by 
Hello from the R/V Roger Revelle! I was one of the few fortunate ones that eased into life on board with no issues. I have had zero sea sickness and have had some of the best/deepest sleep thanks to the swaying of the boat.
Day 4 was the kickoff for all Electromagnetic (EM) reader retrieval activities. Each pair of students sharing a bunk had to decide between two shifts to help on deck: the day shift (12pm-12am)or the night shift (12am-12am). I got the night shift.
Around 5am, Chris A., a Senior Marine Technician, sounded off a ping to the first reader. Confirmation was received that the 1stEM reader, nicknamed “Triple Tail”, was preparing to detach from its concrete base and begin its journey to the surface. So, the boat moved on to position itself over 2 other EM readers to repeat the process. Our call time was 8am, as only the technicians were needed to do the initial pings. The readers were coming up at about 20 meters per minute, thus giving time to ping three different readers and then make our way back to the first reader for retrieval.
I woke up around 6:20am to get dressed and mentally ready to aide in the retrieval of the first three readers. Breakfast started at 7:15am, so once I was ready I headed up to the galley for a bite. Coffee is a MUST for me on board. The swaying of the boat is extremely comforting to me and it makes me very sleepy. By 8:00am I had on my steel toed work boots, life jacket, hardhat, sunscreen and sunglasses.
Around 8:45am we heard some shouting coming from one of the upper decks that they had spotted the “Triple Tail” EM reader. The boat was maneuvered so that the EM reader would be on the left side of the boat, closest to the crane. Once the EM reader was about 15-20 ft from the boat, Bo, the Co-Chief Scientist threw a grapple across the line connecting the EM reader to its buoy. He then began to pull in the EM reader closer to me, as I was handling the recovery hook. This was a 15ft carbon fiber pole with a detachable hook on the end. Once I had clipped the recovery hook to the lifting strap on the reader, the Marine Technician, Carmen, was signaled to start up the crane that would bring the EM reader on deck. Rachel, Gabriel, Juan, Victoria, all STEMSEAS students, as well as some of the vibra-core team, Valeria (Chief Scientist), and Jake (Senior Marine Technician) were waiting on deck to grab hold of the readers very long arms to stabilize it on deck.
Once the EM reader was on the boat, we did a walk through on how to disconnect all cables and begin to disassemble the reader’s different components. A few people worked on washing and sorting the EM parts to then store them in their respective places. I offered to wash, dry, test and put away the cables. Lastly, I helped clean the buoy and placed it in a safe place during transit. That was the first of three EM readers to be retrieved during my shift.
This experience brought a whole new meaning to teamwork. None of today’s EM retrieval processes would have been possible without teamwork and good communication. I’m thrilled as it gets closer to midnight, the beginning of my next shift. I imagine everything will look so different at night. I look forward to the following shifts as well as learning more about the data collected by the EM readers. A big thank you to everyone that participated in this experience, as it was truly unforgettable.
-Jackie
