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 26, 2008
Morale dinner

On Saturdays, we have morale nights where different departments cook for everybody instead of the cooks. Today was our day. We decided to have a BBQ. It turned out to be the most magnificent day of the trip. In the early afternoon I helped deploy a mooring. This mooring was different than the other moorings I helped deploy.

The mooring I deployed today was already put together on deck whereas the previous moorings had to be put together as it was being deployed. Today's mooring was similar to the others for it has a CTD attached and has the ability to measure chlorophyll. The difference with this one is that the top buoy is shallow, only 18 feet below the surface. That means once we drop it we have to mark it and then put it in the Coast Guard bulletin as a hazard site so other vessels stay clear of it. After we successfully deployed the mooring, it was time to cook!

My job was to hand-season and pack 50 pounds of chop meat into 120 beef burgers. I had some help from the science crew so I can't take all the credit for the great burgers. Once I was done with the burgers my next job was to stand watch over the grill. It is a 6 foot charcoal grill. I cooked for over two hours straight on that grill to feed 120 science and Coast Guard personnel. I was in my glory. I cooked all the burgers, 80 hotdogs, and 40 salmon burgers. I love to grill.

Me grilling for everyone onboard

Before the BBQ we had a wildlife sitting. Gary Friedrechsen, who was spotting for whales, noticed an odd object two miles out. The bridge also was unsure of it origin so we broke our course to investigate. It turned out to be a deceased walrus. It was too hard to tell how old the animal was or how long it was dead. I would have preferred to see a live one but it still was a sight to be seen. The walrus was enormous. I know it was bloated but an enormous beast it was still. I was surprised it was very well preserved.