Journals 2008/2009

Nancy Sills
Creekside School, Cataula, GA

"Assessment of Freshwater Resources Offshore New England and Marine Mammal Observing" R/V ENDEAVOR August 12 - 25, 2009

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

August 22, 2009
Here comes Bill!

We finally ran the last line during the late evening and around midnight the streamer and guns were pulled in and we moved toward Narragansett Bay in anticipation of Hurricane Bill The rest of the day reminded me of Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat... "And all we did was to sit, sit, sit, sit,..."

We couldn't gather any data, there was no sea life to watch, and the new scientists who were supposed to come on board Sunday night were not here yet. We just meandered out beside Nantucket Island waiting to see what was going to happen.

Hurricane on the horizon

However, when you do have that kind of down time you find out the most interesting things. One of the crewmembers can tie the most amazing knots. He made a monkey's fist for Brandon's flash drive. It looked like a ball and was so intricate. Another writes poetry and has a portfolio of pictures from all over the world. One of the USGS members was with Bob Ballard when he discovered the Titanic. Finding these things out made the time slip by until just before supper we headed into Narragansett Bay. Hurricane Bill was actually coming and the seas were kicking up. We passed the lighthouse on the point where just last year we studied the tidal pools. It was being pounded by waves.

The lighthouse off Narragansett Bay

We passed our dock, and came around to wait out in the channel for the storm to pass.