Cruise Log: July 29, 2008
| Things have been rather busy these past few days. Lucky Strike exploration was hectic, and we will provide a brief update soon of our activities at this site. The end of the dives at Lucky Strike culminated with the arrival of the University of the Azores research vessel, the R/V Arquipelago. Three scientists from our team, Jeff Seewald, Peter Sacoccia and Chris German were departing and 3 others on the R/V Arquipelago were joining our expedition. Billy Brazelton, Raul Bettencourt and Brandi Cron were relieved to finally reach the RV Revelle…. And below is graduate student, Brandi Cron’s account of why… | |
My journey to the R/V Roger Revelle took me to Portugal and the Azores. After I arrived in Lisbon on the 26th of July, I flew to Horta, Faial. I spent the evening of the 26th and half of the day on the 27th exploring the island of Faial, and taking as many pictures as possible. On the 27th at 14:00 GMT, I boarded a boat called the Arquipelago with two other scientists, Raul Bettencourt and Billy Brazelton. The Arquipelago shuttled us from Horta, Faial to the Revelle. We had to sail throughout the night to reach the Revelle on the 28th of July. The Arquipelago is known to make first time sea-goers very sick. The crew were very concerned about us. They each had advice about preventing sickness, and they were all convinced that I was going to get sick. I assured them that I was fine, because I was wearing a Scopolamine patch to prevent seasickness. In fact, I went the first three hours without anything happening. However, while I was enjoying the company of my fellow shipmates after dinner I suddenly became very queasy. For the next 14 hours, all I could do on the Arquipelago was lay in my sleeping bag inside my bed, for fear of throwing up. When I awoke on the morning of the 28th at 8:00 GMT I felt much better than the night before. At 11:00 GMT, three hours later, we reached the Revelle. Once we were close enough, the Revelle sent to the Arqipelago a motorized life raft to retrieve Raul, Billy, me, and fresh produce. The Revelle swapped three scientists out for the three of us. We only met these scientists long enough to shake hands and wish each other good luck. After we boarded the Revelle, we watched the Arquipelago sail away. We were shown our rooms by the resident technician, Matt. After we had time to unpack we met in the galley and each of us enjoyed an Oreo ice-cream sandwich before we separated and began to work. After being aboard the Arquipelago, the Revelle felt we like walking on land again. |
(Above) View of Horta from the Horta Hotel. The lighthouse and Arquipelago are pictured to the right on the right in the marina. The mountain is on another island called Pico.
(Above) My first view of the R/V Roger Revelle from the Arquipelago. |
(Above) The motorized life boat lifting produce into the Revelle before it came back to pick us up. The Revelle and the Arquipelago were only about 50 meters apart. |
(Above) View of the Arqipelago after we boarded the Revelle. |
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