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Beagle Project
Day 8 Aboard Stad Amsterdam
Ester and Tim on Foredeck with John Francis
September 8, 2009
15:00 HR
I was up at 8:00 HR a decent hour given that I stayed up past midnight the night before. There was talk that there would be Internet access after 11:00 HR, so there was a rush to get our Blogs out. Also some of the edited programs were going to be sent via satellite back to Holland for production. There seemed to be some relief in the eyes of the VPRO staff.
On deck I could see that the ship’s speed had decreased by a few knots, and we were now in a following sea with swells light to moderate. That is to say it was very pleasant on deck. I wore for the first time just a pair of slacks with a short-sleeved shirt.
Katya and Vim are still busy with the collection of plankton that is brought aboard, either with the “continuous plankton recorder” or the plankton indicator. Then, Sarah and Katja talk about the color of the sea and how Charles Darwin had looked at the sea’s color and what information might be inferred, like sediment loads, nutrients and algae blooms etc.
I am catching up on my blog, when Tim and Ester ask for an interview on the foredeck. The questions are explaining what this voyage means to me, and what we might discover for all of us? I think these are the questions that are on everyone’s mind. The answer is the same as in last night’s performance, but perhaps there are some new words, some new way to say it, some new way to live it. But how can we know the future, of what will be discovered? Only if we commit ourselves to the good outcome for all, our success will be for us all, outside our expectations. I finish with music, as the bow rises and falls slowly with the rhythm of the sea, deep blue reflecting the sky, still holding our place in space.
In the evening the Ashton Brothers made more theater, this time about plankton. We all played our parts.
Local Time: 18:00 HR
Position:
32º43.7 N
15º14.8 W
Wind speed 15 Knots
Wind Direction NNW
Water Temp: 22.0
15:00 HR
I was up at 8:00 HR a decent hour given that I stayed up past midnight the night before. There was talk that there would be Internet access after 11:00 HR, so there was a rush to get our Blogs out. Also some of the edited programs were going to be sent via satellite back to Holland for production. There seemed to be some relief in the eyes of the VPRO staff.
On deck I could see that the ship’s speed had decreased by a few knots, and we were now in a following sea with swells light to moderate. That is to say it was very pleasant on deck. I wore for the first time just a pair of slacks with a short-sleeved shirt.
Katya and Vim are still busy with the collection of plankton that is brought aboard, either with the “continuous plankton recorder” or the plankton indicator. Then, Sarah and Katja talk about the color of the sea and how Charles Darwin had looked at the sea’s color and what information might be inferred, like sediment loads, nutrients and algae blooms etc.
I am catching up on my blog, when Tim and Ester ask for an interview on the foredeck. The questions are explaining what this voyage means to me, and what we might discover for all of us? I think these are the questions that are on everyone’s mind. The answer is the same as in last night’s performance, but perhaps there are some new words, some new way to say it, some new way to live it. But how can we know the future, of what will be discovered? Only if we commit ourselves to the good outcome for all, our success will be for us all, outside our expectations. I finish with music, as the bow rises and falls slowly with the rhythm of the sea, deep blue reflecting the sky, still holding our place in space.
In the evening the Ashton Brothers made more theater, this time about plankton. We all played our parts.
Local Time: 18:00 HR
Position:
32º43.7 N
15º14.8 W
Wind speed 15 Knots
Wind Direction NNW
Water Temp: 22.0