by 
YO! It is Day 5 aboard the R/V Sikuliaq, and I (Ryan Mark Genova) will be taking over the blog XD We’re around halfway through this voyage and have been blessed with another glorious day!
After a bit of tossing and turning at night, I awoke, grabbed some breakfast, and headed down to the main lab to listen in on our first presentation of the day. We learned a lot about Fortinet and SDWAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network), specifically about Members, SLAs, and Rules.
One of our main projects we were working on today was filming some crew aboard the ship! We got to interview one of the engineers and our messman. It was quite intriguing hearing their stories of how they got their positions and some of their favorite parts of the job.
We were then fortunate enough to receive a tour of the engine rooms below deck and learned a lot about the backbone of how the ship runs. Being given heavy-duty headphones made it feel quite official, and it was awesome learning about different functions like where we get water from, the sewage systems, turbines, and how the winch functions.
After another presentation, this time on OSINT and how its applications consist of cyber threat intelligence and dark web monitoring, we had a wonderful time eating dinner, with the chefs cooking up scallops, mahi, and some rice! Following that, we had our last presentation on 3D printing and learned the importance of it on a ship; creating parts that might break in a short and efficient manner, or even by creating fun things like a LEGO brick/ cup holder! We were also able to take a look at the Markforged Mark Two 3D printer we had on board, and it was fascinating to know it had a function that incorporated carbon fiber.
I am grateful for the opportunity to be surrounded by so many curious thinkers and for listening in on many engaging conversations with the crew. It always amazes me to see how innovative they are and inspires me to be the same! I ended the night lifting some weights at the gym and then headed to bed.
To another day 🥂,
Ryan Mark Genova
