While our cruise doesn’t set sail until Thursday, and most of the science team are not due here until Tuesday, there has been plenty going on aboard RV Falkor already to get prepared for our expedition.
Sunday morning, 8am: arrived at the ship last night, crashed out and was awake in time for breakfast and a first meeting with the Captain and Heads of Departments aboard ship when Casey’s phone rang to say our lorry full of gear and our crane had arrived.
So, what does it take to get ourselves set for our adventure? First, take 1 research ship, and then, add to that, a truck and half full of equipment shipped down from Woods Hole (above). Mix in some serious contemplation, a seriously big fork-lift and, to cap it all, an even more (seriously!) bigger crane.
Then, add in some further serious consideration before “persuading” the shrinking violet that is Nereus to emerge from its tight-fit van. Bake at around 92°F for most of a long working day and lo and behold, what you end up with is our Nereus vehicle safely installed on the back deck before evening time.
There can be a lot of “hurry up and wait” to getting things done in any port-call but we came a long way today so were tired but reasonably happy as the sun went down. There is still plenty to get done before sailing but all our “heavy lifting” is done so, at some level, we are currently in control of our own destiny (at least for now!!!). Let’s see what tomorrow brings!
