charismaticmicrofauna

It’s been 8 days since I left home and it’s the 4^th day at sea. We’re getting further off shore now, so the water is nice and blue. I’m expecting the sky to start sparkling with stars free of light pollution by tonight. We had to head inland a little yesterday because one of the crew was having some heart issues and a tugboat came offshore around San Diego to take him back to land. It was a slight detour, but better that he became symptomatic closer to land than when we are 500 miles away from any shore and far from medical attention. Today, we saw the Baja coastline to the east of the ship and noticed flying fish skimming the surface of the water as we moved. It’s a sign that we are moving into a warmer climate.

Most of our set up and prep is finished, but we’re still 5 days away from our study site. Some of the work that we have done today focused on things we will need to do to prepare for packing things up to go home.  I coated some wooden crates with a primer so that when we dock in Mexico customs will not give us a hard time about transporting porous wooden material. Since our travel to the vent fields we are studying is so long, we only have two days for our return trip to Mexico. We are going to have to break down all of our gear very quickly and get off the ship so that the next research team will be able to get loaded and set up for the Atlantis’ next expedition.

I miss my husband, and my cats, dog, and sugar gliders very much. I’ve been able to practice my boxing in the little gym that is on the ship. It has a full bag for me to practice Muay Thai. I brought my gloves, but I forgot my hand wraps. Fortunately, there is a seaman who fights in Thailand and he had a spare set of hand wraps for me to use so that I can train without hurting my knuckles. When we have time he offered to hold pads for me. All of my Muay Thai techniques are a little more difficult due to the rocking of the ship. Jumping rope is trying, kicks and teeps challenge my balance, and throwing knees is clumsy, but I am going to continue to train as much as I can. I know when I get back to land and back to my gym that I will have some catching up to do.

I haven’t had a drink for four days, and I feel pretty good about it. I imagine that it will be nice to have a beer when I get to Manzanillo, but I don’t want to pick up old habits again. Since I’m forced not to drink, I think this is going to be really great for my health. I’ll get closer to my fitness goals and come back home with a more focused mind.