The Transit to Jarvis

Aloha to All! Over the next few weeks, you may hear a somewhat different voice on this blog from time to time. Cristi has flown down to Pago Pago, American Samoa and joined the NOAA Ship Hi’ialakai, from which Ben has been making these posts. This is a completely new experience for me and while Ben is a seasoned sea-goer, I am still taking time to get my sea legs and explore life on a ship, including being able to work with a constant slow rolling of the floor.

The ship is currently transiting to Jarvis Island, a small uninhabited island just south of the equator. This will be the first research site of the ship’s return leg to Honolulu and will be followed shortly afterward by Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef. The transit from American Samoa to Jarvis will take a total of 4 days, which will hopefully provide enough time to adjust to the conditions of living aboard a ship. My first few days have been spent trying to master walking down the hallway without bumping into too many of the walls and learning not to be nauseous while doing minor chores (showers, working on the computer, eating, etc). It is surprising how much extra time needs to be alotted for even minor tasks, given the movement of the ship and the naps that are required by the gentle rocking motion.

Today was spent preparing for dive operations on Wednesday and conducting more safety drills. The drills of the day included a simulated Man Over Board event and Pyrotechnics training :-) We all mustered to the top deck of the ship while the crew launched a small resuce boat and recovered a life buoy and smoke canister (used for marking the site of the buoy). It was impressive how quickly all of this could be accomplished and the 200+ foot ship could be maneavured back to the ‘man over board’. The pyrotechnics training involved an explanation of flares and smoke canisters which are included in our life rafts and can be used to signal another ship in the case of an emergency. Cristi, Ben and several other of the science and ship’s crew were able to "test" out a few of the flares. The fireworks were not quite as spectacular as those in Waikiki on Friday evenings, but much more fun for being so interactive!