While time seemed to be creeping by slowly in the first two weeks, the days now seem to unnoticeably transform into one another. Life on the ship is somehow just like the 'other world back home'; we eat, sleep (a bit), work (a lot), hang out with friends in the gym, after dinner or in the sauna. There are small discussions and miscommunications but mostly the atmosphere is great, we joke around, are excited about the things we find and see, and are enjoying the unique environment we are in.
Yesterday morning I woke up and walked to the deck on the fourth floor in pure amazement. The sun was very bright, the sky almost completely cloudless, the sea was covered by ice again and there land on the horizon for the first time since we left: Bennett Island (76° 42’ N and 149° 00’E).
Yesterday morning I woke up and walked to the deck on the fourth floor in pure amazement. The sun was very bright, the sky almost completely cloudless, the sea was covered by ice again and there land on the horizon for the first time since we left: Bennett Island (76° 42’ N and 149° 00’E).
This remote island is located north of the New Siberian Islands, is a part of the De Long archipelago, and was discovered only in 1881 There are not that many islands on our planet that are so remote as this one! We were brainstorming about how it would be to land there, make a fire, and sleep in tents. We could see large glaciers covering the island, along with black basaltic rocks of 300 to 400 m above sea level. In 2008 I also sailed past this island on a Russian ship, but the conditions were far from perfect then as we were hit by a massive storm!
The sampling goes well, we are now working quite intensively in shifts since about two weeks. At all sampling station the sediment team (that I am a part of) takes gravity cores, but last week we also managed to successfully retrieve a piston core of 4.5 m length that covered the complete Holocene! It was a long operation but everybody was happy and excited when the core was safe back on deck. We are now cruising towards station number 47 already so we have covered quite some ground. The last two days we are in very shallow waters around 40m deep which, together with the ice navigation, adds extra complexity to maneuvering the ship as the minimum depth that Oden can steam in is 35m.
Last Thursday we had a mid-cruise dinner with lovely food (the cooks and galley girls are splendid!) and great company. It is nice to dress up sometimes instead of appearing with muddy clothing at the dinner everyday!
Last Thursday we had a mid-cruise dinner with lovely food (the cooks and galley girls are splendid!) and great company. It is nice to dress up sometimes instead of appearing with muddy clothing at the dinner everyday!