The End is Getting Close :(

We are on our last transect line and will be steaming away back to Dutch Harbor in the next few hours, which means my awesome Alaskan adventures are coming close to an end.

Just wanted to remind everyone to check out my NOAA blogs and also my facebook album (I'm adding pictures daily) if you're interested in keeping up. DC has even made his way out of my stateroom for some ship time!

NOAA Bloggin'

Don't forget to check out not only my Alaskan Adventures photos on facebook (see link in previous post), but also my required blogs through the NOAA website!

Definitely NOT going to be ready to come home soon :( For sure loving ship life!

For those not on facebook ...

Enjoy some photos from my Alaskan Adventures! (click on that link)

Happy 4th of July

An early morning fish trawl followed by a second trawl before lunch, a sunny day, a rainbow (see it in the picture below?), "Alaskan tanning"/napping on the flying bridge with Chelsea (2nd picture), learning all about the sea birds flying around the ship (Northern fulmars and kittiwakes), and *hopefully* expired flares later makes for a great Fourth of July in the Bering Sea!

My new best friend!

Well, as I've found out, life at sea can be lonely at times. There are 32 people on board, but since the ship operates 24/7, everyone works different shifts. Scientists are mostly 0400-1600 and 1600-0400, engineers can be 0600-1800 and 1800-0600, deck crew are 0000-1200 and 1200-0000, and officers have really crazy 4 on, 4 off watch working, 4 on, 8 off schedules.

Due to all these schedules, you don't see everyone all the time. Some people you only see if you hunt them down! So I really needed a new friend. I was feeling a little uneasy at times when life was rough on board, I didn't have the energy to work out, and mealtimes just weren't as fun as they should be. Luckily, I found a new best friend!

Meet ...

* DRUM ROLL PLEASE *


Dramamine!

We've been rollin' and pitchin' and heavin' a lot more these past two days, and dramamine has come into my life and given me new meaning! Yay for new friends :)

editor's note: I've actually made new friends other than Dramamine haha!

Holy Jellyfish!

We had plenty of jellyfish in our trawl nets today, many of them as big as this sucker!

Out to Sea

Well, this is basically my view every day until we get back to Dutch Harbor:

It's not sunny and there's plenty of cloud cover most of the time. It is "daylight" all day until basically around midnight and then sunrise is around 4am. And there are TONS of birds around (haven't been lucky enough to see any whales or anything else yet, even though other people have):

Shot from the flying bridge (almost the highest deck):