The Boat and the People

The Boat

The research ship we are using for this cruise is the R/V Kilo Moana, which is associated with my school, UH Manoa, although I think all US research vessels are technically owned by the Navy. I don’t really understand the ownership aspect of it. It is nicer in pretty much every way compared to the ship I was on for the last cruise, the Langseth. It is said to be one of the nicest US research ships out there and it generally lives up to that reputation. It is a somewhat unique design in that it has two hulls, sort of like a very large catamaran. This makes it significantly wider than most ships, and I think it is somewhere around 230 ft long. The rooms have two bunks, a couple cabinets/dressers, a desk, and a sink, and adjacent rooms share a bathroom. The rooms are larger than those on the Langseth, the beds are as comfortable as can be expected, although I would gladly sacrifice some room space for a wider bed. The rooms for the captain and chief scientist are very nice and about 4 times the size of the rest of the rooms, with a couch, two larger beds, a large desk, and their own bathroom. There are a number of labs, including the main computer lab, where the instruments are monitored. The Langseth computer lab was actually much larger than the Kilo Moana’s, but that is just about the only advantage that the Langseth has over the Kilo Moana. There is a movie lounge with a ~50” TV, a bunch of comfy leather couches, and a massive selection of DVD’s. There is also a library with a bunch of novels to read and two computers for public internet usage. The internet is brutally slow for the most part, as the same 500 kbps connection is apparently shared by all Pacific research vessels. You can get lucky and have a tolerable internet connection, but sometimes it is so slow it is almost physically painful, and occasionally it just doesn’t work at all. There is pretty much no way you could do something like streaming a video online or trying to skype with a webcam. There is a small but adequate exercise room, and I think that is about it for the amenities.

I had heard from multiple people beforehand that the food was delicious onboard, and it has most definitely lived up to that reputation. There is fresh salad available with a large variety of veggies for lunch and dinner, although I imagine that will not last the entire cruise. For breakfast, there is always eggs, bacon, sausage, usually some type of potato, yogurt, fruit, and then things like French toast or pancakes, all of it is pretty awesome. Lunch is pretty variable and there is always more than one option for a main dish if you don’t like something they are serving. The highlights so far have been bbq tri-tip and prime rib, which were amazing, and it’s only the first week. On top of the delicious meals, there is a never ending supply of snacks, including popcorn, nuts, doritos, ice cream, candy, chocolate, various kinds of cereal, and there are always fresh desserts made for lunch and dinner. In general, I eat much better on the ship than I do at home, so absolutely no complaints.

The People

There are 4 main groups of people on the boat: the crew, the Nautilus group, the Geomar group, a group from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachussetts (WHOI), and the miscellaneous scientists who are mostly from UH Manoa. There is also an onboard paramedic and an observer from Tonga, since we are actually in Tongan waters. The crew of ~20+ includes the captain and the 3 mates who are primarily responsible for piloting the vessel and giving orders to the rest of the crew, the 3 cooks, the engineers and tech people, and the AB’s, or the able-bodied seamen, who are essentially the seafaring equivalent of laborers. There are 4-5 people from Nautilus, who are geologists and geophysicists. Because Nautilus is funding the expedition, their head geologist, Peter, is basically the guy in charge of science operations. He determines where we survey with the AUV, where we do camera tows, and where the dredging sites are, and the logistics of when everything happens. All of the Nautilus people are Australian, I had some beers in town with them before we left port, and they are all pretty cool guys. Geomar is a German company that is entirely responsible for the AUV, which their company built and maintains. They have ~5 people onboard, 3-4 Germans, a British woman, and 1 American guy from Florida. The WHOI group consists of 2 people, who are responsible for the TowCam. A third member of the TowCam group is actually from UH Manoa, and is part of an organization called the Hawaiian Mapping Research Group (HMRG), who live on the first floor of my building on campus. HMRG provided the system that allows them to track the AUV underwater, so it knows where it’s mapping. I worked with a few people from this group during my Master’s work, they have proprietary software that is useful for working with sonar data. I am a part of the misc scientists from UH Manoa, as well as Regan (the other grad student), Fernando (my advisor), Ken Rubin (the geochemist). Everyone is pretty nice and gets along just fine for the most part, although some of the Germans fit the serious, all-business German stereotype, and some of the crew are a bit gruff and not particularly friendly. Although I can safely say I would not want to work on a ship as my career, the one huge advantage is that most of them only work 6-9 months out of the year. Having 3-6 months of vacation every single year would be pretty awesome, but I imagine it is tough on the crew members who have families, which may be why many of them don’t.

Drinkin beers with the Nautilus folks (and Regan) in Apia. The beer towers are pretty awesome, they have a cylinder that attaches to the lid and holds ice to keep the beer cold. They hold ~10 beers and cost about $20 US, not a bad deal :)