Bahaman Hurricanes named Dean

The departure to the Bahamas is set for Friday 17 August. Returning Tuesday 28 August.
It is a biological and optical oceanography submersible operations cruise headed by Primary
Investigator Dr. Sonke Johnsen of Duke University. I am ecstatic to say the least. I will get to
see live samples of deep sea organisms and watch submersible operations first hand. And oh yeah
the Bahamas as a movie set back drop for this adventure flick that is my current life.

However there is a mid-Atlantic tropical depression headed towards the southern Caribbean islands.
It should reach the Antilles by Saturday or Sunday by which time it will probably have grown into
tropical storm Dean. So there is a good chance of a hurricane hitting the Bahamas during our
current schedule.

Don't worry about my safety however as the weather data the ship gets is quite good and
comprehensive allowing them to adjust the schedule and avoid most dangerous storms. It looks right
now like they won't have to cancel the cruise just navigate around it and time it right.

Keep your fingers crossed for me

Here is the Weather Channel's newscast:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid823425597/bclid877032950/bctid959746457

More photos on Photobucket

Flickr has some lame limitations.

Here is the link to my photobucket page:

ncgallagher

Specifically please check out the album of the buoy deployment cruise.
Click the pic:






There are also several cool but short deployment videos on my youtube page.
Here is one of them:

Blogged with Flock

3500 m depth buoy deployment location

30.9148, -76.083533

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Captains Blog

Blogging takes a bit too long I'm finding given all of my other duties and the slow connection speed.
If you don't see anything here, I will probably still be updating media to flickr and youtube.

flickr page

youtube page

Blogged with Flock

Made It! / Mustang!

Hey guys I'm here in East Central Florida! The ship is great and I am learning lots about all its systems. I have yet to take photos/videos of any of it yet though as I'm staying nearby in a motel. I will be on a 5 day CTD/buoy deployment cruise off the coast of Jacksonville starting August 8th. Then back for ~4 days before the 12 day submersible trip to the Pajamas (Bahamas).

Here is the ship's dry dock in the far background with the maintenance workshop on the right where I'll be learning to get network and electrical components ready for the ship. To prevent any electrical damage from lightning strikes at sea (or other surges) most components are connected by fiber optics.



There is a lot of wildlife here that visit the HBOI facilitie's various ponds and lagoons: dolphins, manatees, otters, Florida panthers, and birds galore.

There is reported to be an alligator (haven't seen it yet):



The low hum you hear is much much louder and sharper in person. CICADAS!

Also sharing the pond with the wildlife is bad art.




Yes that's a bronze sculpture of a drunk hick fishing.

Also upon arrival my luck got much better as they upgraded my rental car to a Mustang!



I did what everyone with a really nice car they can't afford does when they get hungry:



Big N Tasty Mustang Stylee:



And some gratuitous footage of me trying to look cool at the wheel:



Yes I know I'm a huge dork. But I own it.

What I got, what I wants

Where I be for the past 6 hours after 40 hours of practically no sleep:
33.637400, -84.449060

Where I wants to be:
27.535020, -80.353160

Yes 2 bailing pilots, 2 gate changes, and 4 additional layover hours, no end in sight, lots more flying, driving, etc. before I sleep.

But $7 meal voucher! Dude no probs!

Never fly Delta.
Mantra: soon


UPDATE:
They finally put us on the plane at 8pm then refused to take off.
Then decided to taunt us one last time with a standby offer on an overbooked 9pm flight. But I'm in an uncleaned hotel room so again, no probs!

While exhaustion makes one cranky, over-exhaustion is the great equalizer. Any horizontal surface will do! I just think they should have realized they would cancel sooner and got me to my hotel room before 11pm.
33.577830, -84.539790

Mantra: soon enough

The Ship! With Submersibles!!

Ya gotta love YouTube. Someone has already posted videos of the ship I'm stationed on so I can check it out before I even get there.


