August 29th: So, this is my last official blog entry in Gravity Survey 2006. We finished loading and packing the trailer and have shipped 8 large crates, full of equipment, to the US. We also disassembled the gravity meters for transit mode and locked/secured the trailer (now called the "gravity office"). The rest of the day was spent traveling around Trondheim, looking at museums, old buildings and churches. I visited the oldest cathedral in Norway; built around the 10th century. It is gothic and likes quite "cold." Gargoyles and strange demons / critters line the roof. The cathedral is northern most cathedral in Europe and perhaps the world. I wish I was able to get inside.
I have also worked out plans for my vacation to Spain. Found it was cheaper and more convenient to take the Eurorail from Amsterdam. Seeing as I am going through a number of countries, along the way, I figure a stop in Paris will be nice. I will stay there for two days. So currently I plan to visit the following cities: Amsterdam, Paris, Santander, Barcelona and perhaps Mallorca. My return airline ticket to the US will put me in San Diego on September 15th. So until then, I wish you the best. Feel free to contact me via email. I hope you visit next years Gravity Blog when I am on Bearing Sea north of Arctic Circle. Check back in a couple of weeks -- by then, I will have created a link to vacation and work photos. På gjensyn!
August 28th: Phew today was another long day. We finally got to our hotel room at around midnight. Long day, great drive and the mine tunnel / hydro damn was amazing. In fact, it is to cool to explain in words. I will have to tell you about it in person. The tunnel is sloped at 47 degrees and climbs over 800 vertical meters (see left); the lights seem to go on for ever. The gravity calibrations went well. Standard deviations for gravity were quite small (< 0.020 mgal) and the height difference, from the top to the bottom, created a huge gravity signal.
The drive to Trondhiem was long but nice. Many fjords, mountains, valleys, tunnels and lakes along the way. We even had to take a ferry. Trondhiem, the first big city I have seen in Norway, is a trendy place and definitely has a college town atmosphere. Lots of canals along the streets and old historical buildings. Off in the distance I can see an old gothic cathedral. I hope to check i t out tomorrow.
Ola, the Norweigan scientist from the gravity cruise, invited us to join his family for dinner. During dinner he expressed his gratitude and thanks for all of our hard work. He also mentioned next years cruise, based out of Hammerfest, some 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle, in the Bearing Sea. I have a good chance of going and am already looking forward to it. So much more to say, but I am tired and need to be up early tomorrow. Till then, cheers.
August 27th: Today we drove to Sunndalsøra -- about 2.5 hours north of Kristiansund. This town is beautiful; huge mountains all around, yet still nestled in the fjords. The tallest mountains still have glaciers and snow fields. The road here was tiny, but impressive; turns to dirt beyond the town and snakes it way up to the mountain tops. We drove through about a dozen tunnels. One of the longest tunnels went under a fjord, and inside it was raining -- enough to turn on the windshield wipers. The only way I can explain it is sea water seeping through the rock. We left the gravity meters inside the mine shaft (now part of a hydroelectric power plant) so they can come to thermal equilibrium. While we haven't yet made it to the top the bottom section was a chilly 6 degrees C (43 F)! The slope of the tunnel is an impressive 45 degrees; the lights go as far as the eye can see. (If you wanted to walk to the top it is some 4000 steps -- wish I had my slinky!) There are huge (~5 foot diameter) water pipes running down the tunnel with an impressive 10,000 PSI each. These pipes lead to massive turbines which generate power. The bottom section of the tunnel is like a small city -- tunnels winding everywhere and even a few roads. Except, this city is closed off by massive water tight doors. If the pipes burst, we are trapped in side with our rental van -- but the city below is spared. My hotel room is great. Nice wooden floors, a kitchenette, and even a separate bed room. To bad we are only staying in this town for one day.
August 26th: Accomplished quite a bit today. We finished packing the van (container truck) so that it can be hauled to Trondheim on the back of a semi truck. This involved tieing everything down, loading items in crates and removing all the dangerous chemcials. We also prepared the gravity meters for their trip with us to Sunndalsøra, the town which contains the mine tunnel we will be preforming the gravity calibrations in. I also reprogrammed Unit 5.
After that, we went to the hotel and I changed my return ticket to the US. I pushed my return date to the 15th of September, for some "play" time in Spain and Amerstdam. Good thing I called the airline. They had screwed up my ticket. They originally had me flying from Trondheim to Amerstdam, Amerstdam to Minneapolis and Houston to San Diego. I asked them how I was supposed to get to Houston. They said they didn't know. After a big of nervous laughter on their part, they fixed my ticket on their expense.
