by 
Each day on the R/V Endeavor is exciting and new in its own way. Today, we went through an open Q&A about grad school with our Stemseas mentors and learned about the skills and processes we will need to go through as we advance through our college careers. As the weather improved throughout the day, we went whale watching in the warm summer sun of the Atlantic ocean and spent noon talking to the Bridge crew about how ships communicate with each other. Our engine crew also gave us a tour of the various rooms that control the ship’s power generation and steering. Between the hydraulics, air compressors, oil converters, and the engine itself, I was personally impressed by the size and power of the machines that make our travel possible. We spent the end of the night watching the sunset and looking for the constellations after sundown.
The day before was just as busy with activity if not more so. We used a filter net to capture ocean microbes and a few different microscopes to see some of the microorganisms that thrive in the ocean. We built two of the microscopes and took pictures of many of the things we saw. At the end of the day, our resident geologists and us had a talk about the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the effects of glaciers on sea level and erosion, the way the Appalachian Mountains erode into the Atlantic, and what mechanisms might be driving the extensional faulting that drives the Basin and Range province to create mountains and valleys out West. I should also add that some of our best discussions have been with our Marine Techs who have talked about ocean dynamics, the bathymetry below us (as seen in the graph below), and the various technologies that the Endeavor has to offer.
We have done and will do much more on our journey South through the Gulf Stream and into the Greater Antilles, but I will leave it to my fellow Stemseas passengers to talk about it.
-Holden Russo