Here is the aft deck where one of the submersibles lives:


Here is a deployment of that submersible:


Here is a newscast of a ride on their other submersible looking at deep sea life.
Very Cool!:


The ship's lab:


The galley:


My soon-to-be quarters/berth:


More R/V Seward Johnson info:

http://www.hboi.edu/marineops/sj.html

R/V SEWARD JOHNSON, namesake of HARBOR BRANCH founder J. Seward Johnson, Sr., is a 204-foot Oceanographic and Submersible-Support Research Vessel that was built in 1984, commissioned in 1985 and extensively rebuilt and stretched in 1994. With an 6000 nautical mile range and a speed of 13 knots, the vessel is capable of traveling and working in any of the world's oceans, while accommodating up to 40 people.

R/V SEWARD JOHNSON is one of two HARBOR BRANCH-owned research vessels that are operated by experienced personnel, expert in surface oceanographic procedures and submersible vehicle launch and recovery, supported by in-house ocean engineers. With 360 degree bow and stern thrusters, twin propellers and rudders, dynamic positioning and state-of-the-art precision navigation, this vessel has the capability to maneuver and position easily and efficiently and station-keep with the accuracy required by today's undersea and oceanographic research missions. R/V SEWARD JOHNSON is part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet.

Typical applications include submersible/ROV support, large towed systems support, deployment and retrieval of moored devices, surface oceanographic/hydrographic applications, and diving support.

General Specifications - R/V Seward Johnson

• Length Overall - 204 feet.
• Length between Perpendiculars - 183 feet.
• Beam Overall - 36 feet.
• Draft - 12 feet.
• Gross Tonnage - 285 GRT
• Fuel Capacity - 60,000 Gal.
• Fuel Consumption - 70 gal./hr., normal cruise.
• Potable Water - 15,000 gal. with RO Unit (120 gal. hr.).
• Accommodations - 40 (including crew).
• Speed - 13 knots.
• Year Built/Converted - 1984/1994.

Passport Quagmire

Not only did my urgent need for a passport produce a photo reminding me that I am steadily looking more and more like a bullfrog, it also sucked up my entire day and will to live. Even though I had an appointment, when I arrived promptly I was sternly told to wait behind the orange tape outside the building with no further explanation by a humorless robot in foreign service regs. Luckily, this bossy a-hole was soon replaced by someone whose ego wasn't so big he couldn't explain what the wait might be. It's exactly as you might imagine. They are hopelessly understaffed upstairs and have no chance of even getting to the hundreds of peeps they have already issued a tracking number from the day before. After 2.5 hrs (and $10 worth of parking quarters) I was finally allowed to see the fire safety infraction awaiting me above. Here you get a number and no estimate of wait time and the joy of sampling all of humanities various body odors.

Not much else to tell except THANK YOU to all those who worked there and managed to be kind, helpful, informative, and even find humor in a political funding screwup of National magnitude during the height of vacation season.

One shining ray of hope is that many of those with the dough to travel voted for Bush. Maybe they'll think twice when voting next year. Cynical? Perhaps but convenience has become king in our economy. If we can extrude it from a port in our laptop, we certainly aren't driving all the way to the corner store.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to letting go of my cynical politicisms for the rest of the summer and getting prepped and focused for a real work experience. I will be the intern Marine Tech Assistant for one month in the Bahamas. Basically a computer network admin on a rocking ship. Also deploying various scientific recording devices overboard and retrieving them intact then downloading the data to the network for compilation. Data like sea temperature, salinity, depth (pressure), bottom depth (echo location), light attenuation (how deep does sunlight penetrate?).

Even though I'm an intern I will be receiving a modest stipend for my time. But this will require intense documentation and journaling and hard work. I'm hoping to use this blog as an informal outlet to that formal requirement. And to keep all my friends and family up to date if so inclined.

I leave for Florida August 1st.
As they say in the Bahamas:
I busy workin dred, and when i knock off, i gon straight there. We ga link up then.