We then walked around Kristiansund and attempted to find two geocaches. We only found one. Saw some beautiful countryside and homes along the way. The photo to the left is a view of the fjords on our way to one of the caches (my camera still works -- see yesterday's blog). The sunsets here are long and colorful. We still had enough light to search for this cache almost an hour after this picture was taken. We then went back to the hotel, and here I am. Ready for bed and another long day tomorrow.
August 25th: So I am finally back in Kristiansund. It is great to be on land. It has been a long day. But it is finally over and I can go to sleep. I look forward to having a regular bed, and not hitting my arms on a wooden rail. I also look forward to the clean shower and bathroom within my own room. I have a window which means I can get some fresh air. A welcome reward after the stuffy, hot ship. Mark, Pat and I just had some beer. It tasted great. Never knew a beer could taste so good. My hotel room has an awesome view. I look across a small fjord to another island which comprises yet another part of Kristiansund.
I have been here just shy of a month now, and I can already notice a definite change in the length of the days. I was told, that each successive day, in Norway, this time of year is about five minutes shorter than the previous day. Kind of crazy, huh? Know what else is funny? I haven't seen anything. Just water and more water. But our trip to mine tunnel, in the south will provide me with some excellent opportunities to see more of Norway. I hope to get some great photos. Speaking of photos, something bad happened today. I dropped my digital camera while on the ship. I will blame it on a wave -- never mind we were in the fjords when it happened. Part of its plastic enclosure cracked, but it seems to be okay. I won't know for sure though, until I look at the photos on my computer. I will give you and update later.
August 24th: We just completed the last gravity measurement and are starting to head home. Much to do before we get in port and off load, so I have very little time to post anything today. Oddly enough today has seemed to be the best day in terms of weather. The water is almost mirror like. The ROV is running well. The only delay to speak of, was an active source seismic vessel with a 4 km long streamer which was in our way. Waited for about an hour for her to pass and then carried out the last measurement. Till next time. Ha det.
August 23rd: There is light at the end of the tunnel. We are on the penultimate set (page) of measurements. Today started off somewhat slow, as we were under a weather delay from midnight to 2 PM, but all is good now. The mood of the crew seems to be chipper than normal. Word is getting around that we will be home soon. We will leave Midgard around 8 PM tomorrow and arrive in Kristansund on Friday. There we unload our personal belongings and the trailer from the ship. (The ship leaves shortly after for the next client.) We finish packing the trailer on Saturday; deciding what returns to the US and what should stay. Sunday will be a day off and Monday we begin the land based gravity calibrations in Trondheim. Apparently this takes place inside of a mine shaft, located in the center of a large mountain. I hear the ride, in the cable pulled mine car, is something I will never forget. More on that, when it happens.
Last night's weather delay apparently created a large problem for Pat. (One of the two other Americans on board.) He left his port hole open and a huge wave rushed in. The wave soaked the coach, flooded the floor, destroyed his laptop speakers, took out a few DVDs and destroyed a bunch of papers and books. When he told me this, I laughed. Maybe it is a good idea that I don't have a port hole. I wonder -- how long does it take for a siphon to bring down a ship? Mwhahahah. Just kidding. Is anyone actually reading this? Anyone . . . . anyone? If so, let me know! Use the secret word: "Aparecium"
(a-pa-REE-see-um) which is the spell attempted by Hermione Granger in
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to make invisible ink appear in Tom Riddle's diary. (Her spell never worked.) Be sure to use that word in our next communique. This way I know we have a super secret, special, connection.
August 22nd: Phew, today has been a tough one. No, no -- the weather is fine. It's the gravity meters. Let me explain: the day started with unit 3 up to her normal shenanigans of screwy data. Her measurements continued to worsen, until it was decided to swap her for unit 5. (We had to rid ourselves of her poison.) A fairly simple task: we swapped the cables, prepared the computers, mounted the gravity meters to the frame, and safely stowed unit 3. Lots of work -- made more difficult by a pitching ship. This was followed by putting the good gravity meters in the cold bath. Within about 10 minutes, unit 5 started acting strangely. Temperatures were screwy and the gravity signal was unrealistic. A few minutes later the leak detector alarm went off and different aspects of unit 5 started to die. (Unit 3 had spread her female poison!) I continued to watch the screen, in horror, as the internal pressure signal, the tilt signals, motor positions signals, heater signals, gravity data and pretty much everything else useful was lost (i.e. all of these signals started to flat line). We panicked for a few minutes, powered off unit 5 and pulled them out of the water. Then we replaced unit 5 for evil 3 and proceeded to open and dry unit 5 (pictured, left). There was surprisingly little water; tiny pools on the circuit boards and motors no more than half a teaspoon in total; hardly enough to drown a gnat -- yet enough to kill unit 5. So here she sits, on the work bench awaiting the next step -- whatever the next step may be. So, that is the bad news. Gravity meters going to hell. The good news is we finished Mikkel and are back at Midgard. A few more measurements and we will be done. We should be back in port by Friday -- maybe even Thursday, if unit 3 doesn't see differently. MARSEC Level 3.
August 21st: Great news. Sounds like we will be done with all of the measurements by this Friday. That includes a second run at Midgard Field. By Saturday we should be off the ship and ready to start packing stuff for our return to the US. Monday we will do some land based calibrations and I don't know what will happen after that. I will keep you posted. No aurora last night. Maybe tonight. We haven't had a fire drill today so my theory from yesterday looks as if it is shot down. But that's okay.
So everything is starting to turn green. My pants, my shoes, the inside of the van. It is all green, and caused by hydraulic fluid from the ROV. It is everywhere. The ROV crew really doesn't care how much of it winds up on the deck or in the ocean for that matter (yummie, yummie). Actually the hydraulic fluid is more yellow in colour, but the paint on the deck is green, and hydraulic fluid likes to "eat" paint. From there it sticks to the bottom of our boots, and even the tops -- don't' ask me how it gets there. Track it inside the van, and the wood floor absorbs the hydraulic fluid and leaves the paint behind. If working on deck and you happen to kneel the green paint / hydraulic fluid mixture gets on your clothes. It doesn't stain but it is a paint in the ass! Hahahhaha. I understand why we use booties when we go inside now. They really keep the inside of the ship much cleaner.
August 20th: Measurements, measurements, measurements! Twenty four hours, around the clock. Things are going so well, it's scary. No delays, no problems. Knock on wood! Weather is warmer today, and skies are clear. Last night, for the first time in my life, I saw the aurora borealis. It was green in colour as it shimmered and danced across the sky. It wasn't as big or colourful as it is in the winter, but in the very least I got to see it! Small portions of the upper sky lit up. It didn't last long -- maybe about 20 or 30 minutes. I understand that it is a rare occurrence in the summer so I should consider myself lucky. Apparently, it is normally seen in the winter -- unless there is some sort of magnetic storm on the sun. I will check the web to see what the solar weather forecasts are/were. I hope to see it again tonight, as it is quite awe inspiring. Note: the picture to the left is not the aurora, but rather a sunset, as viewed from the muster station. Nice, huh? Other than that not much to report. I hear it is going to get hot in San Diego this week. To bad <cue the evil laugh>. Oh, if you get bored and have nothing better to do, I recommend looking at pictures of the aurora borealis. There are quite a few of them on google photo.
We had our third drill today. I think I am noticing a pattern. Sundays are abandon ship drills, or general alarm drills. These require us to gather at the muster station, wearing life jackets, and carrying our immersion suits.
Mondays, I think are fire drills. These also require us to gather at the muster station. It is still unclear whether we should bring our life jackets and immersion suits. I guess I will find out soon enough. Till next time . . .
August 19th: The weather today is cold (I can see my breath during the day), but the seas remain flat and almost glass like. The swell is about a metres and a half, but long period, so ship sway is minimal. Measurements have been going well. In fact, measurements have been going so well, for the last few days, that we are ahead of schedule! A few hours ago, we completed Phase I of the Midgard Gravity Survey. We are now transiting to the Mikkel Field. This is a much smaller oil field and at the current rate we should be done in a few days. Then, depending on weather conditions and crew morale we may make some return measurements in Midgard field.
At the last station in Midgard, we recovered one of two tide gauges. (We will recover all the tide gauges at the end of the survey.) Once the tide gauge was on deck, I assisted in cleaning it. The base, was covered in a thick, sticky, clay like marine sediment. So, this begs one query: How many people do you know that have touched the bottom of the North Sea? Huh? Tell me! What is that none? Well now you can make it one! Because -- yes, I Jose Otero, on the 19th day of August in the year of the Lord two-thousand and six, am now part of an elite group of people whom has touched the bottom of the North Sea! (In fact the only people I know of to date, whom have done this, are Ula and I.) You can kneel before me and worship me when I return to San Diego. In fact -- I feel so honored for touching the bottom -- I will never wash my hands again. Damn! I already have. This blog in ruining my life! In all seriousness though -- measurements are going well, and I really did get to touch some of the marine sediments. Also, if you want to kneel before me, upon my return, I will not object. We are now rapidly approaching the the first Mikkel benchmark. As it is my shift, I need to return to work. More later. Cheers!
August 18th: OMG! Guess what I got to do last night. I got to drive the ROV. It is freakin' cool. You get to sit is this special chair and are surrounded by computer screens. On the left arm of the chair is a little touch screen that controls trim, "auto pilot", the thrusters, lights and basic ROV functions. There is also a lever that controls rate of descent and ascent. On the right side of the arm chair is a joystick. Depending which screen the little touch screen is on, the joystick controls things such as left, right, forward and backward positioning, or the manipulators and arms. Little tiny switches (they kind that would fire missiles on a fighter jet) control the four cameras which all look at different positions on or around the ROV. The monitors in front of the ROV look at depth, distance to the ocean bottom, attitude (like a airplane artificial horizon), camera angles, distance from the ship, distance to the benchmark, sonar, etc. It is really quite confusing. Depending on the orientation of the ROV, forward on the joystick does not always make the ROV go forward. It may make it go East or West. Then, if you rotate the ROV (about the z axis) forward may indeed make it go forward. The sonar is bloody brilliant. After the benchmark is visible as a tiny blip on the sonar screen, you fly the ROV towards it . . . meanwhile keeping an eye on all of the bazillion screens. I can see why these guys need so much practice. It is so easy to overshoot or over rotate. No brakes --- inertia is a bitch. The ROV guy said I did a good job for a first time flier. Perhaps I did -- or maybe he just said that. All I know, is that it was fun and I want to do it again. Way better than a video game. I just can't do it during my shift again. Mark got a bit upset that I left the Gravity van to do that. Oh well. Life goes on.
August 17th: Not much to report today. A bit colder than yesterday. We are surrounded by water. Alot of it. The flies are still hanging around. Seriously their numbers seem to be greater than they were a few days back. Where do they come from? I think they must live and breed in the dumpster and then fly about the ship. Their time is limited however. The seagulls are still patiently waiting for food. When will they realize we are not a fishing vessel? Stupid birds. I got bored last night and started shooting them with my green laser. They don't like that much and fly like mad when I do that -- as if they could avoid the mystery green light. Some of them cry out as they attempt to flee the death ray. Good luck my winged friends.
Measurements have been going great. We are beating our records for the most measurements in a shift. At this rate we should start making up for lost time. Our minimum time between sequential measurements is now about 62 minutes. Other than that not much to say. The daily routine is starting to get old. Thank God I have my IPOD and some DVDs. The food, while still good, is also starting to get a bit boring.
August 16th: Phew! Yesterday's transit was a tough one. It was very obvious when we left the protection of the fjords. The simplest things began to prove difficult. Walking, pouring water in a glass, getting food in my mouth and even using the bathroom became a challenge. When the seas are moderate, walking about the ship reminds me of drinking to much and trying to walk a straight line; walking about the ship when the seas are rough, however, seems more like walking while on a roller coaster. There is one big difference however -- on a roller coaster you are tied into a seat!
Anything which wasn't tied down, or tied down well moved. Items that were tied well made strange noises -- noises inanimate objects shouldn't be making. At one point I got bored and put a small empty Fanta bottle on the floor. I recorded it moving about the cabin floor. I bought the Fanta while I was in Kristiansund; a bargain at only five bucks. I also took some video from one of the ship's port holes. It seemed more like a European front-loading washing machine than a window. Amazing amount of water were sloshing up against it. It even sounded like a washing machine with all the sloshing. Thank God it was closed.
I must admit I am glad we took on new supplies. I had stopped drinking the milk after it passed it expiration date. Now that we have fresh milk, I can drink it again. While the expired milk wasn't bad, I didn't want to re-live the "Chunky Milk Incident of 2000." So I guess I should say something about the measurements. They have been going well today. Somewhat slow start but now moving along. So far to date we have had about 50 dives / measurements. We have about 125 to go. I have a feeling we will be using the optional at sea days.
