[Cruise Journal 22-25 December]
In which: we skip a day, create some culinary art, fire more XBT’s, and the seas mellow in time for Christmas.
As we are reinforcing our sea legs, the bridge is keeping us on course toward the next waypoint and the crew are working hard to ensure we all enjoy a safe and happy holiday. When the swells reach a certain magnitude, the Captain orders the weather deck (“outside”) be sealed off. This involves the closing and dogging (securely latching) of the numerous watertight doors (WTD’s) that separate the climate controlled interior spaces of the ship (remember, thanks to engineering for this comfortable air conditioning — it’s about 80 degrees F outside, not bad for December) and the open air decks.
Transiting in heavier swells means lots of rolling, which in turn means keeping an eye on wireless mice, retrieving wayward chairs, and tying up books and crates with bungee cords and straps.
Of course, veteran seagoing folk are not fazed by some waves (this isn’t even a storm), and the celebratory spirit won’t be deterred in the science or Sentry crews either. Candy canes have appeared around the computer lab; homemade sugar cookies have been decorated (members of the Sentry team showed great precision and zeal in this endeavor). Our festive inclination was so strong that in our eagerness we were able to forgo December 23 entirely — by crossing the International Date Line from east to west, we advanced the clocks and effectively skipped a day. (We’ll make up for it by going through the same day twice on our easterly return flights next month.)
Even if Santa didn’t come through with a keel for our ship, we were at least gifted with a calming of the seas in time for December 25. After a few uneventful days inside, we were able to get out in the sun; Laura had her turn firing the bathythermograph; the ship’s tech group provided a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone for holiday correspondence; and the next couple days of transiting toward the first survey site will look like this: