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 21, 2008
Another sediment trap retrieval

Today was the foggiest day we had yet. Of course it was since we had to launch the small boat to retrieve the trap. We had 125 yards of visibility and that is all. Pat and I could hear the 'Coasties' on the small boat but could not see them no matter how hard we tried. It was darn near spooky. We actually did the retrieval in record time.

I was on the winch and now am quite confident with it effectively eliminating any chances of me getting in the small boat. Running the winch is easy and anybody can do it but the confidence factor is what is important. It is easy to get discombobulated and go the wrong way and mess things up. When I look back at the pictures taken of me, I see I have such a serious look on my face. That is because I am concentrating on the hand signals given to me and to be A-frame operator. I am also concentrating on the block and looking at the crew for general safety. There is a lot going on.

In the evening the scientists decided to blow off some steam so we lined up some 4-liter bottles and made up a small bowling alley. We used a roll of duct tape as the ball. It was a great time. I managed to have the bowlathon videotaped but I do not have any pictures of it.