The Watches Begin

C Watch – Colette, Molly, Cal, Nick, Colin, Edward, Aidan and Devon

Watches officially began today with our six hour rotations. We relieved the B watch at 1300 and continued diligently working until 1900. Our main duties involved working the deck and lab. During our shift, routine engine and deck checks took place, where we found the main generator and the refrigerator to be in working order. We also learned more about the workings of the engine room, including how freshwater is made from saltwater through reverse osmosis. Those of us positioned at lookout helped the Cramer narrowly avoid running over various lobster pots, while the navigators steered the ship on its planned route. In the middle of our duty shift, we had class, during which we received our first daily science update on how to tow a large Neuston net along the surface of the water. During this science update, we were informed of our travel route, as well as changes in temperature and salinity throughout our journey. After speculating what could have resulted in these hourly changes, we filtered the sedimentary rock collected from the sea floor; which B Watch collected earlier that day during one of the first scientific deployments of the expedition. Later in the day we towed the Neuston net along the surface (Neuston) layer of the ocean to collect plankton. Overall, today was extremely eventful and we will continue our ship duties at 0700 tomorrow morning.

Sea Ya!

Goodnight,

C Watch - Colette, Molly, Cal, Nick, Colin, Edward, Aidan and Devon

Class time sailing through the Cape Cod Canal