After weeks of ordering materials and chemicals, testing equipment and carefully packing everything in aluminium crates, our materials were picked up and transported to Texel by truck on Wednesday May 11. If the cruise itself runs as smoothly and efficiently as loading the materials, we will be very happy; within 30 minutes everything was done! With a total 37 items from Utrecht University we topped last year’s number of items by just 1.
The transport of materials doesn’t mean that all preparations are finished. We are still busy making sure that all sampling and handling protocols are up to date. This may come in very handy in case of severe seasickness: with a clear protocol someone else can take over (part of) a job. I am preparing some scripts that will make it easier to process data that will be available directly on board, such as water-column profiles of salinity, temperature and nutrient concentrations. But we’re also thinking of our working conditions: we make sure we have enough speakers to play background music in the containers we’ll be working in. For most of us this is highly desirable entertainment when working in a container for hours in a row. And, last but not least, we still need to pack our personal items. Who knows how long that might take me…
Cheers,
Mathilde
Credits for photos in this blog post: Caroline Slomp.
Cheers,
Mathilde
Credits for photos in this blog post: Caroline Slomp.