Programs Blog

June 19, 2025

Time: 1100

Location: The open ocean!

Weather: Mostly clear and sunny, with some clouds

Hi everyone!

I’m writing to you before the start of my third afternoon watch! This morning when I went on deck to brush my hair before breakfast, a bird came really close to the ship! We think it was trying to land don the ship to rest, but it had too much trouble trying to land and gave up.

 We are now solidly into day 6 of our sailing expedition, and have been able to sail some since day 3. Although we have had to motor some since we started sailing more, in order to stay on schedule, we are fully sailing right now! We are also getting close to our port stop in Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas Islands! 

I have been loving the lab work, especially the hundred counts. In a hundred count, we take a scoop of zooplankton from one of the net tows (meter net, which is deeper, or Neuston tow at the surface) and look at it under the stereoscope. Starting at one side, we methodically look at each zooplankton until we have identified 100, ensuring we don’t only look at big ones or ones we can easily identify, so that the 100 count gives a real sense of what species of zooplankton are present and in what abundances. Seeing all the zooplankton (largely copepods) under the stereoscope and figuring out what they are (again, usually a copepod) is so much fun! I think my favorite zooplankton so far have been the pregnant copepod (it had an egg mass attached to each side!) and the siphonophores.

Outside of the lab, I’ve also been enjoying being on lookout and the helm. Although there usually isn’t much to see on lookout (mostly the occasional flying fish and sea birds), looking out over the water is so calming, even when the ship is pitching and you have to brace yourself hard! Being on helm is also a lot of fun, switching between keeping an eye on the compass to stay on course and resting my eyes on the seas and the sky. It can also be a great arm workout, especially when we gybe to get back on course after a science stop! At night (the end of afternoon watch, evening watch, and dawn watch), the view we have of the stars is amazing! I would like to reassure my family that although the 0100-0700 dawn watch might sound painful, I actually like it a lot! It’s usually very quiet and the stars are beautiful. Then we can have a delicious breakfast before a great nap! Overall, even though everything has been very new and different, it’s also been so much fun!

Lots of love to my friends and family!

Claire Hooper, C-Watch
Rice University