The Science Team
What Are Harpacticoid Copepods?
The Point Sur Crew
Video
Day 1 - Saturday, 09/13/08
Greetings from the good ship Point Sur! As I write this we are slogging our way north on a course of 317 degrees, at around 9 knots, and roughly 20 miles N-NW of the Farallon Islands. It's about 8:30 p.m. Pacific time. The ship has a solid Internet connection to a satellite, a link that our captain, Jeff Varney, says we will likely lose tomorrow.
We have lucked into a stretch of unusually calm seas—we're encountering only slight swells, and bow on. To say it's a smooth ride is an understatement—we might as well be sitting in a Barcalounger. We left Moss Landing about 9 local this morning and will be under way on this course for the next three days.
I'm bunked with a great guy, a marine biologist named Buz Wilson from Sydney, Australia, a specialist in marine isopods who is attached to the Australian Museum in Sydney. He's part of a 7-person science team led by his old chum from graduate days at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, David Thistle, our chief scientist and a professor of oceanography at FSU. Thistle is a well-known specialist in the microbial biology of deep-ocean sediments (read: mud).
Under smoke-gray skies, we've seen lots of sea life so far—sea lions, seals, Dall’s porpoises and, a special treat, humpback whales. This afternoon we encountered quite a few of these great cetaceans, in fact. Allison McInnes managed to get a quick shot of one that took its sweet time getting out of our way.
Allison, along with her two Galveston friends aboard—Sam Dorado and Russ Carvalho—are much worried about what Hurricane Ike has done to their homes. They’ve managed to see photos of the devastation posted on various news sites, but so far, they haven’t been able to reach friends and relatives to give them any news. Thousands fled Galveston and nearby areas as Ike bore down, and now power may not be restored for days, perhaps weeks. All they can do is wait, and hope our Internet connection stays healthy.
This will come as no shock to some in my acquaintance—we’re also fishing! Late today, with the blessings of both Chief Scientist Thistle and Capt. Jeff Varney—who confesses to being able to eat fish at every meal—the crew deployed four hand lines tied with jigs, and tied to the aft rail, in a hunt for albacore tuna. This is something the ship's crew apparently loves to do, and who am I to argue? So far, no hits, but hope springs eternal.
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