Ketchikan, Alaska Mountainside. (Photo by Dane Wojcicki)
Ketchikan Ice Fields. (Photo by Dane Wojcicki)
The ice fields tower above the town of Ketchikan, Alaska. (Photo by Dane Wojcicki)
The bridge of the R/V Thomas G. Thompson. (Photo by Kathy Hardy)
Radar display on the bridge. (Photo by Kathy Hardy)NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN (May 28, 2007): I just returned from a science meeting in the main lab where chief scientist Mark Wells confirmed that we will indeed have a day of shore leave in Ketchikan! We will be arriving at about 10 am and will be staying until 9 am the following morning. I am sorry to say that four of the science crew will be leaving the ship in Ketchikan, including Peggy and Charlie. It will be a struggle to keep up with the incubations without them. Peggy is leaving us early to make it to her grandson’s high school graduation in Oregon.
Peggy and I can both be a little intense when we are working, but all in all the incubation work has been going really well. The only time we ever work together is on cruises, so we can get on each others’ nerves a bit. We both work for Mark Wells, who is based at the University of Maine but also has a lab in Santa Cruz. Peggy is Mark's only employee in Santa Cruz. Before becoming a marine scientist, Peggy worked as a paralegal for many years and was also involved in a women’s production company. She lives in California with her husband, 3 horses, 2 dogs and a cat who rules the house.
I am very excited about setting foot on Alaskan soil for the first time. I have always wanted to travel to Alaska. We have one day of shore leave and I plan to make the most of it. Terrance, who works in the galley, told us about some hiking trails and I plan to go online when the net is up and check out some web sites. Since it has been so dark and stormy the last few days, our incubation cultures of phytoplankton are growing very slowly (since they are photosynthetic, they require sunlight to grow just like terrestrial plants). This means that our sampling schedule is pushed back, which means that (Yay!) I have a light work load tomorrow! What that means is that all of us in the Wells and Trick labs will be able to spend the afternoon and evening exploring Ketchikan. We are all very grateful that Mark and the Captain are allowing the scientists and crew permission to disembark. After being thrown around the ship for the last 2 ½ days and being unable to even go out on deck, it will be a nice break. Even though the storm has largely dissipated, the ship is still rolling and pitching and walking upright is a bit of a chore.
I've had some requests for more pictures of the ship and crew, so I've included a couple of the ship here. Unfortunately I'm finding the crew rather camera shy. I'll see what I can do about posting more pictures and details about the ship.
And since we are on our way to Ketchikan, I have also included some photos that were taken by Dane Wojcicki during our last stop in Ketchikan. Dane is a MFA student at UM in Natural History Film Making and Photography. He is interested in underwater photography and is doing his thesis work on the Atlantic Salmon. Dane took some fantastic shots of the ice fields above Ketchikan and was kind enough to let me post three of them here.
Click on the link below to track the last reported location of our ship, the R/V Thomas G. Thompson. CLICK HERE TO TRACK
Email comments or questions to:mailto:kathleen.umaine@gmail.com
