Journals 2004/2005

Eric Goff
Hedgesville High School, Hedgesville, West Virginia

"Monitoring harmful algal blooms using autonomous sampling platforms" R/V Suncoaster August 2-6, 2004

Journal Index: August 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6

August 2- Day One

I was greeted by Tom, one of the researchers at my hotel and we headed for the research vessel. When we arrived, I helped to load the equipment onto the boat and remembered to take some medicine before leaving shore.

We departed into the Gulf of Mexico to find brevis (red tide). On the way out, the two primary researchers, one from California and the other from New Zealand discussed the rotation schedule. They decided each would take a 12 hour shift and the three assistants (myself being one) opted for 8 hour shifts.

While all went well during the day, the night proved to be a bit different. I had the "V-berth" on the vessel and received most of the brunt of the force of the waves. Imagine the boat goes up (and all in it), and it seemed that when the boat went back down with the waves that I was suspended in air and came down to meet the bed when the boat was on its way back up riding another wave!