Journals 2008/2009

John Karavias
Walt Whitman H.S. Huntington Station, NY

"Estimation of Primary Productivity and Particle Export Rates as a Function of Phytoplankton Community Structure in the Bering Sea" United States Coast Guard Cutter Healy, Icebreaker July 3 - July 28, 2008

Journal Index: July 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11        12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19        20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27        28 - 29 - 30 - 31

July 20, 2008
Rough Seas

Today was the worst weather the Bering had to offer so for. We had a log transect to the sediment trap deployment and we could have had 10-foot swells. Somebody told me we were taking water over the bow so naturally had to go there and take a look first hand. That person was right. We were taking water over the bow. I have the video and pictures to prove it.

The bow of the Healy getting sprayed before I got there

Alex, a young man from the MATE program, and I decided we were going to stand at the edge of the bow and wait for a wave to hit. The other person was one deck above waiting to take a picture of it. It was blowing 30+ knots and we were traveling at about 13 knots so it was windy to say the least. When I was at the bow I heard a thunderous smash and simultaneous vibration and then got soaked by the spray. My god that water was cold. I looked up at Alex and yelled, "Did you get it?" He said he did and then it was his turn. I thought I got hit with a splash. Poor Alex looked like he was at an amusement park. He just got crushed. I even got video of it. We went inside, had a few laughs then dried off because we looked like two drowned rats.

There I am getting soaked by the spray.

Later on in the day the seas calmed enough to deploy the sediment traps and since the crew, Pat, and now I, are veterans at deployment-it went off without incident. In 24 hours, we'll go get it again.