August 15th: Land hoe! We are back in Kristiansund at yet another dock. Every time we come into this town we dock in a different location. The current dock is quite nice and picturesque; just along the main street where all the shops and townsfolk are. (The photo to the left is looking from the aft, starboard side of the ship, across the fjord -- not down the main street.) We are here to receive supplies and wait out the storm. In the mean time we are making some repairs and improvements to the ship. Improvements that will hopefully make ROV operations safer and easier.
13:30 We are now headed back to the Midgard Oil Field. We should be there in about 12 hours, or around one in the morning. In Kristiansund we took on a bunch of supplies. Mostly food, milk, and juice. I am sure we also took on fresh water. The ROV crew bought some networking equipment and asked if I could set it up. By the end of the day we should have wireless internet access inside the main deck of the ship. I won't be able to get access in my quarters as I am a few decks below and the ship is made of steel, but it is a good start. Funny how they just assumed I know about this stuff. Well actually it may be because the original wireless access point was in the wrong spot and I called them on it. Guess that's what I get for opening my mouth. The new networking equipment is identical to products sold in the US -- except the transformer is European style. It looks funny to me. Must admit that their plugs are much safer than US plugs, however. It is impossible to touch the prongs and inadvertently get shocked when you plug something in. (Trust me on this one -- I tried.)
August 14th: Progress last night was slow. In middle of my shift, the ROV crew had a very rough recovery. The ROV swung about the deck quite a bit and landed fairly hard. Sometime during all the swinging, all power to the ROV was lost. They also lost video and all fiber communications. It took the crew about 15 hours to fix Bathysaurus. Early this afternoon, after recalibrating the ships dynamic positioning system (kind of like an autopilot for ships, to keep them in the same location), measurement restarted. Shortly after that we were put on weather hold. Now, I hear we are headed back to Kristiansund. Apparently this ship doesn't do to well in rough weather and the captain feels it is best if we spend the next 12 hours steaming back to port to take shelter. This means, the earliest we can restart measurements is in ~24 hours; assuming the storm lasts for only a few hours. I was kind of hoping we would ride out the weather. It would be nice to get some good photos of the waves. But at the same time we don't want anyone to get sick, so it may be for the best.
Oh. I almost forgot about the fire drill we had yesterday. Nothing much but quite extensive. The people involved with the drill had to put on the breathing apparatus and pull out all the fire hoses. Then they went down to the engine room and had some sort of simulation. I, as well as most of the ship crew, were not in the engine room, as we were required to stay at the muster station. I do know, however, that two of the fire crew were not taking the drill seriously enough and the first mate really laid into them. The guy was livid. Yelling at them and telling them how they need to act as if it was a real alarm and to come to the drill prepared (i.e. with fire gear, etc.) I talked to the first mate about the drill later in the day. He was still a bit upset. He made it a point to tell me that we aren't far from the oil platforms which have fire vessels in the water 24 hours a day as well as fire helicopters. So, if God forbid, we needed them they could be here quite quickly. I think he told this, to make himself and I, feel a bit better about the botched drill. (Not, that I was really concerned in the first place, however.)
So I just went outside to look at the waves. Perhaps it is best that we are headed back. I just got hit by one! Not a soaker but sufficently wet. The swell is probably close to 4 meters now. Kind of strange to look out straight across the deck and see swells going by that are close to eye level. I tried getting some photos, but it is to dark for the camera to capture any. Perhaps with the next storm.
August 13th: Work has been going very well today. The seas are moderate (~ 2 meters) but not big enought to prevent safe work for the ROV. It is cold today. In the 40s and maybe even a bit lower with the wind chill. Not cold enough for snot to freeze but pretty damn cold. (Note: My uncle would always say you would know it's cold when your snot would freeze.)
Had some really good Thai coconut shrimp for lunch. Apparently the variety of food on this ship is somewhat uncommon -- so I need to consider myself lucky. Not much else to report. Taking gravity measurement is starting to get a bit old. We are near our 53rd dive now.
