2011.01.19
18:46HST
Barna, A
R/V Kilo Moana

Conditions

  • Lat: 16 57.231 N
  • Lon: 168 45.338 W
  • Speed: 0 Kts
  • Heading: Holding Station
  • Sal: 34.354 PSU
  • SST: 25.90 °C
  • Pres: 1010 mbar
  • Air Temp: 24 °C

Weather and Sea State Observations

A clear day. Swell height perhaps 1-2 meters. Cloud cover is 10% or less.

Journal Entry

As is the routine, I got up at 0345 to go on watch, which consisted of a continuation of the yo-yo casts that were being done when I went to bed. After 4 hours of looking at the acoustic timing plot, I just went back to bed. There were no events or really any work being done during my watch.

The daily routine has become regular enough, and I’m up at strange enough hours, that I have lost track of what day it is. Thinking it was Tuesday all day, only to be corrected by “the other” Andrew’s watch. There have been rumors of a possible return a day early, but I think a much of the ship time as possible will be used.

After my nap I helped deploy the VMP, which also went smoothly, largely due to the small sea state. Lunch was had, today it was beef stroganoff which I had on top of rice and appropriate noodles.

I came to the realization today that being on this cruise with the early morning watch will probably cause the total number of sunrises I’ve seen to at least double.

The VMP was recovered in the late afternoon. Soon after, the ship needed to exit the monument boundaries (we are close enough to the atoll to be in protected waters) in order to drain the sewage tanks. This ship is incredible, we have almost all the services and utilities as a city (except for post obviously). Seeing how much space is devoted to just keeping us humans comfortable really makes me appreciate the modern services we have on land. On this ship I’ve seen where the water is made, the sewage is processed, the trash is disposed, where the telephones are switched, where the power is generated, and where the internet provided. It is a huge complex machine that requires constant maintenance.

Dinner today was Mexican! A taste of home if you will. What I was most excited about though, was the copious amounts of guacamole available.

There are two things that never sleep on this ship:

  1. Science
  2. Corrosion

There have been rumors circulating of a 5 meter (ish) swell on its way.