Today we were inducted onto the ship, which basically means we learned about emergency procedures and got a very thorough tour of the essentials, like where to eat and sleep. First, there are a lot of decks, or levels, of the ship. We sleep on the bottom and on the very top is the bridge, or where the Captain, First, or Second Mate sit and control the ship. There is a crew of 6 people, as well as 2 cooks and 1 steward. There are 20 people aboard who are part of the scientific expedition, including 7 from Japan, 5 from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 3 from CU Boulder, 2 from University of Texas at Austin, 1 from UC Santa Cruz, 1 from GNS Science in New Zealand, and 1 from Oregon State University.

The immersion suit sounded a bit intense. You have to pull it on, feet first, and then put the hood on. It seals to your face, very tightly, and then you put your hands in the floppy gloves, then zip it up above your nose. Not so good for the claustrophobic among us.

We head out into the open ocean tonight, and at some point we will have watches assigned to us (like work shifts). There are a lot of interesting people aboard so hopefully I will hear some good stories while I’m out here.