I have developed a reputation on the ship for knowing computers. (i.e. half way around the world and even here I am a nerd.) I have fixed two laptops, looked at a networking issue and have configured the ROV crew's wireless PDA to get online. Speaking of ROV, here is a nice picture of the ROV that we are using. (The orange RO, pictured above, is from a different survey a few years ago.) The yellow ROV, to the left, is somewhat smaller than previous years and we are pushing her capabilities, but the crew is confident she can perform as necessary. The ROV's name is Bathysaurus. She is a good ROV. Dougie the ROV operated told me that he once caught a crab in the ROV claws and spun the claw so fast that all the legs flew off the crab. Pretty funny if you ask me . . . but also a little bit mean. I am assuming he did this in air.
August 12th: Yesterday's crane mishap set us back about 14 hours. But we have more than made up for it today. Weather is perfect and the seas are flat. No problems with the ROV or cranes. Many good recordings and measurements. I am amazed at at the variety of food. So far we have had: Philipino, Korean, Chineese, American, Mexican, and Norwegian. Nothing super great but all okay. I have asked the head ROV operator (Dougie -- a Scottish lad) if I could drive the ROV. He said I could later on in the trip. He also said I should give him a call once I graduate. He gave me his card. I did some laundry today. Baffled by the dryer though. Everything was in Norwegian and none of the settings seemed to make sense. Also, the dryers and washers, on the front of them, say "Not approved for use in the USA or Canada." I wonder what that is about.
August 11th: Seem to be off to a rough start today. When I woke up this morning and came to the deck, parts of both cranes were scattered about. Apparently both cranes broke overnight.
August 10th: Today went quite well. No big problems or issues. A few minutes of slight tensions between us and the ROV crew -- but nothing a meeting couldn't fix. Lots of water and even a few horse flies! We are all kind of perplexed and wonder about the flies. Where do they come from? Why are they so far from land? Could these flies be evil? Where do they go at night? We are being trailed/stocked by about a dozen or more sea gulls. Nice sea gulls --- not like the bold mean ones in San Diego, who steal your hamburger when you run to get a napkin. They just sit along side the ship -- watching. Then following. Benchmark after benchmark, they are there. Perhaps waiting for food. Maybe when no one is looking I will sneak them a small bite. I mean, I did feed the fishes the other day. Why can't I feed the gulls? It is almost one o'clock in the morning. I look out at the horizon and still see some sun light. Absolutely amazing. Food is good and varied. Hardly even notice the rocking motion any more. Weather should be good for the next four days or so.
August 9th: Last night was rough. I didn't eat dinner. Late in the evening (before the midnight meal) I was introduced to an old friend -- lunch. While we met only briefly that was enough to convince me that I was going to bed early. Woke up this morning feeling much better. Surrounded by water.
Most Exciting Event of the Day: Our second stop, in the Midgard Oil Field, has been an interesting one -- not to mention expensive. So far the following errors have occurred at this stop: 1) The ROV crew forgot to put the float on the ROV release mechanism . . . ROV back to surface. 2) Cables got twisted around the ROV --- ROV half way back to the surface. 3) ROV crew drops the pressure gauge instrument package which is worth about $15,000. It falls about one hundred meters, thus beginning a very long search. 4) The ROV is not even at the correct location. The benchmark is about 10 km to the west! At over $50,000 a day for ship time and being on location for over three hours . . . you do the math! Oh the wonders of deep marine work!
August 8th: Things are running much better today. ROV crew finished repairs around 4 this morning and then slept till about noon. We did a test deployment in the fjords which went well. We are now headed out towards the north sea (a 12 hour transit). It is currently about 6:45 in the evening. The boat is rocking -- quite a bit -- and I hear she will get much worse before it gets better. The weather won't improve till about mid week.
August 7th:
We are back in Kristiansund. Now over 24 hours delayed. At first it was weather --- now the ROV is broken and the cable on the crane has almost snapped (i.e. 2/3 of the steel was cut when the cable jumped the pulley). I was in bed when that happened. The ROV overheated and the manipulator hands stopped working. We are lucky that the ROV didn't drop and hurt anyone. They sent a new hydraulic pump (from Bergen) for the ROV with an emergency delivery service but the service delivered it to the wrong city. They sent it to Kristiansand, not Kristunsund. The cities are a few hundred miles apart but spelt differently by one letter. The pump is now in Oslo. So . . . we are still waiting delivery for the part. We should hopefully leave port around midnight tonight.
My bunk is getting warmer and warmer. I have no clue why it is so hot. I think the engines must be making this floor of the ship warm. I mentioned the problem to the First Mate. He said he would ask the captain for permission to start up two more generators to power the AC. I hope this will be okay.
