Open Ocean

The LTER cruise runs a high density sampling grid in a 10 x 20 km area south of Palmer Station. They do acoustic transects searching for krill between water sampling stations for Chlorophyl and bacteria. Usually they launch Rubber Duke I from the ship and use it to collect krill in the area. Fortunately for me, there was a bit of a goof this year (from my perspective the whole cruise has been one big logistical CF, though they are getting sampling and experiments done) and put the zodiac on top of one of the containers on deck, meaning they must use the large crane to launch it. But, they can only use the large crane in dead calm water because it makes the ship too unstable. Rough water = no Rubber Duke I. What did they do? Call Rubber Duke III!!!

Our rendezvouz point was about 8 miles due south of palmer station in the open ocean. About halfway there we decided to do some fishing (a practice run) and caught a fair amount of krill. While tooling around here I saw one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen. A Wilson's Storm Petrel was dancing across the surface of the water. The way it moved looked like an old film, in that there were slight pauses between movements. Wikipedia doesn't have a good picture of it, but these are amazing birds. I was also surprised that we could stop randomly and immediately mark krill on the fish finder, I would soon find out that is nothing unordinary. We bucketed the krill and set off to pick up Langdon from the R/V LM Gould. My first attempt in pirateering.

The pick-up goes smoothly and we head off to the coordinates of the last transect. We troll for well over a mile, following a dense school of krill the whole way. This is about the time the seas pick up. On our way out to the Gould, we were rollercoastering over 8-10 foot swells and pretty smooth water, but the wind came up and kicked up a nasty chop that was soon followed by 12-18 foot swells (where did that mountain go...oh it was just behind that wave...). Our boat is 18 feet long. Just adding to the excitement of the day.

We had 3 successful tows in the next 3-4 hours, then had to chase down the Gould to drop off Langdon (an example of the CF-edness of the cruise, they were unwilling to lose an hour in driving to Palmer to safely escort us back and pick up Langdon in calm waters, and thus required us to come to them. Remember that there are choppy 15 foot swells and 20 knot gusts...). So we set off after the Gould, which is doing 4 knots about 2 miles away, while we can barely manage 8 due to waves and wind (This is sounding like an algebra problem). Eventually we catch up to them at a turn (when they slow to 2 knots), and have our chance to board. So I maneuver the zodiac in between the acoustic transducer (which is still hanging off the starboard side of the Gould) and the stabilizers. It was just like parallel parking a suburban in Seattle. Except we are all moving forward and up and down over 18 foot swells. At the water line in the picture above, there is a black anti-fouling paint below the surface. In the trough of the wave, I was eye level with that orange-black interface; at the crest, I was looking down at the deck. I shit you not. I almost shit myself. Especially when I saw how close the deckbox on the zodiac came to catching the edge of the deck on the Gould, but I won't go into that... Amazingly, Langdon stood there calmlywaiting for his chance, and then stepped off onto the ladder. We quickly drove away and it was all over. UNTIL THEY CALLED US BACK TO DROP OFF OUR EMPTY GAS TANKS AND WE HAD TO DO THE WHOLE THING AGAIN!!!!

It was all worth it though. We saved the cruise many hours of fishing, avoided a few disasters, and had a lot of fun surfing waves on our way home. We even had the unpleasant opportunity of getting a nosefull of whale spray (smelled like low-tide bottled with a fart). The adventure gave me a new perspective on the environment I'm living in and served to confirm my love for the ocean. It was a truly amazing day... And the Antarctic Experience I was looking for.