Day 37
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The Bering Sea
62 54′10″ N, 172 04′03″ W
Global Time: 17:31 GMT | 7.13.2009 : Monday
Local Time: 08:31 GMT-9 | 7.13.2009 : Monday
After getting in bed at 0300 and expecting to be woken in two hours for the next station, Andrew was surprised when he woke himself after 0800. He dressed and headed up to the CTD room to see if there were any clues to what had happened. It seemed most likely that the six o’clock station had been scrubbed, probably due to bad weather.
It was not unusual for him to be uninformed when plans were changing minute by minute. Himself and the other American’s excluded, the rest of the researchers did not need to be informed ahead of time. They each had specific duties, like operating the CTD or plankton nets. They all worked on twelve hour shifts. They knew when they had to be on duty and when they did not, and if they were on duty and a station arrived, they would set to work. Stacey, Andrew, Dr. D’sa, Kristen, and Mike had their own affairs, and merely paid for space on the ship. Unlike the others, they worked opportunistically.
In the CTD room Andrew found Dr. D’sa who said that he had woken at seven. While that was still after the 0630 station, the schedule had it listed as taking an estimated two hours. Dr. D’sa added that he had heard the waves we were evading were supposed to be swelling as high as four meters, over thirteen feet high. If that was the case it would definitely explain their justification for skipping that station.
According to the computers, their next destination was at 63 N 172 W, but they were currently trawling. Already they could see crew preparing to pull in the net via close circuit cameras on display in the CTD room.
Day 35
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The Bering Sea
56 59′92″ N, 167 48′71″ W
Global Time: 12:00 GMT | 7.11.2009 : Saturday
Local Time: 03:00 GMT-9 | 7.11.2009 : Saturday
On Friday, at two hours past midnight Andrew woke from three hours of sleep only to learn that the station had, unsurprisingly, come early. This time, however, it had been so early that Stacey and he had missed the CTD run completely. Andrew returned to bed, but after an hour he woke, unsure. Had Stacey come in, telling him it was time once more? He had the feeling that she had, and he had assured her he would follow shortly, then fallen back asleep. Or perhaps he was imagining things. He compromised by dressing and then getting back in bed. If she did return, demanding an explanation, he would admit to his confusion but at least seem prepared.
When Stacey did wake him an hour more had passed, and he found himself trying to explain why he had been sleeping dressed. While they collected water, Andrew pulled himself away to watch the rest of the students cleaning up after a bottom trawl. The net which had been dragged across the sea bed all night contained a dazing array of bizarre fish. He may have enjoyed new experiences, but he had already had his fill of the gill nets and did not envy the others.
By the time that station was finished, it was breakfast time. Andrew remembered that it was his day to assist with prep and cleanup. He feared his hectic schedule might conflict, so when the bell signifying five minutes before a meal was rung out, he made sure to be the first there so he could carry the rice and soup from the galley to the mess hall.
Andrew did not have the presence of mind to do the mental math, but he figured he was actually getting a livable amount of sleep. He estimated something like five-and-a-half hours a night, averaged out, just not in the consecutive fashion he had been raised with. By the time breakfast ended, things were going well. He found time to steal a shower before he set about monitoring the iron experiments. It took him two hours to complete. It was a relief that it was the last day for the first half of the experiment. He had made it over the hump, and the work would get marginally lighter.
The day was the longest yet. Another early station meant that he was denied the two hours of sleep he had been promised, though Dr. D’sa had agreed to forgo a station at 0500 the next morning. This was wise. In one day, Andrew had filled seven pages of his lab notebook. He had not only completed “This Side of Paradise” before breakfast, he had finished Saul Bellow’s “The Victim” before he finally closed his eyes for the night at three o’clock in the morning.
The Bering Sea
56 10’54” N, 169 37’84” W
Global Time: 08:00 GMT | 7.10.2009 : Friday
Local Time: 23:00 GMT-9 | 7.9.2009 : Thursday
Andrew had been wrong. He had woken on his own, having dreamt of a bizarre comedy/nightmare about legions of hapless undead in which Andrew had not actually been a part of. Seconds later, Stacey entered to wake him. They would reach the next station in ten minutes, she said. Andrew wondered how long he had slept. The clock said it was eight in the evening. Andrew had been asleep for two and a half hours.
His hike only a few hours earlier had left him feeling like a G.I. Joe action figure, but not in the good way. If he were to move his limbs more than a few degrees he was certain his tendons would snap like cheap rubber bands. He stretched a bit and wondered where all his clean clothes had gone, then realized that they had been in the dryer for three days. This put him in a good mood for some reason. Although on one hand it appeared he was beginning to suffer from dementia, on the other his jeans and his nice fleece were finally dry. And the jeans fit him again, too.