August 6th: We are barely underway and experincing our first weather delay. We were supposed to leave the docks around noon but left around 1800. We hope that by time we get to the first bench mark (about 12 hours out), the seas will calm. They are currently about 7.5 meteres. We have tested the ROV twice. Once while in dock and more recently at a deep spot (330 meteres) between two fjords. The tests have run quite smoothly -- although the ROV slammed into the ship during the first test. Measurements are around the clock. I run the gravity meters during the 4 PM to 12 AM shift.
The ship is nice although loud. I have a single room to my self but no port hole (window). Everyone else seems to have a port hole but I shouldn't complain. At least I don't have to share my room -- although no one else is either. The internet is spoty and difficult to get at times. I think it will be best when we are stationary and not bouncing from wave to wave; I think the satellites have problems communicating with all the movement. I think I will go to bed now as it is late and sleep may be difficult. Maybe the rocking will help knock me out.
August 5th: We board the ship for Norway tomorrow morning. The last few days have been good but busy. I arrived in Norway on the third. The flight was long but pleasant.
Since my arrival
we have prepared everything for the seatainer -- the space will be working in. This involved tieing everything to the walls, putting anti-skid on all of the tables securing all of the tools, removing the casters from the office chairs, securing power cords, repacking all of the tools and massive re-organization. We have also run a number of tests on the gravity meters and rebuilt parts of unit #5 as well as many other details which I will skip. I will attempt to post some photos in the days to come.
In what little free time I have, I have explored Kristiansund. This is a really neat city. The airport is small (smaller than Montgomery field) although the actual area of the town seems quite large. It is composed for about four or five islands separated by fjords and connected by bridges. The sun stays up late (till about 23:40) and gets up early in the morning (03:30). Everything is expensive. Food is crazy as are basic supplies. We had to buy four cans of air and some hand wipes to clean our hands. The hand wipes are just like baby wipes but in a slightly bigger container. They cost about $57. The tiny cans of air cost about $23 each -- they would cost $3.00 at Walmart. A small bottle of soda is about five dollars. It is to the point where I don't even think about the price. It depresses me or causes me to laugh. The smallest amount one can withdraw from an ATM is 600 Kroner or about 100 bucks.
August 2nd: I am just getting ready to board the plane to Norway. I should be there in about 24 hours. I doubt I will post anything immediately, but check back later and you may see a posting.
July 21st: I have passed my Norwegian physical. Woot, woot! In retrospect, I feel the physical was just an excuse for a drug test. It involved a hearing test, an eye test, blood and urine tests, a quick look over and a TB test.
July 19th: I have my airline tickets. The flight is a long one. About 23.5 hours with the lay overs. I have a number of stops and they are as follows:
(1) San Diego to Minneapolis (Northwest Airlines) (2) Minneapolis to Amsterdam (Northwest) (3) Amsterdam to Oslo (Royal Dutch Airlines) (4) Oslo to Kristiansund North (Air Scandinavian).
July 7th: I have to get a Norwegian physical. Sounds kind of kinky, huh? Once I found a doctor certified in giving the Norwegian physicals, I asked what the big deal was. The lady on the phone just laughed after I made a snide comment. She stated that the only difference was in paper work, although she made it quite clear that she was not completely certain if that was the only difference. I get my physical, some time next week.
July 6th: We just found out that the trip to Norway in happening in early August rather than late August. This will be nice as the sea state will be much calmer. Right now, we are scheduled to board the ship on August 4th (my birthday) at 0800 and be out for 20 days with the option to stay at sea for 7 more days if needed.
June 23rd: I just finished a week long course in First Aid, Personal Safety, Fire Fighting, Deep Water and Cold Water Survival. This is required for me to board the ship. Captains Orders! The fire fighting course was the best of them. It was held in the Naval Fire Simulator at 32nd Street. We got to wear respirators and fire fighting gear. We put out an electrical fire, a deep fat grease fire, a bunk fire, and an engine room and bilge fire. Those hoses are amazing (100 - 150 PSI) and required four men to hold them. The deep water survival course was fun too. Gumby suits are strange feeling. I was nick named "Flipper" as I was the quickest to swim across the pool and climb into the life raft. I also got to other nicknames during the class: "The Scientist" and "The Boy Scout." If you are interested in looking at the certificates, please click
here.
