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As I turn in a circle and look around, all I can see is blue.
Blue is in the sky when I look up, and on the “ground” when I look down.
The blue on the ground is moving.
It goes up and down and sometimes twirls around.
When the wind picks up, the peaks of the blue turn white,
And we too, go up and down.
We are a tiny, 200-foot research vessel surrounded on all sides by the vast Atlantic Ocean. Research vessels like the Endeavor often travel between ports with many empty berths. A few scientists recognized that the empty space on these ships during transits would be a great opportunity for undergraduate students to gain field experience. With lots of hard work, a grant from the National Science Foundation was acquired and STEMSeas was born. As we sail from Narragansett, Rhode Island to Bridgetown, Barbados, I am one of nine lucky undergraduate students that gets this special opportunity.
In the first two days at sea, 7 of the 9 undergraduates became very sea sick as we sailed into 10 foot waves. Somehow, I was one of the lucky 2 that avoided it. Sea sickness aside, the first coupledays at sea were a series of adjustments for us all. We learned that ordinary tasks that we don’t even have to think about while on land can be especially difficult while on the ocean. The first hurdle most of us encountered was walking. The best way I can describe it is trying to walk in a straight like while intoxicated. Add a plate of food or a glass of water into this mix and it’s a whole new game. We learned that having three points of contact instead of just two is extremely helpful while at sea. Showering was also a change. Imagine standing on a moving wet slip and slide. In order to avoid coming out of the shower bruised from head to toe, one hand must be dedicated to holding onto the railingat all times. Put simply, life at sea is similar to life when you’re old. You’ll need three point of contact, a handle to hold onto in the shower, and you’re probably going to fall down a few times.
Now that we have adjusted to this new life style we are beginning to work with the scientists a little more. Yesterday, half of us helped Justin (GA Tech) build the frames that will hold his underwater cameras. We worked on the aft deck and put a series of tubes together and reinforcedthem with set screws and copper pins to fortify a more stable structure. The frames will be lowered using a specially developed contraption that allows the device to go straight down (instead of being pulled at an angle by the current) by utilizing line floats and bungee rope. This system allows us to have a good estimate of the depth of the camera. The other half of us worked with Steve (Queens College). These students created smear slides of sediments collected from the ocean floor- about 1300m below the surface of the ocean. After creating slides, they placed them under microscope and observed various types of foraminifera.
After spending the past 3 days living at sea and learning about science we are happy to say we have found our “sea legs”. We have 4 more days to go before we will reach Barbados and are excited for the beautiful sunrises and sunsets to come, the knowledge we will learn, and the relationships we will develop.
By: Natalie Vaz