More work, more F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Andrew returned to his bed at eleven hours past noon.
The Bering Sea
56 00′00″ N, 168 58′86″ W
Global Time: 02:00 GMT | 7.10.2009 : Friday
Local Time: 17:00 GMT-9 | 7.9.2009 : Thursday
The next station was complete around 0600. After that, there was another that would come some time between 0900 and 1100. Andrew returned to bed to steal another few hours. After the noon station, there would be eleven hours until the next one. Andrew was excited for the much needed down time, but he also had the iron experiments to maintain.
When he finished all his work, it was 1700, dinner time. Andrew had no idea what day it was, and he was over halfway through “This Side of Paradise”. He would eat, and then he would sleep. He would sleep and he would not wake until someone woke him to go to work, and he would not rouse a moment sooner.
The Bering Sea
53 38.40′ N 178 00.70′ W
Global Time: 07:00 GMT | 06.30.2009 : Tuesday
Ships Time: 19:00 GMT-12 | 06.29.2009 : Monday
When Andrew awoke, it was half past nine. He rolled out of bed and wondered if he had missed the last station. Realizing he still had his contacts in, he took them out. Although he was disappointed that he had slept in, he assessed the situation. His tardy wake up was not the result of alcohol, merely exhaustion. Joaquim had acknowledged that since Andrew had misplaced his alarm before they departed, Andrew would be relying on Joaquim to provide a wakeup call around five. If Joaquim had not yet woken him, it was likely that the station had been late. Quickly he considered his options. This time, the list of hierarchies which had served him so well the previous night placed ‘showing up at work’ above ‘brushing teeth before lunch’. Andrew grabbed a breath mint and headed above.
On deck, Joaquim explained that he had learned they would not be taking water at the previous station, and noted that Andrew had skipped breakfast. Andrew politely corrected him: he had missed breakfast. Since the CTD was not yet in the water, Andrew headed for the bathroom to spit out the mint and brush his teeth. As he flossed, the PA system kept him informed. “Go…yon…san…ni…iich…stop.” The CTD would take samples at five depths. Each time, a girl named Ai who monitored the depth would count down from five and then tell the winch operator to stop when the CTD was at the right depth. When Ai had announced all five stops, Andrew hastily rinsed and spit, and ran on deck to help collect the samples.
The collections went well and lunch had been curry and rice. By the time Andrew had worked on his proposal, grabbed a quick workout, and taken a shower that was two days overdue, the day was looking up. When he reached the mess hall with his laptop to check his email and found a birthday being celebrated, he concluded that the day had officially been made right.
The Bering Sea
52 06.55′ N 175 51.56′ W
Global Time: 14:00 GMT | 06.29.2009 : Monday
Ships Time: 02:00 GMT-12 | 06.29.2009 : Monday
The CTD and its sample bottles did not surface until about ten o’clock, pm. It typically took about two and a half to three hours to filter all the samples. It had already been a long day, and it was going to get longer.
Since Andrew had taken a twenty minute break he finished twenty minutes after Stacey and Joaquim, a few minutes past one in the morning. On his way to his cabin, he stopped by the mess hall. Inside, a half a dozen passengers were sitting around a table upon which sat a small town of beer can buildings. He contemplated getting his rest. He expected the next station to be at 5:30, just hours away. There was protocol, to follow however, and that protocol was one Andrew had set in place himself. It stated a hierarchy of priorities which put ‘making new friends’, ‘experiencing new cultures’, and ‘drinking in new places’ all above both ‘getting plenty of sleep’ and ‘being rested for work’. He sat down and began talking with a young professor who had recently completed her doctorate at Texas A&M. Her English, because of her time in America, was fairly strong. Andrew was offered a glass of Sobasouchou on ice, which was also fairly strong. It was similar to vodka, though only 50 proof. The Russians had used potatoes, and the European’s wheat. It only made sense that the Japanese would use Soba, a grain often found in noodles of the same name.
Andrew had was pleased at the way his Japanese held up. He used some of his new words (“My mother likes green tea”) and they taught him a few more (“drain your glass”). Andrew had heard that the Japanese are a culture that loves alcohol. While Egyptians would not drink anywhere, the Japanese allowed it on a ship full of students. This would never have been found on an American Ship. A Norwegian ship, Carlton had told him… sometimes. It was not simply a nightcap they were having, either. When Andrew departed for bed at two, others who did not have work until the next afternoon were still awake and still drinking. It seemed rather European: though no one was misbehaving, it was clear that a number of them were drunk. Andrew made a mental record of his findings and rolled into bed.
SEA_OF_CHANGE 