Diary

R/V Meteor Cruise FACEiT

Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Two more days to go, two more days for an extraordinary adventure to be over… Something that may be routine in the life of some people, was an exceptional and challenging break for us. "Break" we said? - sorry, that is not quite the right term. And how could it ever be, after 19 hours of work per day.... We knew it was going to be hard, what we did not know was that we were to find a "floating lab" (or should we say labssss?). And then comes the oil. Two different oily things at the same time: our lovely cub vessels and our natural oil spill. Sorry Sea, we didn't mean to harm you! And the Sea did understand us - crazy scientists she thought, allow them to play…. So the Sea helped and the weather helped and we were able to sample from our spill for two whole days!!! Oh yes, this is definitely "cutting edge science" (thanks Jan for the statement-hope you won't ask for copyrights!). But, that was not all. Thirsty as we are for more science, we started chasing after oil. And guess what? Oil was out there calling us. So, we replied. More samples to process, more work to do, more "happy-happy" science - for the last bit, time will say. But above all, sailing is about having fun. And that's what we did on "Pelagia". Thanks to all the crew members and all our partners, this is going to be a time to remember. How could you possibly forget an on- board barbeque in the middle of the North Sea under 30oC (we have photographic documents of that, for whoever does not believe)!!!? Everything was delicious and perfectly organized (many thanks to our cook and the rest of the crew who prepared it and many apologies for keeping you guys waiting for us to finish our work). For a proper scientist though, Sunday can not end with a barbeque party but with….oil - who wants some more?!. Being on a Dutch ship also means tasting Dutch delicacies, such as the famous "shworma" (probably the spelling is completely wrong- sorry Louis) - this was to teach some arrogant Greeks the origins of "souvlaki"-hehe!!!!! And then comes the night. Enough of work - let's have some beers-all together now, help yourselves... Well, maybe not tonight, as the Sea finally decided to offer us some motion (a slight taste of the original stuff…) Rocky as we all are, see you guys at tomorrow's party… (could we hope for some live guitar please???- a sailor-musician was spotted among us!). Well, that's all folks! - there is much more of course, but cannot possibly be described on a piece of paper. It is in us, and will stay there. A unique experience!!!!! Myrsini & Bukky; University of Essex