Journals 2005/2006

Julie Long
Farnsworth Middle School, Guilderland, NY

"Late-summer Ecosystems Monitoring Survey" R/V Albatross IV August 12-25, 2005

Journal Index: August 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18            19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25

August 24, 2005
One Day Left

2:30A.M. - I've been up since midnight, but we don't have a station until 4:00am. I was told I could go back to bed but I knew that if I did that, my body's clock would be more screwed up than it already is so I'm staying awake. It has been worth it. I went to the scientist/crew lounge and was invited to listen to some of the crew play guitar. It was like I was being invited into their living room. It was a great way to pass a few hours- listening to music and laughing over jokes.

We crossed the Hague Line for the final time tonight. The Hague Line divides Canadian and US waters. Whenever we crossed the Hague Line, one of the officers always came on the PA and made some sort of funny announcement or sang a song. This is amusing, especially this time, so early in the morning.

4:30 A.M. (same day) - We passed by Mount Desert Rock lighthouse off the coast of Maine. It is a rock off the coast of Mount Desert Island (the home of Acadia National Park) that is too big to leave unmarked but contains nothing other than a lighthouse. It was nice to see a lighthouse, even if it wasn't truly land.

4:00 P.M. (same day) - I saw the Spirit of Massachusetts today! The Spirit was the boat I sailed on for the Seamester program during my sophomore year of college. I spent nine weeks on that schooner. I saw it sailing under full sail off the coast of Portland, ME. Don is also a Seamester alum so we reminisced about Seamester for awhile. It's funny to me that we went on Seamester 19 years apart but we have many of the same cherished and favorite memories.

We're cruising along the coast of Maine. We're going to pass Nubble Light- it will be neat to see it from the ocean side since I have seen it so many times from the land side.

We're ahead of schedule and are probably going to be in Woods Hole tomorrow by noon. It's kind of bittersweet. I'll be glad to be home but I'll really miss some of the people I have met on board- crew, officers, and scientists. I'm hoping that the connections can continue.