Research Cruise

Breakfast

• Pancakes
• Egg scramble
• Yogurt
• Fruit
• Cream of wheat

Lunch

• Tomato beef soup
• Beef ribs
• Cheese ravioli
• Garlic rice
• Salad bar

Dinner

• Lobster
• Grilled sirloin
• Garlic potatoes
• Chinese noodles and sausage
• Salad Bar
• Chocolate cake

Weather

Winds SW at 28 knots, seas 2-4 feet

Position

S 43° 17.97′ E 147° 23.97′

Yesterday, we got a few CTDs in before the wind picked up, at which point we headed in and stayed a very comfortable distance from the shore – to shield us from the winds mostly, but also to dangle the carrot of port before us…

Nevertheless, these past few days have gone fast; despite the weather there has been much to do on board, from sorting the last coral samples to packing everything up and stowing things away.  We’ve been compiling all of our visual data – all of the HD footage and frame grabs – as well as cleaning up our sorting and cleaning stations, taking apart our nets, and generally getting everything ready so we just have to take things off the ship when we get to port.  Most of our coral samples will actually stay on the ship until it comes back to the U.S.; Nithya is taking some samples with her on the plane, but a majority of them will be stowed down in the scientific stores of the Thompson.  Our first stop in Hobart is to switch out Jason containers, and then we’re back to the CSIRO dock to unload and get our land legs back!

Meanwhile, there has been quite a commotion in Hobart as a Dutch Vessel, the Steve Irwin, has been trying to gain permission to dock.  The controversy surrounds the ship’s mission, which is to deter Japanese whaling vessels in the Southern Ocean.  A loophole in Japanese law allows “research” ships to catch a small, but not insignificant, quota of whales every year for the supposed goal of scientific research, but most end up in the Japanese fish markets.  The Steve Irwin has been antagonizing the Japanese whaling fleet for some time, including using some rather drastic tactics – the last captain apparently rammed a Japanese ship on the open ocean!  They have been very successful so far in deterring the whaling fleet, and have chased several ships out of whaling territory.  However, their rather militant tactics have gotten quite a lot of press, and the Japanese government has urged the Australian authorities to deny the Steve Irwin port for refueling and restocking.  The fact is, however, that about half of the crew is Australian, not to mention the ship’s name itself!  The Steve Irwin has finally been granted access to port, and is berthing not too far from the CSIRO docks, so we might see some protesters, hopefully from a comfortable enough distance!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 7:04 pm by Adam Subhas and is filed under General, marquee. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.