Programs Blog

Author: Jing Graber, B Watch, University of Texas

Ship’s Log

Friday, 26 July 2024

Noon Position: (Lat and Long):

Ship Heading (degrees):  NA

Ship Speed (knots):  NA

Log (nm): 0.0

Weather / Wind:  ()

Description of Location: At sea

Today was our second day underway to our first official research site! Thankfully seasickness levels in our group have gone down substantially since the first day, and now we can focus on learning how to perform our tasks on board and prepare for our data collection.

It’s been a while since our last snorkel, but hopefully we can get in the water in two days! I’m super excited since this will be the first dive that will contribute to our projects, and I hope that the research steps go according to plan. I am working on a project examining the size and distribution of corals and fish in relation to the levels of protection at each reef, and I am thrilled that my job is to count and identify fish. I also look forward to doing some underwater photography. I saw a white tip shark last time we snorkeled, so I hope we see some more cool stuff like that! Here is one of my photos of the shark from last time!

As far as the sailing goes, I have had mostly night watches so far, which is really nice since the sea is such a lovely color at night and the stars are very bright. The food has also been so good, and we just had lots of homemade date bars to keep us company at night, and they practically melt in your mouth! While the first night of sailing had some of the roughest waves I’ve seen so far with 14 foot swells, it should thankfully be smooth sailing for the next day (though it has been interesting to watch the dinner tables tilt back and forth every time the boat dips). I can’t wait to see what tomorrow is like!

Fair winds,

Jing Graber, B Watch, University of Texas