Tuesday - Day 10
After an all night run, consulting the GPS units in the lab revealed that we were now a bit south of Santa Rosa Island, one of the northern Channel Islands. During the morning soak, the ship was parallel to the trough, and rolling through about 45 - every once in a while you'd here a crash from the galley or somewhere else where some object hadn't been secured. The swells were three to five feet with a fairly short period, and it was blowing enough to make it pretty chilly.
During the first haul, I was a little surprised to see a black-footed albatross, apparently following the boat. He would soar around, land awkwardly with his feet splayed like water-skis. He'd sit in the water for awhile until he thought he was getting too far away, then he'd have to run across the water to take off, soar til he was closer, then land again and float for awhile. Tried to get some pictures but they're probably all pretty small. E. blew some up from her camera and noticed he had band on his legs, so maybe he was used to being around people. Then again, the bird books says this species often follows boats for the garbage. We threw some baits to him, but he didn't seem all that interested.
The chief scientist remarked that upwelling in the area was so marked it could be seen on the radar; it actually made the sea level higher where it was occurring.
The sun only came out for a few hours in the middle of the day - we could just see the coastline of Santa Rosa Island below the clouds, but it looked like the sun was shining over there, a few miles away. What with the swell, and the wind, many of the gangions were wrapped up around the mainline, and took quite a bit of time to undo. It took almost two hours to pull the whole thing in - E. however, was taking so many pictures and videotaping for her class, she looked at the clock and thought only 40 minutes had gone by - she misread it by an hour. Meanwhile, I had been recording hook data, which does not involve a lot of movement; as a result, by the end of the haul, I could not feel my fingers. Phew! Next time, a wind-breaker at least, and a fuzzy hat. You wouldn't think it would be so chilly when it's nearly August, but apparently so. A shower before bed warmed me up a little but not a whole lot, considering I had to keep turning the water off when soaping up to conserve water.
Several people have burst out laughing when they finally realize what the picture on my sweatshirt is. I realize now I brought two shirts which are slightly scatological. In addition, I now have a new navy blue, long sleeved Jordan shirt. I think long sleeves are in order tomorrow.
Spent most of the down time reading - various people would pass me and say "Man, you are ripping through that book!" Well, it may be nearly the length of the last one, but 1) it's hard to put down (the other was very easy), and 2) the print is a lot bigger.
DFG Block
Lat:
Long:
Mako
Blue
Pelagic Stingray
Morning set *:
730
33.703°N
120.088°W
1
1
1
Afternoon set :
731
33.803°N
120.328°W
2
3
0
*blue shark satellite tagged
During the first haul, I was a little surprised to see a black-footed albatross, apparently following the boat. He would soar around, land awkwardly with his feet splayed like water-skis. He'd sit in the water for awhile until he thought he was getting too far away, then he'd have to run across the water to take off, soar til he was closer, then land again and float for awhile. Tried to get some pictures but they're probably all pretty small. E. blew some up from her camera and noticed he had band on his legs, so maybe he was used to being around people. Then again, the bird books says this species often follows boats for the garbage. We threw some baits to him, but he didn't seem all that interested.
The chief scientist remarked that upwelling in the area was so marked it could be seen on the radar; it actually made the sea level higher where it was occurring.
The sun only came out for a few hours in the middle of the day - we could just see the coastline of Santa Rosa Island below the clouds, but it looked like the sun was shining over there, a few miles away. What with the swell, and the wind, many of the gangions were wrapped up around the mainline, and took quite a bit of time to undo. It took almost two hours to pull the whole thing in - E. however, was taking so many pictures and videotaping for her class, she looked at the clock and thought only 40 minutes had gone by - she misread it by an hour. Meanwhile, I had been recording hook data, which does not involve a lot of movement; as a result, by the end of the haul, I could not feel my fingers. Phew! Next time, a wind-breaker at least, and a fuzzy hat. You wouldn't think it would be so chilly when it's nearly August, but apparently so. A shower before bed warmed me up a little but not a whole lot, considering I had to keep turning the water off when soaping up to conserve water.
Several people have burst out laughing when they finally realize what the picture on my sweatshirt is. I realize now I brought two shirts which are slightly scatological. In addition, I now have a new navy blue, long sleeved Jordan shirt. I think long sleeves are in order tomorrow.
Spent most of the down time reading - various people would pass me and say "Man, you are ripping through that book!" Well, it may be nearly the length of the last one, but 1) it's hard to put down (the other was very easy), and 2) the print is a lot bigger.
DFG Block
Lat:
Long:
Mako
Blue
Pelagic Stingray
Morning set *:
730
33.703°N
120.088°W
1
1
1
Afternoon set :
731
33.803°N
120.328°W
2
3
0
*blue shark satellite tagged