Last night I was exhausted that I could not concentrate on what to write. We are day three at Rose Atoll and I have been busier than usual. I am making progress and do some figuring on setups and such. I have been working ten hours a day since Sunday trying to bring down the amount of work on the task schedule. I already have plans for the one day in port in Pago Pago and I am figuring on at least an eleven, if not a twelve hour day. The divers are required to take a break after so many days of diving. As for me, it is a good day to do maintenance.
Rose Atoll
I do not have a new picture of what I see during my day on the ship. The scenery has not changed much since the first day. Looking at photos I took two years ago, nothing has changed since either. Not that I expect it to because if it did, we are in trouble. The scientist’s blog has good photos as well as articles related to their diving adventure. At nights they put together reports as well as process data. I do not work directly with the science group though items have come up from time to time where I am needed. My most important task with them is to ensure that the Internet satellite system is up and running.
That system in itself can have a few hiccups on occasion. It was not long ago that we did not have Internet on the ships. E-mail was transmitted and received up to two to three times a day via Inmarsat satellite. It usually costs anywhere from $6.95 to $10.00 a minute to use that system. It was expensive to keep in touch with the folks back home and there was a quota on size of total e-mail sent. If you exceed the quota, you could expect a bill from the ship. Of which, speaking of e-mail despite the new Internet satellite system we have and new e-mail servers and programs we went through most of the day not receiving e-mails. I stopped use the ship’s e-mail system when Internet was installed. I get my mail from my shore based or personal account. Days like today come too often so I bypass the ship’s e-mail system except for official correspondences addressed to the ET department.
It felt good to go to sleep early last night and I will do the same tonight. When you are out here you do not have sleep in weekends or days off. So you take advantage of every chance you get to catch up. I do not expect to have a sleep in weekend or weekend off until I get back in May.
I bid you goodnight from Rose Atoll and Manuia-po from the South Pacific
No comments:
Post a Comment