Life at Sea
The best way to describe life at sea is it functions as a routine. Wake up. Eat breakfast. Deploy or recover ocean observing equipment. Break for lunch. Deploy or recover ocean observing equipment. Break for dinner. Finish deploying and recovering ocean observing equipment, if needed.
Most deck operations are completed before dark, so everyone figures out how to spend time during the evening. Activities include card games, working out at the gym, reading, and most of all socializing with others. The food onboard is great and there’s plenty of it, as is the snack stash. The crew are helpful and friendly and run a very tight ship. Next day, wake up and repeat.
The following is a visual tour of scientists’ life aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson.
A typical bunkroom.
The lab space where scientists and engineers work and hang out after hours.
A gym is available onsite.
The food served on the Thompson is great and there’s plenty of it. There’s a salad bar option with lunch and dinner, and vegetarian options for all meals.
Lunch and dinner also include desserts, healthy and otherwise.
Humor is a big part of the shipboard experience for laughter keeps everyone sane.
And sometimes we have special visitors. Today it was a pod of dolphins. Earlier in the week, we saw grey whales breeching.