Programs Blog

Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Noon Position: (Lat and Long): 19° 59.7 ’N x 155° 52. 0’W

Ship Heading (degrees): At anchor 

Ship Speed (knots): At anchor 

Weather / Wind / Sail Plan (from 1300 Watch Change): Windy, sunny 

Description of location: At anchor off the coast of the Big Island

To the folks back home- everyone is okay! Loyal followers of this blog (all of our parents, probably) may have seen that we received a tsunami watch last night. But contrary to popular belief, being on the water is actually the safest place for us. What’s a 3 meter swell to 3000 meters of water below us? Tsunami came and went, and we didn’t feel a thing. Apart from a slightly apocalyptic-sounding radio broadcast from the Coast Guard that looped all night (and I’d know, A watch had the night watch – 1900 to 0100, that’s 7pm to 1am for my audience) – everything proceeded as usual. 

Night watch is always a good time, though – so many more stars than I’d ever hope to see in Seattle. It’s wild to casually look up and see the Milky Way. Near the end of watch, Mimi spotted dolphins riding the wave off the bow of the ship, cutting through bioluminescent waters. The entirety of A Watch arrived in about three seconds flat, and we watched the looping trails left behind in the glittering water. Sara (the first mate, not the student) took one for the team and steered the ship while we all hung off the bow, staring at the dolphins. 

In the morning, we had originally planned to anchor at Hapuna Bay, Hawaii, and check out the research site via a short snorkel before collecting site data the following day. But because of the tsunami, the conditions would not be safe for snorkeling, and we would not be able to anchor as early in the morning as we’d planned. A few hours later, the tsunami watch was canceled, and we were indeed able to make it to our anchor spot. With this extra time, me and a few others (Hudson, Maya) worked on renaming our data from the last site – we have to follow very specific formats. The data input takes almost as long as the data collection, I’ve learned.

Our amazing cooking team had put together mac and cheese for lunch. Perhaps they had heard all of us yearning for mac and cheese the previous night, while talking on deck. In any case, it was so good. A Watch took over during lunch, and Mimi and I started working on dishes. Our watch group rotated through other tasks like usual, such as engine checks and noting the weather. We met for class on the quarterdeck, which (coincidence?) was running our three emergency drills – fire/emergency, abandon ship, and man overboard. The first two were obviously simulated, but the third did involve Supi, one of our science techs, mysteriously ending up in the water (fell? Jumped? Pushed by Skylar? Who knows!). But we got the rescue boat out within four minutes, and ”rescued” her safely. After running these drills, we were all hot and sweaty… until Captain Rebecca called for swim call! I’ve been enjoying jumping off the head-rig (front of ship) during these, like many other students. Matt graciously took some GoPro video of us doing so. 

After the swim call, we planned for tomorrow’s survey within our watch groups. Before every snorkel survey, we have to create a comprehensive plan, detailing who is taking what data and in what order. Since we didn’t have a recon day, most of us decided to keep a similar plan to the previous survey. Hudson and I have figured out a pretty streamlined method for getting our benthic photos and our ko’a card (coral color comparison) photos. 

Dinner was genuinely steak with chimichurri. Not kidding!! We took our food up on deck to eat and watch the sunset together. The ship guitars have finally been tuned, so Matt and I played a little. We watched Fish TV – a bright light shined over the side of the ship to attract fish and, ideally, a manta ray or two. We did not see the latter, but there’s always tomorrow. 

And for my family – I wish I could be there with you guys on the 31st. But know that I’m thinking about her here, too. I think she’d like this place, and the sunsets.

Lake

Lake Proffitt, A Watch, University of Washington