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Our
journey began in earnest today, as we departed Manzanillo
aboard the R/V
Atlantis. However, in truth, it began very early
Saturday morning (3:30 a.m.)
and consisted of traveling from Philadelphia to Chicago,
from Chicago to Los Angeles, and Los Angeles to Manzanillo,
Mexico. My travel companions included Dr. Barbara Campbell
and graduate student Kevin Portune, both part of Dr.
Craig Cary's lab at the University of Delaware College of Marine and Earth Studies
in Lewes, Delaware. As
we departed, I admired the beautiful city lights and peaceful
appearance of Philadelphia. Shortly after we got in the
air, we had a beautiful glimpse of the sunrise, which was
absolutely gorgeous at 33,000 feet.
In
Los Angeles, we met up with another group of scientists,
also preparing to travel from Los Angeles to Manzanillo,
Mexico, as part of Extreme 2004 -- Charles Lee and
Tom Niederberger, both students at the University of Waikato
in New Zealand, and Ian McDonald, a researcher also at
the University of Waikato. It was great to have some more
company to share lunch with. During our flight to Manzanillo,
we also saw the sunset with only the glimmer of a few lights
below us on the west coast of Mexico. All in all, our travels
were rather uneventful, except for a long delay in Los
Angeles and a box of scientific equipment that didn't make it on
the plane! While the travel was exciting, it consumed
most of the day, and by the time we'd arrived in Manzanillo,
we'd been awake for 24 hours straight!
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Manzanillo
is a coastal city, rich in culture and scenery. We enjoyed
the people, the food, and all that the city had to offer.
Then, yesterday we boarded the research vessel to unpack
our scientific equipment and personal items, and received
a brief orientation tour by Chief Scientist Dr. Craig Cary.
I was amazed at the sheer size of the vessel (check out
some pictures on the Neat Stuff page), and yet in the commercial
port where it was docked were enormous container ships,
which are used to ship goods across the ocean, and made
the Atlantis appear small in comparison. The tour was highlighted
by our first look at Alvin. I must admit that it
was rather like meeting a celebrity!
After
unpacking the scientific equipment and getting settled,
it was time for lunch and a little souvenir shopping in
the center of Manzanillo. Upon our return to the Atlantis, it
was time to set up some of the scientific equipment. I
can't
wait to show you some pictures and videos of
the unbelievable technology that these scientists and crew
have designed and created to gather information in such
an extreme environment. Even simple tasks, like taking
water samples becomes an involved process when you're
taking those samples in an environment like a hydrothermal
vent. As
dinnertime rolled around, the scientists and some of the
crew enjoyed a beautiful evening dinner at a historic outdoor
café and celebrated the beginning
of our cruise.
Today,
I arose before the alarm clock went off (which was set
for 6 a.m.) and could hardly contain myself to the room
because I was so excited for our official departure from
the dock.The
morning was beautiful as we saw the sunrise over the
harbor and a fleet of small fishing boats casting their
nets. The crew used an onboard crane to raise
the gangplank as the scientists looked on. We cast off
the dock lines and the captain skillfully maneuvered us
away from the dock. As we got underway, we watched the
beautiful pelicans and skimmers perform their aerial acrobatics (Check out the video footage!). As we left Manzanillo behind
us, we looked forward to fair winds and following seas
(I hope). As we go on, the scientists and crew of the
Atlantis hope that you'll share this journey with
us -- I
hope you're
as excited as I am!
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I
am taking a shower on a ship. I am brushing my teeth on
a research vessel. I am getting into bed on the Research
Vessel Atlantis. But I can't sleep, so I lay there
(I can't sit up, because the ceiling's too low in my
upper berth), as thrilled as I can, and we haven't even
left the dock!
My journey started when I left my house in Connecticut at 3:30 Saturday morning.
I flew from Kennedy Airport in New York City to Los Angeles.
I was all by myself until I reached the departure lounge
for our flight to Manzanillo. I put down my heavy blue
backpack with the SpongeBob patch, and the laptop I'd
be using to send my reports to the Extreme 2004 Web site,
and got out my camera. Big jets, little planes, carts,
and trucks were darting about. Then I saw a couple of
familiar faces: Mike League's and Barbara Campbell's.
I'd met
Mike before, when we went to do some computer training
at the University of Delaware campus in Newark, Delaware,
where our Web
master, Dave Barczak, showed us the ropes of the system
we'd be working with. I hadn't met Barb, but I recognized
her from her pictures on the Web site. Barb is one of
the scientists who work in Craig Cary's lab, and she's
been involved in almost every Extreme mission. I met
a few other scientists who'd just flown in from around
the world: Ian McDonald, who's English but working at
the University of Waikato; Tom Niederberger, another "Kiwi"; Kevin
Portune, recently arrived from South Africa (he's an
American); and Charlie Lee, who's from Taiwan but working
in New Zealand. These folks would be my air travel buddies
for the next few hours, and my new family for the next
three weeks.
Our
flight to Mexico showed me a moonlit coast with orange-lit
towns scattered along the shoreline for hundreds of miles.
In Manzanillo, we went through customs and lugged luggage
(is that how it got its name?) One big problem: one of
Barbara Campbell's big plastic boxes was missing. It was a blue one, and
everyone who'd been sitting on the right side of the
plane agreed that it had been left on the runway in L.A.
Could Barb get it sent? The airline would try...
The
next day Craig led a tour of Atlantis from top
to bottom. It turns out that I'm not the only one who's
never been "to sea." Quite a few of the scientists
are new to this, too. Between trying to organize labs and computers, meeting
the other scientists who kept arriving, and trying to match people with their
fields of study, some of us made trips into Manzanillo's center in search
of food, sights, and shopping. We took the public bus. On Monday afternoon,
it was full of high-school kids in their uniforms. They wear polo shirts
with their school's insignia; the boys wear khakis and the girls wear plaid
skirts and white knee socks. It was an awfully hot day for school, in the
nineties. Mike and I tried out our Spanish. People seemed to understand us
pretty well, but we both plan to work on our Spanish vocabulary when we get
home!
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Manzanillo
is a pretty, colorful, old town with a giant statue of
a sailfish dominating the waterfront. Charlie told me Manzanillo
is considered the sailfish capital of Mexico. Although
you can buy sailfish replicas here, the souvenirs that
caught my eye were these blowfish. It's hard to believe what strange
things live in the sea. And here I am now, on this beautiful strong ship,
getting ready to leave the dock. And before long, when I look out my porthole
window, what I see is no longer the harbor but what I've dreamed of so long:
nothing but sea!
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