This month, I spent two and a half weeks volunteering as an oceanographic research assistant aboard...
the New Horizon, with CALCOFI (the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations), a partnership between the California Department of Fish and Game, the NOAA Fisheries Service, and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
We departed San Diego on November 2nd, traveling up the coast to the north of Point Conception (past Santa Barbara), then returning to San Diego on the 18th, stopping along the way at about 70 hydrographic stations,
where, besides collecting weather data and net tow samples, we lowered bottles into the ocean
to collect samples of water at specific depths, and get information on the nutrients, chlorophyll, salinity, carbon, and phytoplankton at each location.
In addition, I preserved and filtered water samples and prepared slides of plankton to be analyzed later on the mainland. When I wasn't working, I spent most of my time...
Here.
And here.
And probably not nearly as much as I should have here (the exercise room).
I was working the midnight to noon watch, of which I usually spent about six hours actually working, and the rest watching movies, reading, talking, or playing games (mostly solitaire and Boggle, with a few hula hoop tournaments thrown in for good measure).
We also had really good meals (even if the midnight to noon shift meant that I usually missed out on dinner except as leftovers), and perfect weather for almost all of the trip.
The trip also gave me the opportunity to see a number of gorgeous sunrises (though no sunsets).
And also dolphins.
All in all, it was a great trip. I learned a lot, and it was a really interesting experience.
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