People often ask us if we see lots of animals at sea. The answer is usually “no”.\u00a0 We are busy deploying and recovering moorings, so we don’t often have the time to look for fish and marine mammals. A number of birds visit us at sea \u2013 including some that should be on land.\u00a0 A few members of the crew occasionally catch some fish, which the cooks will prepare for us. And sometimes we have had schools of dolphins interrupt our ability to communicate with our acoustic releases \u2013 apparently, they “speak” at a similar frequency.<\/p>\n

But on Leg 2, we have two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) marine mammal experts (Peter Duley and Chris Tremblay) who are spending their time out here looking \u00a0and listening for whales and other marine mammals.\u00a0 While we were transiting to the Array and conducting CTD casts, they were able to observe whales, dolphins, and other animals. They have a pair of giant binoculars (called “Big Eyes”) mounted on one of the forward upper decks of the ship.\u00a0 They use those to see animals quite far away.<\/p>\n

Yesterday we planned to deploy two Profiler Moorings and conduct some CTD casts. However, the shore-side team informed us that the Offshore Surface Mooring that we deployed on Leg 1 had stopped generating power. Since we were at the Offshore site for our first deployment, we drove by the buoy to see what the problem was. It turns out that someone had tried to fish near the buoy and had gotten their fishing line snagged on our buoy and around the wind turbines. We were able to clearly see the thin fishing line by using the “Big Eyes” on the bow \u2013 turns out it is useful for more than marine mammal watching!<\/p>\n

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Credit: Peter Duley, NOAA<\/p><\/div>\n

After our first Profiler Mooring deployment, we sent out two of our team members in a small boat with the 3rd Mate, Mariah Kopec-Belliveau. John Lund and Chris Basque were able to climb aboard the buoy and remove all of the fishing line. As they got back in the small boat and returned to the ship, we could see the wind turbines start to spin and send power again. That will allow the buoy to generate the power it needs to operate and collect data over the next six months. An unplanned activity… but a great success!!!<\/p>\n

Dr. Sheri N. White and Irene Duran<\/em><\/p>\n

Other Shipboard Observations from Irene Duran<\/h3>\n
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Credit: Irene Duran\u00a9WHOI<\/p><\/div>\n
What I was most curious about before coming on my first cruise back in April of this year was the food. It\u2019s my favorite thing about living at sea, hands down. Harry Burnett, the steward, and Brian Keenan, the cook, are phenomenal. We are served three solid meals and a \u201ccheese-thirty\u201d at 2:30 pm every single day. They have made food that I haven\u2019t had in years. I even tried duck for the first time on the ship! \u201cCheese-thirty\u201d is a great break in the day when the crew serves a smorgasbord of cheeses, meats, crackers, and fresh bread.<\/p>\n
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Credit: Irene Duran\u00a9WHOI<\/p><\/div>\n
There is a tight schedule for meals: breakfast is at 7:15 am, lunch at 11:15 am and dinner at 5:15 pm. I\u2019m not a breakfast person, but I can\u2019t help but come in and try whatever they\u2019ve cooked up. I\u2019m already excited for tomorrow morning\u2019s breakfast\u2026cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting! And when I\u2019m feeling peckish, there is always a layout of fruits, chips, cookies and other snacks out at all times. At night, the cooks leave out candy, it\u2019s great but dangerous! I can\u2019t help but have something most nights, if not every night, of the cruise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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