Programs Blog

Author: Soleil Michaud, University of San Diego

Ship’s Log

October 27, 2023

Time: 17:11
Location: ugh… the sea 24° 19.194 ‘S 175° 29.013 ‘E
Weather: sunny with fantastic clouds and good vibes

What a beautiful day out here on the Bobby C. I am sitting on the starboard
side looking at all the amazing clouds that have been forming and changing
all day long- the hard effort of the wind and evaporation prepping the daily
show called sunset. Yesterday was the first day in about what felt like a
week, but was probably a few days, that the sun came out in its full glory
once again. It is so nice to feel the warmth of sun on my skin again,
especially since I was pulling out all my layers despite it being 20°
(however the internal tropical in me also knows it’s cause we crossed the
tropic of Capricorn and I’m not built for that). These last few days have
been sporty and quite fun, but I am so glad its calmed down. It probably
won’t last long since our friendly former hurricane Lola is intended to make
an appearance this weekend and give us some sweet little showers. Lots of
adventures out here and so many cool sights!

I feel so blessed for all the things I have gotten to see while on this
trip. When we were in Tuvalu, I was sitting on the beach watching the sunset
when suddenly, I saw a fin. A tribe of three eagle rays swam right up to
where Satya and I were sitting, going about their business of catching some
dinner. Anyone who knows me, knows I hold a very special place in my heart
for rays of all kinds. It was one of the most magical experiences I have
had. With the pink and orange hues in the background and the calmness of the
sea it made the eagle rays almost glow against the darkening sea. As we sat
in awe, children from all around appeared and joined us.

That isn’t the only large animal we have seen. The other night we were on
night watch and had to redo a carousel deployment due to equipment
malfunction; at the time it was a bit of a bummer because it meant we
wouldn’t be able to do our Neuston tow. However, as soon as we heaved to, a
singular dolphin (I think it was a bottleneck dolphin) decided to hang out
around the bow. It would disappear into the dark night and then its shadow
would appear again slowly until it jumped back up to say hi. The sight of a
single dolphin in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. What a
sight.

We have also seen many fish big and small. On one of our dawn watches, a
little flyfish jumped onboard, and while it didn’t survive… the next day we
used it as bait to catch a wahoo! All I can say was it was a delicious
dinner, and I am so thankful to the ocean to providing us our meal. In terms
of small fish, the other day while in lab, we were doing our 100 count and
came across a hairy egg. I have no words to describe that exactly this egg
looked like that, so I will be attaching an image.

We have also gotten to see so many cool critters too! To name a few: Crab
zoea and megalopae, copepods of all sizes and shapes, chaetognaths, baby
octopi, viper fish, and heteropods (which are very rare catch. Some of our
other creatures had a longer life (mainly fishies) and lived in our
aquarium. We got a paper nautilus named Cap, which is even more uncommon
than heteropods. He was released when he started getting stressed as well as
Petunia our octopus. Our first aquarium fish Eddie Squalls was released into
an eddie yesterday. Squid the cuddle fish is missing in action so it is
assumed she returned to the sea. However not all of our pets survived, in a
sad but growing graveyard, Skinny Ethan, Weird Al, Willy Squalls, and Felipe
the Flyfish did not survive the dropping ocean temperatures of our voyage
and passed.

There is so many other little creatures I didn’t mention but this is at
least a great gloss over what we have seen!

Shoutouts:
Nana and papa: Hi I miss our phone calls! I can’t wait to hear your voices
again. Our captain reminds me of you grandpa, and every time we talk, it
feels like I am getting to hang out with you. I hope you and nana are both
doing well.

Olivia: Hope school is treating you well, I miss you and can’t wait to hear
all about your first quarter eeeee!!! Give ben and the fam a smooch.

Raya: Hola ma, soñe contigo anoche, era una pura rise entre nosotras. I
can’t wait for more. Podrías mandarle la foto del huevo a searcy sin
contexto jeje. Le podrias decir a Joah y Ty que soñe con ellos y que los
extraño montones. Gracias ma

Dad: Hi! Hope your doing great!! I miss you very much and love you! I can’t
wait to share all my adventures with you!