At 54 degrees north latitude, sunset was at about 9:30 pm.
(Photo by Kathy Hardy)
Not only was the sunset late, but it lasted for a very long time. Even an hour after the sun set below the horizon, the western sky still had a faint glow of dying sunlight. (Photo by Kathy Hardy)
One of the smaller islands north of the Queen Charlotte Islands.
For most of the day there was a bright gray haze over a bright gray ocean. It was sometimes hard to discern the horizon line between ocean and sky.
This flock of seabirds flew away as the ship approached them near the Queen Charlotte Islands off British Columbia. (Photo by Kathy Hardy)
Buy the lot for your vacation home now-for cheap! Graham Island shrouded in mist. (Photo by Kathy Hardy)
Some of the science crew watching a pod of humpback whales frolic in the distance.
(Photo by Kathy Hardy)
One of the smaller islands north of the Queen Charlotte Islands.
(Photo by Kathy Hardy)
For most of the day there was a bright gray haze over a bright gray ocean. It was sometimes hard to discern the horizon line between ocean and sky. (Photo by Kathy Hardy)
This flock of seabirds flew away as the ship approached them near the Queen Charlotte Islands off British Columbia. (Photo by Kathy Hardy)
Buy the lot for your vacation home now-for cheap! Graham Island shrouded in mist. (Photo by Kathy Hardy)
QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS, BC (May 17, 2007): Well, it was bound to happen. Despite all of my precautions, the cruise ship virus got me. I went down to the lab yesterday morning and was there just long enough for a coworker to tell me that I looked like crap before I had to sprint up to my cabin to the bathroom. I spent yesterday in my cabin sick as a dog. I won’t give you the nasty details, but believe me, it was nasty. I am glad that I am not on a cruise ship, because I would be really upset if I had paid a lot of money to spend yesterday the way I spent it. Captain Phil Smith came by to check on me and give me some Gatorade. He has been making the rounds visiting the sick, handing out Gatorade and Pepto. And Peggy and Lisa, two of my lab mates, brought me some soup and crackers. By evening I was feeling quite a bit better. Today, I feel pretty good, but am tired. Mark Wells, the Chief Scientist is down with the virus today. It seems like everyone is taking their turn.
Today Peggy and I filtered the samples from one of our bottle incubation experiments. We filter each sample through 2 different size filters. One catches just about every living thing in the sample with its small pore size and the other catches the larger phytoplankton. After we have the critters on the filters, then we put the filters in a glass tube and add acetone. This extracts all of the chlorophyll. Then they sit in the freezer for 24 hours, after which, we measure the amount of chlorophyll extracted from each filter with an instrument called a fluorometer. The amount of chlorophyll indicates the level of growth of the phytoplankton. If we see a lot of chlorophyll, it means the phytoplankton liked the chemicals we added to the seawater and grew well; conversely, if chlorophyll levels drop, then we know that the treatment we added inhibited growth.
For most of the day there was a bright gray haze over a bright gray ocean. It was sometimes hard to discern the horizon line between ocean and sky. The sea has been very still. It is a good day for spotting albatross and whales because the calm waters allow us to see long distances across the water. I have seen a couple of far away spouts which I think were humpback whales and a black footed albatross.
This morning we were near Graham Island, one of the Queen Charlotte Islands, where Charlie Trick, one of the lead scientists and a resident of Canada, says ocean front real estate is really cheap. Coming from Maine, I find that shocking, but probably true, given the fact that it is almost impossible to get to Graham Island. Mostly, the island was covered with mist and clouds, but occasionally they would drift away to reveal a dramatic landscape of steep mountain slopes and small hills covered with evergreens. Seems to me like a great place to get away from it all.
As the afternoon wore on, the haze covering sky and sea took on a blue hue. After dinner the skies cleared.
PM: We were lucky just before sunset to come upon a pod of humpback whales. They were a bit far away, but there were a lot of them. One photo I snapped had 3 spouts and 2 dorsal fins in one picture! Of course, they are so small that it would take some effort on my part to convince you that they were actually whale backs and not floating logs. I had given up trying to get whale pictures a couple of years ago after returning home with lots of pictures of splashing water and open ocean. But I have taken up my camera again in hopes of getting a whale shot for this blog. So far all I have to show are a few Loch Ness monster type shots.
The sunset tonight was beautiful. Right now we are near Porcher Island and are at about 54° degrees north and because of the high latitude the sunset was around 9:30 pm and lasted forever. Even an hour after sunset there was still some lingering light in the west.
Tomorrow morning we will send a small boat in to Ketchikan, Alaska to drop off our First Assistant Engineer and pick up a film maker from the University of Maine who is going to make a short film about the cruise. They say he is bringing a high def camera. I hope he brought some makeup too. Of all the situations I find myself in, I would have to say, being on a research cruise is one of the last places I would want to be filmed in high def! Although I did come prepared with the latest in 2007 cruise chic.
Today Peggy and I filtered the samples from one of our bottle incubation experiments. We filter each sample through 2 different size filters. One catches just about every living thing in the sample with its small pore size and the other catches the larger phytoplankton. After we have the critters on the filters, then we put the filters in a glass tube and add acetone. This extracts all of the chlorophyll. Then they sit in the freezer for 24 hours, after which, we measure the amount of chlorophyll extracted from each filter with an instrument called a fluorometer. The amount of chlorophyll indicates the level of growth of the phytoplankton. If we see a lot of chlorophyll, it means the phytoplankton liked the chemicals we added to the seawater and grew well; conversely, if chlorophyll levels drop, then we know that the treatment we added inhibited growth.
For most of the day there was a bright gray haze over a bright gray ocean. It was sometimes hard to discern the horizon line between ocean and sky. The sea has been very still. It is a good day for spotting albatross and whales because the calm waters allow us to see long distances across the water. I have seen a couple of far away spouts which I think were humpback whales and a black footed albatross.
This morning we were near Graham Island, one of the Queen Charlotte Islands, where Charlie Trick, one of the lead scientists and a resident of Canada, says ocean front real estate is really cheap. Coming from Maine, I find that shocking, but probably true, given the fact that it is almost impossible to get to Graham Island. Mostly, the island was covered with mist and clouds, but occasionally they would drift away to reveal a dramatic landscape of steep mountain slopes and small hills covered with evergreens. Seems to me like a great place to get away from it all.
As the afternoon wore on, the haze covering sky and sea took on a blue hue. After dinner the skies cleared.
PM: We were lucky just before sunset to come upon a pod of humpback whales. They were a bit far away, but there were a lot of them. One photo I snapped had 3 spouts and 2 dorsal fins in one picture! Of course, they are so small that it would take some effort on my part to convince you that they were actually whale backs and not floating logs. I had given up trying to get whale pictures a couple of years ago after returning home with lots of pictures of splashing water and open ocean. But I have taken up my camera again in hopes of getting a whale shot for this blog. So far all I have to show are a few Loch Ness monster type shots.
The sunset tonight was beautiful. Right now we are near Porcher Island and are at about 54° degrees north and because of the high latitude the sunset was around 9:30 pm and lasted forever. Even an hour after sunset there was still some lingering light in the west.
Tomorrow morning we will send a small boat in to Ketchikan, Alaska to drop off our First Assistant Engineer and pick up a film maker from the University of Maine who is going to make a short film about the cruise. They say he is bringing a high def camera. I hope he brought some makeup too. Of all the situations I find myself in, I would have to say, being on a research cruise is one of the last places I would want to be filmed in high def! Although I did come prepared with the latest in 2007 cruise chic.
