been out at sea! I’ll let ya know if I figure anything out. OK folks, that’s all for today.

Oh, and just for those curious folks out there, we are only just now at 1900 starting to get some small swells, but they’re coming and the Dramamine is being loaded into everyone’s systems again!