From the Revelle, with Love

Day 7: Somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean

After the initial flurry of activities at the onset of our cruise, life on the Revelle has slowed to a quiet lull. Part of that has to do with the energy sapping, cold virus that has been making its rounds through the science crew. My immune system finally gave out yesterday and rumor has it our chief scientist is the latest victim. The bright side is that we don’t arrive at our first station for another four days, so everyone should have enough time to recover.

Still, despite all the sniveling noses and watery eyes, everyone is in good spirits. The extended downtime has given everyone onboard the opportunity to bond and become more acquainted. For me, it has been a very enlightening experience hearing snippets from everyone’s life story. Even though we are all oceanographers in some sense, each of us took a unique and interesting path to arrive on this cruise. Even among our small group of CTD-watch standers, we have people hailing from all over the world. The places that we call home range from the pastoral plains of Kansas to the great expanse of Western Australia. Inadvertently, this cruise has facilitated a delightful cultural exchange. For example, earlier this week, the Aussies in our cohort introduced us to vegemite and were entertained by our bewildering reactions (my verdict on vegemite is still pending). A few days later, when the cooks served warm bagels for breakfast, we had the pleasure of introducing them to the wonderful world of fresh bagels and cream cheese.

Alison teaching us how to play Cribbage.

Even with all the quirky differences between our cultures, what struck me the most are all the similarities we share. No matter the subject matter, we always seem to find a common ground. Whenever someone shares an anecdote, at least one person always has a parallel experience.

One of the ways we socialize is by playing card games in the library. This has become my go to way of passing time whenever I am too tired to work, but too buzzed to sleep. The library, which annexes the mess hall (cafeteria), is the social hub of the ship.  I learned about a half dozen card new games this week, including Cribbage which has become a crowd favorite since Alison taught a handful of us.

The dashing Roger Relove...

It is Valentine's Day today and everyone woke up to a Valentine's Day card (thanks Natalie and David I mean Roger Relove). The cooks also offered us decadent chocolate treats to go with our lunches. It seems like the Revelle’s crew never miss an opportunity to celebrate. I learned that the cooks will bake a giant cake for anyone who has a birthday while at sea. Yesterday, Jim Happell was that lucky guy and everyone had their fill of delicious lemon cake. Even from my short stay onboard, I have come to appreciate that this floating research facility is a second home for a lot of people. These small gestures, as mundane as they might seem, really do go a long way in creating a home away from home.

We are currently getting thrashed by monster swells from a passing storm, but our vessel is built to handle much worse. Instead of showing you scary images of waves breaching our deck, I will leave you with the calming sunset we had a few nights ago.

Sunset from the Revelle's deck. Antartica lies in the horizon.

-EW