31st Jan 2008 Departure Wellington
Departure Wellington - It always feels so good to be sailing out to sea again. I remember what an old salt friend once said to me as we were sailing again after a long port stay. ‘’This is what a ship is meant for, a ship only rusts away when alongside in a port.”
There is something special about being at sea - an adventure ahead and a sense of leaving the rat race behind, - just the ship, your shipmates, the sea and me. In a sense, a wonderful form of escapism. There was of course the added excitement of the adventure that lay ahead. It was a calm sunny late afternoon as I stood at the deck rail and watched the Wellington heads drift past. We were heading for a destination that I never even dreamed of ever heading to. The NIWA Research Vessel (RV) Tangaroa is on its way to the coldest, stormiest and driest end of the earth - Antarctica, a land where it never rains but only snows.
This voyage happens to be one of eleven scientific voyages to both polar regions as part of the International Polar Year (IPY) involving twenty-three countries. Our contribution would be to focus on the Ross Sea region, a New Zealand Dependency. This special IPY year marks fifty years since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty. This IPY programme began in March 2007 and runs until March 2009, covering two polar summer seasons. This voyage also forms part of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML), to survey marine life and habitats around Antarctica and to determine its diversity. The aim of this global scientific programme is to better understand the land and sea environments of the Arctic and Antarctic regions and the effects of climate changes on them. Scientists will colect samples of marine life including viruses, bacteria,plankton,benthic fauna,cephalopods, fish as well as undertake undersea mapping projects.
Every bunk on board is occupied - all forty-four of them. Some of the crew I already know, having sailed with them before, but there are many new faces yet to meet, lots of scientific looking people with big scientific beards and very interesting characters. The reason why there are so many scientific personnel on board, twenty-six, in fact, is that the ship will be operating around the clock once it reaches the Ross Sea region. They will be splitting into two, twelve-hour shifts, changing over at midday and midnight. The deck crew will also work 24-7 in two watches, each with four men.
I met the ship’s doctor Jenny tonight, taking photos at the deck rails. Jenny is a lively fun person to have on board, as I was soon to discover. It turns out that she is of Dutch heritage, and we think we could form a Dutch club as there are four of us on board. We think this would be good to practice our lingo as we are both a bit rusty on it. It is not usual for ships to carry a doctor these days but because of the sheer remoteness of where we are heading to, Jenny will be there to stitch us up or super-glue our wounds if we need attention.
Departure Wellington - It always feels so good to be sailing out to sea again. I remember what an old salt friend once said to me as we were sailing again after a long port stay. ‘’This is what a ship is meant for, a ship only rusts away when alongside in a port.”
There is something special about being at sea - an adventure ahead and a sense of leaving the rat race behind, - just the ship, your shipmates, the sea and me. In a sense, a wonderful form of escapism. There was of course the added excitement of the adventure that lay ahead. It was a calm sunny late afternoon as I stood at the deck rail and watched the Wellington heads drift past. We were heading for a destination that I never even dreamed of ever heading to. The NIWA Research Vessel (RV) Tangaroa is on its way to the coldest, stormiest and driest end of the earth - Antarctica, a land where it never rains but only snows.
This voyage happens to be one of eleven scientific voyages to both polar regions as part of the International Polar Year (IPY) involving twenty-three countries. Our contribution would be to focus on the Ross Sea region, a New Zealand Dependency. This special IPY year marks fifty years since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty. This IPY programme began in March 2007 and runs until March 2009, covering two polar summer seasons. This voyage also forms part of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML), to survey marine life and habitats around Antarctica and to determine its diversity. The aim of this global scientific programme is to better understand the land and sea environments of the Arctic and Antarctic regions and the effects of climate changes on them. Scientists will colect samples of marine life including viruses, bacteria,plankton,benthic fauna,cephalopods, fish as well as undertake undersea mapping projects.
Every bunk on board is occupied - all forty-four of them. Some of the crew I already know, having sailed with them before, but there are many new faces yet to meet, lots of scientific looking people with big scientific beards and very interesting characters. The reason why there are so many scientific personnel on board, twenty-six, in fact, is that the ship will be operating around the clock once it reaches the Ross Sea region. They will be splitting into two, twelve-hour shifts, changing over at midday and midnight. The deck crew will also work 24-7 in two watches, each with four men.
I met the ship’s doctor Jenny tonight, taking photos at the deck rails. Jenny is a lively fun person to have on board, as I was soon to discover. It turns out that she is of Dutch heritage, and we think we could form a Dutch club as there are four of us on board. We think this would be good to practice our lingo as we are both a bit rusty on it. It is not usual for ships to carry a doctor these days but because of the sheer remoteness of where we are heading to, Jenny will be there to stitch us up or super-glue our wounds if we need attention.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment