yahhh...after some screwed up flights (there were only 6 flights) I'm home at last!
I have a few stories to tell you of the last few days in Inuvik, but those will have to wait as coffee is ready and I am going to go enjoy sitting on the deck with Scott. But to give you a teaser.... the stories include:
-being educated in the not so great side of the north at the MadTrapper Pub
-going to the YUKON!
-seeing the northern fringe of the Rock Mtns
-witnessing a caribou hunt!
May be I will save these last tales to tell you in person my friends!
This experience has been amazing, and I think will have a great influence over the future direction of my career in science.
But, boy, is it ever nice to be home.
Can't wait to see you all.
Cat.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
No Title
We completed our last full sampling station for the trip in Darnley Bay in the morning. Finishing up the squid trawls right around supper (the cooks don't take it well when you're late for dinner). There was no squid in the net, but a couple of fish for me to process. I took my time measuring them, savouring the last Beaufort sea fish I may not see for a long while (never say never, eh?). The crew and scientists were keen to put the gear away and head full steam back to Inuvik. It will take us a good day and a half to get to the mouth of the MacKenzie. At this point the ship has to wait for high tide to enter the river as it is so shallow. Also, as we are now experiencing 2 to 3 hours of pretty much darkness, during those hours the ship will be anchored as it is too dangerous to navigate the river at that time.
Somewhere along our route upstream toward Inuvik we will be met by the RCMP. A half day has been dedicated to a search and recovery mission on the river. I believe I may have mentioned this earlier in the blog (See post: Docked in Tuk, July 30th). As I wish to pay respect to those lost and their family, I will not be writing any further about the recovery.
As there will be little for me to do over the next few days, other than pack gear. I will be sure to add some a few more words to the blog as my time here draws close. This is my journal, you are my journal, and I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing. I'm not sure if I've done a very good job in reflecting my feelings of the voyage. That sounds like a good entry for tomorrow..."a wave of feelings abroad the Beaufort Sea - a more personal reflection"...cheesy maybe....we'll see what needs to be censored, the rest I'll post for you.
Somewhere along our route upstream toward Inuvik we will be met by the RCMP. A half day has been dedicated to a search and recovery mission on the river. I believe I may have mentioned this earlier in the blog (See post: Docked in Tuk, July 30th). As I wish to pay respect to those lost and their family, I will not be writing any further about the recovery.
As there will be little for me to do over the next few days, other than pack gear. I will be sure to add some a few more words to the blog as my time here draws close. This is my journal, you are my journal, and I hope you've enjoyed reading as much as I've enjoyed writing. I'm not sure if I've done a very good job in reflecting my feelings of the voyage. That sounds like a good entry for tomorrow..."a wave of feelings abroad the Beaufort Sea - a more personal reflection"...cheesy maybe....we'll see what needs to be censored, the rest I'll post for you.
Friday, August 15, 2008
No Title
We completed a sampling station in Darnley Bay in the AM, and had our open house for the community in the afternoon. The crew put off one of the zodiacs and ferried crew, scientists, and some community members back and forth between the ship and town.
Seeing as the community is in an inlet separated from the main bay by a shifting sand bar, the ship had to anchor outside of this. Approaching Paulatuk, my first impression was of how isolated it is, and how harsh and barren the surrounding landscape appears. The Inuit (Inuvialuit) name for Paulatuk is Paulatuuq, this means "place one finds soot" as the Inuvialuit came to this area to collect coal to burn. The people have lived in this area for thousands of years, however a permanent community was not settled until 1935 with the opening of a catholic mission. 20 years later the DEW Line site on Cape Perry brought full time employment. Still the community lives off hunting (caribou, polar and grizzle bear, muskox) and fishing (artic char, whitefish, tomcod).
I really enjoyed walking around Paulatuk (maybe 20 minutes from the far side of town around the harbour). It was a grey, foggy day. The dirt street was muddy and full of potholes. There weren’t many people walking, but a few coming and going from the northern store on quads (four wheelers). Dogs everywhere (just as I described in Tuk) tied to short ropes in front of houses. Every house had a skidoo in front and at least one spare one for parts. Most houses looked fairly well cared for, if you ignored the piles of garbage and junk laying about. We walked to the store, not that any of us needed anything. Items to buy were sparse; I was told they were expecting a plane. The fresh produce and diary shelves had only a few rotting items left on them. I shopped the prices: $53.00 for a case of 12 cans of pop! $4.49 for a single box of Kraft dinner! $10.29 for a box of plain macaroni.
The annual Paulatuuq jamboree was taking place this weekend, marking the last official days of 24 hour sun. I followed the sound of the fiddle music to the school. Unfortunately the festivities were not yet in full swing. The music was being played by a DJ, and kids were running around the gymnasium. People were slowly gathering so I hung around. Some elderly people arrived, and many young women with small children. It was announced the games would start. I couldn’t stay long, but got to see them play a game where you have to kick a ball suspended on a rope with both feet off the ground – everyone was having fun watching the games.
The site of the mission is still in town. The tiny church is still used, while the mission house is boarded up. I was taking pictures of the church, when I noticed there was no door handle only a rock keeping the door closed, so I let myself in. The tiny church maybe seats 20 people and the alter was adorned with statues and worship ornaments I would believe have been there since the Catholic mission first arrived. This tiny church really was a gem.
There is a Parks Canada office in Paulatuk. Tuktut Nogait National Park originally set up in the 80's and formed in the 1996 is just to the south east, and within hiking distance of Paulatuk. The Parks office was open and then Parks Officer, a local woman, was very nice and chatted with us for a long time about the area and the park. "Tuktut Nogait" means "young caribou" in Inuvialuktun (language of the Inuvialuit) - this refers to the time the caribou is born til it is one years old. It protects the calving habitat of the Bluenose caribou herd of this area.
Seeing as the community is in an inlet separated from the main bay by a shifting sand bar, the ship had to anchor outside of this. Approaching Paulatuk, my first impression was of how isolated it is, and how harsh and barren the surrounding landscape appears. The Inuit (Inuvialuit) name for Paulatuk is Paulatuuq, this means "place one finds soot" as the Inuvialuit came to this area to collect coal to burn. The people have lived in this area for thousands of years, however a permanent community was not settled until 1935 with the opening of a catholic mission. 20 years later the DEW Line site on Cape Perry brought full time employment. Still the community lives off hunting (caribou, polar and grizzle bear, muskox) and fishing (artic char, whitefish, tomcod).
I really enjoyed walking around Paulatuk (maybe 20 minutes from the far side of town around the harbour). It was a grey, foggy day. The dirt street was muddy and full of potholes. There weren’t many people walking, but a few coming and going from the northern store on quads (four wheelers). Dogs everywhere (just as I described in Tuk) tied to short ropes in front of houses. Every house had a skidoo in front and at least one spare one for parts. Most houses looked fairly well cared for, if you ignored the piles of garbage and junk laying about. We walked to the store, not that any of us needed anything. Items to buy were sparse; I was told they were expecting a plane. The fresh produce and diary shelves had only a few rotting items left on them. I shopped the prices: $53.00 for a case of 12 cans of pop! $4.49 for a single box of Kraft dinner! $10.29 for a box of plain macaroni.
The annual Paulatuuq jamboree was taking place this weekend, marking the last official days of 24 hour sun. I followed the sound of the fiddle music to the school. Unfortunately the festivities were not yet in full swing. The music was being played by a DJ, and kids were running around the gymnasium. People were slowly gathering so I hung around. Some elderly people arrived, and many young women with small children. It was announced the games would start. I couldn’t stay long, but got to see them play a game where you have to kick a ball suspended on a rope with both feet off the ground – everyone was having fun watching the games.
The site of the mission is still in town. The tiny church is still used, while the mission house is boarded up. I was taking pictures of the church, when I noticed there was no door handle only a rock keeping the door closed, so I let myself in. The tiny church maybe seats 20 people and the alter was adorned with statues and worship ornaments I would believe have been there since the Catholic mission first arrived. This tiny church really was a gem.
There is a Parks Canada office in Paulatuk. Tuktut Nogait National Park originally set up in the 80's and formed in the 1996 is just to the south east, and within hiking distance of Paulatuk. The Parks office was open and then Parks Officer, a local woman, was very nice and chatted with us for a long time about the area and the park. "Tuktut Nogait" means "young caribou" in Inuvialuktun (language of the Inuvialuit) - this refers to the time the caribou is born til it is one years old. It protects the calving habitat of the Bluenose caribou herd of this area.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Franklin Bay
Winds were keeping us from rounding Cape Perry, so it was decided to do some work to the southwest of us in Franklin Bay. Mid afternoon winds changed and we snuck around Cape Perry. On our way by the DEW (distance early warning) Station, someone saw a helicopter land there. Our earlier ideas that it might be abandoned were wrong, seems it's still maintained if not still manned.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Darnley Bay
If you don't like the weather just wait a bit...
don't hold your breath for the weather...
sunshine? what's that stuff?...
What's the plan? ok, what's the weather plan? ...
This is life on the boat, and the theme of Thursday night. Winds were being shifty and it was decided we'd hide overnight from the swell. We ducked into some of the islands surrounding Cape Perry in Wise Bay. But science never stops, and this is a 24hour working ship. Throughout the night camera stations, CTD's and squid jiggin' (with no success) were done. Poor Kate really hasn't had much success finding squid. A few have come up with our bottom fish trawls but that's it for squid so far.
don't hold your breath for the weather...
sunshine? what's that stuff?...
What's the plan? ok, what's the weather plan? ...
This is life on the boat, and the theme of Thursday night. Winds were being shifty and it was decided we'd hide overnight from the swell. We ducked into some of the islands surrounding Cape Perry in Wise Bay. But science never stops, and this is a 24hour working ship. Throughout the night camera stations, CTD's and squid jiggin' (with no success) were done. Poor Kate really hasn't had much success finding squid. A few have come up with our bottom fish trawls but that's it for squid so far.
Cape Perry and the Squid
Today was a bit different as the fishing team was up first thing this morning after box cores. It was nice to have a reason to climb out of bed before 10am. The sun was out again this morning and the temperature a balmy 7C. Summer in the Arctic.
The fishing wasn't bountiful, but we did have another new species (we weren't 100% certain) but think its a polar cod. We were originally planning another trawl set closer to shore at 30m, but after having a look at the camera footage from last night in the area we decided it was a bad idea because of the random huge boulders that our net could get hung up on. We also found a tiny squid in our bycatch. Kate had tried both netting and jigging last night for squid in this area with no luck. So catching one in our net was good news for her as it affirms this type is actually found in this area.
Tonight we cruise south into Darling Harbour and we should be anchoring off Palutuk by 10am.
The fishing wasn't bountiful, but we did have another new species (we weren't 100% certain) but think its a polar cod. We were originally planning another trawl set closer to shore at 30m, but after having a look at the camera footage from last night in the area we decided it was a bad idea because of the random huge boulders that our net could get hung up on. We also found a tiny squid in our bycatch. Kate had tried both netting and jigging last night for squid in this area with no luck. So catching one in our net was good news for her as it affirms this type is actually found in this area.
Tonight we cruise south into Darling Harbour and we should be anchoring off Palutuk by 10am.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Dew Line Is Watching
We arrived at Cape Perry, and were greeted by this strange yellow glowing thing in the sky?shedding warmth upon us? the sun. wonderful sun. what a treat. Cape Perry is the site of one of the American Dew line stations built sometime during the cold war. As far as our crew knew, the station is abandoned now. It's a large building on top of the highest point of Cape Perry, with a huge white dome radar. Looks like a prison. I can only imagine those posted at this station often felt it was a prison during the long, cold dark winters.
Fishing in this area was exploratory, and we were super excited to find a (new to us) species!lumpsuckers! two different species of lumpsuckers. Although the name doesn't sound it, they are really cute. The smaller one we found looks almost like a type of puffer fish with little spines all over him but then he has a sucker on the bottom for attaching himself to rocks and holding his position while feeding. The other one is larger and darker coloured and shaped a bit lumpier, with big eyes and swam around his bucket with his oversized mouth hanging open. Very cool fish.
We had our fish work wrapped up by supper time. I spent a good part of the night on the bridge with the binos looking for whales. Sighted a few but they were far off. Tried to stay up for the sunset as it was looking like it would be amazing, but as sunset would have been about 2am - I couldn't do it. I heard in the morning it was a beautiful set with only moments until it was a rise again.
Fishing in this area was exploratory, and we were super excited to find a (new to us) species!lumpsuckers! two different species of lumpsuckers. Although the name doesn't sound it, they are really cute. The smaller one we found looks almost like a type of puffer fish with little spines all over him but then he has a sucker on the bottom for attaching himself to rocks and holding his position while feeding. The other one is larger and darker coloured and shaped a bit lumpier, with big eyes and swam around his bucket with his oversized mouth hanging open. Very cool fish.
We had our fish work wrapped up by supper time. I spent a good part of the night on the bridge with the binos looking for whales. Sighted a few but they were far off. Tried to stay up for the sunset as it was looking like it would be amazing, but as sunset would have been about 2am - I couldn't do it. I heard in the morning it was a beautiful set with only moments until it was a rise again.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Just north of Cape Bathurst, sampling in the whale feeding aggregation area
Yesterday August 9th, was a day-off for the fishing crew. Science continued with other sampling. This scientist enjoyed a day of personal care, that included a 10 hour sleep, reading, working out and then topping off the day with a few gins. Oh yah! and the best bowhead whale sightings yet! They were feeding only about 100m from the ship and seems oblivious to the fact that we
were right there. It was beautiful to watch as they vented, and now and then breached the surface before taking a dive with a showy flip of their caudal fin!
After 21 days this ship is starting to feel pretty small. I spend sometime on deck while fishing. On the aft deck sorting fish. In the lab on the 2nd level aft deck. In the mess either eating, or hanging around trying not to eat stuff. In my cabin sleeping. On the bridge whale watching, however I try not to spend too much time up there as it's not large, and also although the
scientists are allowed in the bridge you are only allowed there if you are quiet and out of the way. The captain is an interesting character, who's in a good mood most of the time. The other day I was on the Bridge, and he was joking that all the bad weather we've been having is my fault - women on ships are bad luck, and a woman on the Bridge (not so long ago a complete
no-no) brings the winds and bad weather. But then he went on to tell me of a couple of Coast Guard female Captains in the fleet. Don't worry, I don't think this will be my next occupation.
August 10th, today we continue sampling in the high priority whale feeding area. We fished today, with not a great catch, but successful. Had work all wrapped up by 4pm. Gave me time to put in an hour on the bike, and shower before a yummy lamb supper. We eat very well, in the three weeks I've been here we have not eaten the same meal twice! (I probably already mentioned this, but as food is such a critical element of our days it's one of the only things that really changes day to day and everyone can talk about. Well, a few social drinks in the lab around 8pm turned into an all night roaring party with some of the crew joining us after their shift for drinks.
We all crammed into our tiny little lab space, drank, listened to the music on my laptop, and then someone showed up with a guitar! It was a great time had by all. Luckily for many of us, today was another non-sampling day, as today's effort was primarily put into some bottom acoustics work - this meant an opportunity to sleep off last night's fun.
Only a bit over a week on the high seas to go! we'll be streaming back up the river on the 18th, and in Inuvik on the 19th. Some of the science crew have flights for that day, others like myself leave on the 20th. I will be wrapping up making sure our gear gets shipped that day, and then after lunch on the 19th a few of us have made arrangements to rent a truck. We're going
to road trip it (for the afternoon) down the Dempster Highway, if you kept going it would take you to Whitehorse - but that's days away. That idea got tossed out there - but its time to get home.
I'm sorry I'm back logged with responding to every one's personal emails.Thank-you so much for dropping me emails, its great to hear from all of you!
were right there. It was beautiful to watch as they vented, and now and then breached the surface before taking a dive with a showy flip of their caudal fin!
After 21 days this ship is starting to feel pretty small. I spend sometime on deck while fishing. On the aft deck sorting fish. In the lab on the 2nd level aft deck. In the mess either eating, or hanging around trying not to eat stuff. In my cabin sleeping. On the bridge whale watching, however I try not to spend too much time up there as it's not large, and also although the
scientists are allowed in the bridge you are only allowed there if you are quiet and out of the way. The captain is an interesting character, who's in a good mood most of the time. The other day I was on the Bridge, and he was joking that all the bad weather we've been having is my fault - women on ships are bad luck, and a woman on the Bridge (not so long ago a complete
no-no) brings the winds and bad weather. But then he went on to tell me of a couple of Coast Guard female Captains in the fleet. Don't worry, I don't think this will be my next occupation.
August 10th, today we continue sampling in the high priority whale feeding area. We fished today, with not a great catch, but successful. Had work all wrapped up by 4pm. Gave me time to put in an hour on the bike, and shower before a yummy lamb supper. We eat very well, in the three weeks I've been here we have not eaten the same meal twice! (I probably already mentioned this, but as food is such a critical element of our days it's one of the only things that really changes day to day and everyone can talk about. Well, a few social drinks in the lab around 8pm turned into an all night roaring party with some of the crew joining us after their shift for drinks.
We all crammed into our tiny little lab space, drank, listened to the music on my laptop, and then someone showed up with a guitar! It was a great time had by all. Luckily for many of us, today was another non-sampling day, as today's effort was primarily put into some bottom acoustics work - this meant an opportunity to sleep off last night's fun.
Only a bit over a week on the high seas to go! we'll be streaming back up the river on the 18th, and in Inuvik on the 19th. Some of the science crew have flights for that day, others like myself leave on the 20th. I will be wrapping up making sure our gear gets shipped that day, and then after lunch on the 19th a few of us have made arrangements to rent a truck. We're going
to road trip it (for the afternoon) down the Dempster Highway, if you kept going it would take you to Whitehorse - but that's days away. That idea got tossed out there - but its time to get home.
I'm sorry I'm back logged with responding to every one's personal emails.Thank-you so much for dropping me emails, its great to hear from all of you!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Unpredictable weather, a journey to Cape Bathurst
Sorry, I've falling days behind, we have been quite busy, and I have been really tired. Let me recap the last few days.
August 5th was a working day, with nothing quite remarkable to say. We were followed again by a seal for a bit. I watched him from the bridge, of course didn't have my camera with me. Our fishing was not bad, few hundred fish. Only thing remarkable was a small arctic lamprey. This was to be the first of 3 sampling sites in the whale feeding area, however the winds picked up, and it was decided that we would move east around Cape Bathurst to shelter from the west winds. That night was rough. If there was a night to be seasick - that would have been it. A few people were, surprisingly not me.
It was a crappy sleep through - it was hard to find a position in bed where i wasn't rolling too much. Finally I found sleeping on my stomach with one leg out and bent against the wall (almost the recovery position) stopped me from rolling around enough to get a few hours of sleep.
Once we got around Cape Bathurst, as predicted things calmed. The weather not any better, rainy, cold and foggy- but minimal winds. We fished as usual.
Yesterday was a long, long day! We continued sampling along the east side of Cape Bathurst. The weather was the same, cold (4C) and wet, I expect one day to see the deck white. The fog had lifted enough so that we could see shore - the steep cliffs of Cape Bathurst. then later in the day we were right across from the 'burning cliffs' - the cliffs along the shoreline look like they are burning. It is an area of methane, sulfur and CO2 being released. One of the scientists who's been here before (by the way, I'm not sure if I've mentioned but most of the science crew on the boat as been here many times before. The Nahidik has been sampling the Beaufort for many years, and a lot of the same crew come back year after year) said you actually can't go on shore there as the area is toxic, and there is limited oxygen because of the gas release. The stench of sulfur was quite overpowering even though we were at least 5 miles off the shore. I got some good pictures.
As usual it was our turn to use the winch around 3pm. We weren't sure what to expect for fish, as this area hasn't been fished before - which was quite exciting. From the benthic sampling (box cores) and zooplankton tows earlier in the day we had an idea that the biological community in this area is extremely productive - and this turned out to be true for the small bodied fish community! We captured well over 1500+ fish in 3 - 20 minute tows! We had more fish then we could keep up with. Sorting through it all was backbreaking labour. We spread our catch into trays and pick out the fish from the mass amounts of star fish, isopods and other bottom critters. We were bent over the table on the aft deck for a good couple of hours picking out fish, and we even had help from the 'Squid lady' (a Winnipeg woman who came on board on the 4th. She's here to do some squid sampling for her Master's thesis - we'll be helping her a bit next week). That wasn't the long part, it was taking the buckets and buckets of fish upstairs to our lab and then sorting them by species and processing them. We were done at 3am! We earned our pay yesterday to say the least.
I slept til 11am this morning, and am now waiting our turn to fish, we're in the same area just a bit north. We've seen quite a few whales in the area, none too close, and it always seems its in the early in morning so I miss them.
I've decided when I get home, I'll spend sometime updating my blog with pictures to go along with my entries. Then I'll get it printed off and keep it as a journal of this experience.
Talk soon.
August 5th was a working day, with nothing quite remarkable to say. We were followed again by a seal for a bit. I watched him from the bridge, of course didn't have my camera with me. Our fishing was not bad, few hundred fish. Only thing remarkable was a small arctic lamprey. This was to be the first of 3 sampling sites in the whale feeding area, however the winds picked up, and it was decided that we would move east around Cape Bathurst to shelter from the west winds. That night was rough. If there was a night to be seasick - that would have been it. A few people were, surprisingly not me.
It was a crappy sleep through - it was hard to find a position in bed where i wasn't rolling too much. Finally I found sleeping on my stomach with one leg out and bent against the wall (almost the recovery position) stopped me from rolling around enough to get a few hours of sleep.
Once we got around Cape Bathurst, as predicted things calmed. The weather not any better, rainy, cold and foggy- but minimal winds. We fished as usual.
Yesterday was a long, long day! We continued sampling along the east side of Cape Bathurst. The weather was the same, cold (4C) and wet, I expect one day to see the deck white. The fog had lifted enough so that we could see shore - the steep cliffs of Cape Bathurst. then later in the day we were right across from the 'burning cliffs' - the cliffs along the shoreline look like they are burning. It is an area of methane, sulfur and CO2 being released. One of the scientists who's been here before (by the way, I'm not sure if I've mentioned but most of the science crew on the boat as been here many times before. The Nahidik has been sampling the Beaufort for many years, and a lot of the same crew come back year after year) said you actually can't go on shore there as the area is toxic, and there is limited oxygen because of the gas release. The stench of sulfur was quite overpowering even though we were at least 5 miles off the shore. I got some good pictures.
As usual it was our turn to use the winch around 3pm. We weren't sure what to expect for fish, as this area hasn't been fished before - which was quite exciting. From the benthic sampling (box cores) and zooplankton tows earlier in the day we had an idea that the biological community in this area is extremely productive - and this turned out to be true for the small bodied fish community! We captured well over 1500+ fish in 3 - 20 minute tows! We had more fish then we could keep up with. Sorting through it all was backbreaking labour. We spread our catch into trays and pick out the fish from the mass amounts of star fish, isopods and other bottom critters. We were bent over the table on the aft deck for a good couple of hours picking out fish, and we even had help from the 'Squid lady' (a Winnipeg woman who came on board on the 4th. She's here to do some squid sampling for her Master's thesis - we'll be helping her a bit next week). That wasn't the long part, it was taking the buckets and buckets of fish upstairs to our lab and then sorting them by species and processing them. We were done at 3am! We earned our pay yesterday to say the least.
I slept til 11am this morning, and am now waiting our turn to fish, we're in the same area just a bit north. We've seen quite a few whales in the area, none too close, and it always seems its in the early in morning so I miss them.
I've decided when I get home, I'll spend sometime updating my blog with pictures to go along with my entries. Then I'll get it printed off and keep it as a journal of this experience.
Talk soon.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
A Reply to an Email Scott Sent
From Scott: Sorry I forgot I was going to write this in my last email. There are few questions I keep forgetting to ask. I'm curious about how you get along with your roommate. Things OK, because you haven't mentioned anything?
Reply from Cathy: Things are OK with Jen. Actually until tonight we didn't seem to have much in common because she goes to bed early and gets up early. But tonight was a warm evening, and the sun was shining, so a bunch of us sat out on deck and had a few drinks after supper, and then went in to play crib. So her and I got some chatting time in and then played cards against each other which was great. Voidchec (not sure how to spell his polish name) and I drank his bottle of wine and then my last 2 cans of wine over the last 5 hours. The wine was such a treat. but everyone made fun of me and little my cans of wine.
Scott: How's the food? Is it all deep fried?
Cat: The food is great! usually always some sort of salad to go with meals. And in 2 weeks we haven't had the same meal twice! It's the fresh baking i have to stay away from....but i sleep with the baker - Jen - so i get talked into it...oppps.
Reply from Cathy: Things are OK with Jen. Actually until tonight we didn't seem to have much in common because she goes to bed early and gets up early. But tonight was a warm evening, and the sun was shining, so a bunch of us sat out on deck and had a few drinks after supper, and then went in to play crib. So her and I got some chatting time in and then played cards against each other which was great. Voidchec (not sure how to spell his polish name) and I drank his bottle of wine and then my last 2 cans of wine over the last 5 hours. The wine was such a treat. but everyone made fun of me and little my cans of wine.
Scott: How's the food? Is it all deep fried?
Cat: The food is great! usually always some sort of salad to go with meals. And in 2 weeks we haven't had the same meal twice! It's the fresh baking i have to stay away from....but i sleep with the baker - Jen - so i get talked into it...oppps.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Docked in Tuk, departure planned for shortly after 2pm
We arrived as planned in Tuk harbour in the early morning. It was the non-motion that woke me up. After breakfast, I went up to the coast guard warehouse where I was told there was a landline. Yahhh! I actually got to have a long conversation with my sweetie, and also tried calling Soph & Jim - but no answer. Wish my calling card hadn't run out, would love to have talked to so many of you - know I was thinking of you.
Being a holiday, the only store in town was closed, but the owner opened it for us. Town is about 5km from the dock, so a few truck loads of us went into town. I bought some dried fruit and gum that I'd been craving. We all then went to the RCMP station - the only place in town to buy clothing with the name Tuk...... on it. From there, Quinn, Ryan and I decided we would walk back to the ship. We walked for a good 2 hours, they were happy to take the extremely long walk back so I could take photos: sheds with roofs covered in antlers (the largest antler rank is mounted on the side of the house) broken down snowmobiles, kids on bikes, boarded up houses still lived in, furs airing over deck rails, Richardson’s ground squirrels, dogs tied on short leashes in front of every house, and I got some good pictures of a kennel full of huskies - must be a team, there were 8 nice looking white huskies.
It was great to walk on solid land, however a few times I looked toward the horizon and swore it was still bobbing up and down. After lunch on the boat, I snuck in a half hour jog on the gravel road into town. Around 2 we had a science meeting to met the new members of the team and discuss our work plan for the next few days. It was around then that I realized the silence I had been quite enjoying had escaped again as they fired up the engines and we were steaming out of the harbour once more. The box core team will sample some mud after supper, but no fishing today. First thing tomorrow we have another monitoring station to complete, and then it will be on to the whale feeding area to sample what they are munching on.
On with the whale hunt. Cat.
Being a holiday, the only store in town was closed, but the owner opened it for us. Town is about 5km from the dock, so a few truck loads of us went into town. I bought some dried fruit and gum that I'd been craving. We all then went to the RCMP station - the only place in town to buy clothing with the name Tuk...... on it. From there, Quinn, Ryan and I decided we would walk back to the ship. We walked for a good 2 hours, they were happy to take the extremely long walk back so I could take photos: sheds with roofs covered in antlers (the largest antler rank is mounted on the side of the house) broken down snowmobiles, kids on bikes, boarded up houses still lived in, furs airing over deck rails, Richardson’s ground squirrels, dogs tied on short leashes in front of every house, and I got some good pictures of a kennel full of huskies - must be a team, there were 8 nice looking white huskies.
It was great to walk on solid land, however a few times I looked toward the horizon and swore it was still bobbing up and down. After lunch on the boat, I snuck in a half hour jog on the gravel road into town. Around 2 we had a science meeting to met the new members of the team and discuss our work plan for the next few days. It was around then that I realized the silence I had been quite enjoying had escaped again as they fired up the engines and we were steaming out of the harbour once more. The box core team will sample some mud after supper, but no fishing today. First thing tomorrow we have another monitoring station to complete, and then it will be on to the whale feeding area to sample what they are munching on.
On with the whale hunt. Cat.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
August 3 (cont.) Steaming toward Tuk
The weather here can change fast. This morning the weather was calm and warmer as we were insulated by a big bank of fog. Within a matter of minutes the winds shifted, pushing off the fog and bringing sleet, then rain and rough seas. We got two trawls done, but after Mark got swept across the deck by the beam of the trawl when we were bringing it back in - that was it, we were done. The timing for this bit of bad weather is pretty good as we're headed back to Tuk now.
Thanks everyone for the blog posts, Scott emailed them to me.
In response to Dave's comment about how it sounds like we're all work and no play....well, it's definitely not the close knit family of the cycle tour, which has been tough. But we have socialized a bit, usually over a crib game. Last night Mark and I were working on the aft deck sorting our catch, when one of the deckies who just got off shift (actually a good old bluenoser! from Halifax) came back and set two cold beer on our work table, said those were for when we were done. After we were done sorting the fish, we cracked them open and had a drink with him. We had a bit more work to do while processing our samples, but as soon as we could see the end of the work coming, Mark pulled out a six pack. I have my ipod hooked up to a pair of speakers (thanks Scotty) in our lab, we turned up the tunes and I shouted the last few numbers at Mark while we drank our Kokanees. It was good. This by the way, was all after we visited the ice edge I told you about yesterday.
Also I have another story to tell you. Tonight after supper I was thinking about Dave's comment about relaxing and treating myself to a spa. I was seriously thinking about the spa treatment, and the next best thing I could do on the ship is sit in the dry sauna, which I hadn't done yet. So I had a shower to get warm and then melted in the sauna for a while; it was really relaxing. To further pamper myself I thought it sure would be nice to shave my legs, so I hopped back into the shower (note the sauna is in one of the private bathrooms) well, that was interesting...and not so relaxing! the showers are tiny stand-up ones, any gals reading this will assure you that shaving your legs in a narrow shower is tough - how about trying that while the floor beneath you is moving! The ship took a real good lean and I fell out of the shower! Not sure how I didn't rip the shower curtain off on my way out! Ha-ha. It was funny, and I'm sure I'll find another strange bruise that will tell the story.
Thanks everyone for the blog posts, Scott emailed them to me.
In response to Dave's comment about how it sounds like we're all work and no play....well, it's definitely not the close knit family of the cycle tour, which has been tough. But we have socialized a bit, usually over a crib game. Last night Mark and I were working on the aft deck sorting our catch, when one of the deckies who just got off shift (actually a good old bluenoser! from Halifax) came back and set two cold beer on our work table, said those were for when we were done. After we were done sorting the fish, we cracked them open and had a drink with him. We had a bit more work to do while processing our samples, but as soon as we could see the end of the work coming, Mark pulled out a six pack. I have my ipod hooked up to a pair of speakers (thanks Scotty) in our lab, we turned up the tunes and I shouted the last few numbers at Mark while we drank our Kokanees. It was good. This by the way, was all after we visited the ice edge I told you about yesterday.
Also I have another story to tell you. Tonight after supper I was thinking about Dave's comment about relaxing and treating myself to a spa. I was seriously thinking about the spa treatment, and the next best thing I could do on the ship is sit in the dry sauna, which I hadn't done yet. So I had a shower to get warm and then melted in the sauna for a while; it was really relaxing. To further pamper myself I thought it sure would be nice to shave my legs, so I hopped back into the shower (note the sauna is in one of the private bathrooms) well, that was interesting...and not so relaxing! the showers are tiny stand-up ones, any gals reading this will assure you that shaving your legs in a narrow shower is tough - how about trying that while the floor beneath you is moving! The ship took a real good lean and I fell out of the shower! Not sure how I didn't rip the shower curtain off on my way out! Ha-ha. It was funny, and I'm sure I'll find another strange bruise that will tell the story.
August 3
Today we had planned on 2 stations, which meant 6 trawls for us. But seeing that it is already lunch time and we haven't fished yet, and we need to start heading to Tuk tonight - I'm not sure what the game plan is. I'm sure I'll hear about it over lunch - or read about it on the Rumour Board (white board with schedule for day...often what ends up to be wishes/rumours/hear-say).
Tonight we stream back to Tuktoyaktuk. As I'm sure I've mentioned tomorrow we lose three scientists and gain three new ones. Looks like we might end up spending most of the day in Tuk, as we also need to refuel, re-water and take on supplies. Meaning day-off for the science crew! yahh. I want to wander into town, as when we were here last week it was so quick I checked my email and that was it. I would like to see town, and maybe if possible get some pictures of the pingos. I was told the pingos that you can see from Tuk harbour are some of the largest pingos in the world.
Also I was told there is a good place in Tuk to buy "furry things". I may hold off with any purchases as next week we will be doing a community visit to a tiny village called Palatuk (only a hundred people). We will be anchoring in the harbour, and the local community is invited out to the ship. However, as there are limits on the number of persons allowed on ship at any one time, they will be taking a few zodiac loads of us science riffraff to shore to visit the community. We have been putting together a small collection of preserved marine life for the local school that we'll be delivering.
Signing off.
Cat.
Tonight we stream back to Tuktoyaktuk. As I'm sure I've mentioned tomorrow we lose three scientists and gain three new ones. Looks like we might end up spending most of the day in Tuk, as we also need to refuel, re-water and take on supplies. Meaning day-off for the science crew! yahh. I want to wander into town, as when we were here last week it was so quick I checked my email and that was it. I would like to see town, and maybe if possible get some pictures of the pingos. I was told the pingos that you can see from Tuk harbour are some of the largest pingos in the world.
Also I was told there is a good place in Tuk to buy "furry things". I may hold off with any purchases as next week we will be doing a community visit to a tiny village called Palatuk (only a hundred people). We will be anchoring in the harbour, and the local community is invited out to the ship. However, as there are limits on the number of persons allowed on ship at any one time, they will be taking a few zodiac loads of us science riffraff to shore to visit the community. We have been putting together a small collection of preserved marine life for the local school that we'll be delivering.
Signing off.
Cat.
Email Address
Here is my email address which is temporary and only good until August 19: nahidik+munro@gmn-usa.com. Please don't send any attachments, I can't open them, this is text only email here.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
August 2 cont.
As usual, we didn't get to fish until late afternoon. Yesterday the sun did come out but it was a crisp 5C. We did three trawls and all was going quite well til the last one.
Usually how we work things is Mark with the deckhands sets the trawl on the forward deck. He firgures out how much line to put out to get the trawl on bottom by measuring the angle of the line out, and using the amount of line currently out we have a chart telling us at what depth the trawl should be. Well, the first two trawls were fine we weren't get alot in our catches, a few fish and loads of star fish. But it was obvious we were successfully on bottom.
The third trawl a bit too much line went out, and we didn't realize that our trawl was being dug into the ocean floor until the crane holding the line started to slip! oppps. When we brough up the net it was full! mostly mud. We let it float on the surface of the water for a long time and wash out most of the mud before bringing it on board. We finally got it on board - requiring 4 deckhands, Mark, myself and some extra fancy crane manovouers. The whole bag of our trawl was solid full, and it was all creatures and mud! we opened the bag (inner and outer) and shoveled our catch into tubs. Mind you, usually when we open the bags there are a few handfulls of catch. We slid these tubs to the aft, where armed with hoses and sorting trays we started to pick though looking for the life forms we're interested in (it's all amazing though!). There really weren't that many fish just alot of star fish, small invertebrates and rocks.
After supper, I heard the rumour again that we were making a tourist stop tonight, it wasn't a needed science station - the ice break edge! Cameras ready we all headed to the bridge to watch the tiny, broken white horizon get closer. I stood outside to get better shots, but it was so cold! We got close enough to the ice that you could see the aqua blues of the floating ice cakes. It was beautiful, I only wish the sky hadn't clouded over beforewe reached the edge.
Usually how we work things is Mark with the deckhands sets the trawl on the forward deck. He firgures out how much line to put out to get the trawl on bottom by measuring the angle of the line out, and using the amount of line currently out we have a chart telling us at what depth the trawl should be. Well, the first two trawls were fine we weren't get alot in our catches, a few fish and loads of star fish. But it was obvious we were successfully on bottom.
The third trawl a bit too much line went out, and we didn't realize that our trawl was being dug into the ocean floor until the crane holding the line started to slip! oppps. When we brough up the net it was full! mostly mud. We let it float on the surface of the water for a long time and wash out most of the mud before bringing it on board. We finally got it on board - requiring 4 deckhands, Mark, myself and some extra fancy crane manovouers. The whole bag of our trawl was solid full, and it was all creatures and mud! we opened the bag (inner and outer) and shoveled our catch into tubs. Mind you, usually when we open the bags there are a few handfulls of catch. We slid these tubs to the aft, where armed with hoses and sorting trays we started to pick though looking for the life forms we're interested in (it's all amazing though!). There really weren't that many fish just alot of star fish, small invertebrates and rocks.
After supper, I heard the rumour again that we were making a tourist stop tonight, it wasn't a needed science station - the ice break edge! Cameras ready we all headed to the bridge to watch the tiny, broken white horizon get closer. I stood outside to get better shots, but it was so cold! We got close enough to the ice that you could see the aqua blues of the floating ice cakes. It was beautiful, I only wish the sky hadn't clouded over beforewe reached the edge.
Kugmallit Shelf Break 70m
Today we're sampling a station at 70m in the same area. Everyone is up sampling before us, so it will be supper time before we get our turn with the crane to trawl. The weather has cleared up, bit brighter today, but cool. I also heard rumour later today we’ll be streaming north as we are only a few miles from the sea ice, and one of the scientists wants to do water samples close to the ice. I’ll be staying up tonight to see that. Sorry Dave, there won’t be polar bears hanging out on them, as the ice will be little tiny ice blocks floating, where as the bears are way further north hanging out on the multi year ice in the high arctic at the pole. You may have to settle for whales pics. Seen a few seals, but of course I was working and didn’t have my camera handy. The seals are very curious and come right up to the ship.
Almost half over. I’ll be back in Winnipeg on August 20th. Arriving in Inuvik on the 19th. Organize our gear, tour town a bit, maybe shop for local crafts, and grab a beer at the Madtrapper with the crew. Seems every chapter of my life over the last few months has ended with a beer, the closure offered by a cold one.
That’s all for today. Talk to you soon. Please email me at the following address: nahidik+munro@gmn-usa.com, as I won’t be able to read any comments you leave on the blog til I’m home. But if you drop me a line, this is my private email I can write you back from.
Fishergirl. Cathy.
Almost half over. I’ll be back in Winnipeg on August 20th. Arriving in Inuvik on the 19th. Organize our gear, tour town a bit, maybe shop for local crafts, and grab a beer at the Madtrapper with the crew. Seems every chapter of my life over the last few months has ended with a beer, the closure offered by a cold one.
That’s all for today. Talk to you soon. Please email me at the following address: nahidik+munro@gmn-usa.com, as I won’t be able to read any comments you leave on the blog til I’m home. But if you drop me a line, this is my private email I can write you back from.
Fishergirl. Cathy.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Kugmallit Shelf Break 100m
We thought we’d be all day at the deep station, 300m, and we would not be fishing as it’s too deep for our gear. I was ready for a day off. But the other sampling went quickly and by supper time they were ready to move into shallower water and it was our turn up to fish, so we did two trawls at 100m. I’m not sure if I mentioned but the ship is set up to work 24hours a day. Luckily our schedule works out that all the biological sampling : the CTD (water quality) samples, zoo plankton and phytoplankton trawls, fish sampling and box coring is done during the day (well between 7am and 9pm’ish)and then the overnight crew does more CTD work, and a number of different underwater camera operations. In the second leg (starting Monday Aug 4th) things will be a bit different as there will be a squid survey going on (of which I think we’re helping with a bit) and the woman running this will be fishing (with a fishing pole) during the darker hour of the day, around 4am, and trying to attract them with lights.
It’ll be interesting to see how this works. All the fishing we do in the second leg will be exploratory – areas that have not been sampled before! I feel like a real adventurer. Like Darwin, into a new world! Well, maybe
that’s extreme.
Aug 1st was also Mark and Kristen’s anniversary! Congrats you two. Hope you celebrate when Mark gets home. On the thought of anniversaries! I hope my dear friends Al & Alli will forgive me for not wishing you congrats! My belated congrats to you. And also my loving Sis-in-law and her new husband who celebrated their first a few weeks ago too! I am behind on life. I’m so sorry. I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone on my return to the south. Love you all.
It’ll be interesting to see how this works. All the fishing we do in the second leg will be exploratory – areas that have not been sampled before! I feel like a real adventurer. Like Darwin, into a new world! Well, maybe
that’s extreme.
Aug 1st was also Mark and Kristen’s anniversary! Congrats you two. Hope you celebrate when Mark gets home. On the thought of anniversaries! I hope my dear friends Al & Alli will forgive me for not wishing you congrats! My belated congrats to you. And also my loving Sis-in-law and her new husband who celebrated their first a few weeks ago too! I am behind on life. I’m so sorry. I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone on my return to the south. Love you all.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Kugmallit Shelf Break 60m
Hi everyone, I can’t remember exactly what the last thing I wrote on my blog was, and since I was in Tuk and had Internet I wrote it right on the blog, didn’t save it to my computer. So, I apologize if there is any over lap, and I hope I got my dates right, cause the days at sea run into each other. But I think I have it straight.
It was the 30th that we spent the day heading for Tuk to weathered the winds. It was a bit after midnight we were cruising again out toward the continental shelf break.
July 31st we fished at a 60m deep station on the Kugmallit shelf break. It has been cold (about 6C), cloudy and raining. Later that night the skies cleared. A pod of bowhead whales were sighted, with a little one. I saw them spout once one of the adults and baby together. Then I ran off to grab my camera, of course by the time I got back out on the aft deck they were gone.
The last week of our science cruise however we will be focusing on studying a bowhead whale feeding area, where I have been told we will be sighting whales all day, and they’ll be close enough to feed them (well may be not that close). That will be amazing. I hope to get some pictures.
It was the 30th that we spent the day heading for Tuk to weathered the winds. It was a bit after midnight we were cruising again out toward the continental shelf break.
July 31st we fished at a 60m deep station on the Kugmallit shelf break. It has been cold (about 6C), cloudy and raining. Later that night the skies cleared. A pod of bowhead whales were sighted, with a little one. I saw them spout once one of the adults and baby together. Then I ran off to grab my camera, of course by the time I got back out on the aft deck they were gone.
The last week of our science cruise however we will be focusing on studying a bowhead whale feeding area, where I have been told we will be sighting whales all day, and they’ll be close enough to feed them (well may be not that close). That will be amazing. I hope to get some pictures.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
quick update
so, we sampled at Gary Knolls. (Please don't judge me on my spelling - and it the spelling of Tuk is Tuktuyuktuk).
We have now surpassed the total fish captured during last year's sampling effort. I think is probably just a reflection of the fact that we have the measurements of how they set the trawl last year (depths, angle of line out, ship speed) and also how successful they were, so if they weren't successful last year with those methods we change it up a bit, and most of the time its worked..... and then sometimes we drag the trawl in the mud and bring up a huge mud ball - which I then have to hawl to the aft deck and spray out with a hose, picking out the tiny fish that were crushed by the mud ball (they get scarficed anyhow - but this is a messy, nasty job). I'm real cute, wearing my green slickers, hard hat, and covered in mud head to toe. I love my work. seriously there must be something wrong with me.
so we were on our way last night to the continental shelf break, when the winds came up to 30 knots (45 km/hr) and the forcast was not looking any better. So the captain said 'run for cover'. we are now docked in Tuktuyuktuk for the night, but he said winds are to settle over night so we'll be heading out sometime early A.M.
ciao for now. I have to head back to the boat. I am at a oil camp stealing wireless internet.
We have now surpassed the total fish captured during last year's sampling effort. I think is probably just a reflection of the fact that we have the measurements of how they set the trawl last year (depths, angle of line out, ship speed) and also how successful they were, so if they weren't successful last year with those methods we change it up a bit, and most of the time its worked..... and then sometimes we drag the trawl in the mud and bring up a huge mud ball - which I then have to hawl to the aft deck and spray out with a hose, picking out the tiny fish that were crushed by the mud ball (they get scarficed anyhow - but this is a messy, nasty job). I'm real cute, wearing my green slickers, hard hat, and covered in mud head to toe. I love my work. seriously there must be something wrong with me.
so we were on our way last night to the continental shelf break, when the winds came up to 30 knots (45 km/hr) and the forcast was not looking any better. So the captain said 'run for cover'. we are now docked in Tuktuyuktuk for the night, but he said winds are to settle over night so we'll be heading out sometime early A.M.
ciao for now. I have to head back to the boat. I am at a oil camp stealing wireless internet.
Docked in Tuk
July 29, 2008 en route to Gary Noles
July 25th, 26th and 27th were by far our busiest days yet. The Hershel site was important area for all the scientists on board so we were all hopping to get the work done. It is an area of particular importance as it has and continues to be explored for oil and gas reserves. There is a large (~700 ft in length) drilling platform already established, however at the moment not in use. We past quite close by it on one of our sampling transects (got a few good pics). It was kind of creepy in a way, this huge abandoned structure towering over us completely in silence. It’s only been there a few years but it looks aged by the sea.
The winds were strong on the 25th. Picking up to almost 25 knots. Bring in the beam trawl was tough and somewhat dangerous. The crane would lift it high to bring it in over the bow of the ship onto the forward deck but as it did it would swing with the sway of the ship. As we were fishing over a shift change, they kept the day crew on for an extra hour so that there were three guys on deck guiding the beam as it was lower to the deck, keeping it from swinging too wildly. After it’s on the deck I drag up our fish buckets and fill them with the hose, while the net is being pulled over the bow. When its on deck I untie it and with the help of a few other hands we lift the open end of the net into the bucket. Out net is made up of two bags, a course 1 inch mess bag on the inside and a finer meshed outside bag. Any larger fish and bycatch are trapped in the inner bag, while the smaller fish and larva are caught by the outer bag. We were going to set the trawl five times but it was too dangerous with the beam swinging so we finished with four sets.
The 26th was a busy day. As everyday a sampling schedule is made up for how it will work best on deck, we didn’t start fishing til after lunch. Later that evening a seal swam up to the port side of the boat where I was sorting our catch. I couldn’t throw him any fish but I had lots of bycatch (antropods, isopods, star fish, sea cukes, etc) that I tried to throw overboard to feed him. He played in the boat’s wake while we slowly steamed to our next trawl site. And then he disappeared, I looked for his company the rest of that evening but he didn’t show up again. We worked til well after midnight trying to process our fish.
The 27th was more of the same accept busier. We did eight trawls over the day. We got an earlier start on the day however, doing three trawls before lunch and then the rest just before supper. This was a little easier to deal with as we processed fish from the first set in the earlier afternoon and getting those done before catching more. This is a highly marine productive area. We caught almost 700 fish total over the two days. A variety consisting on arctic cod, many types of sculpin (hamecon, arctic staghorn, two horn, spatuate) snailfish (kelp and gelatinous), arctic alligator fish, eel pout, eel blenny. Keep in mind we’re not fishing for large body fish, our trawl isn’t big enough, and we are only fishing at about 2 knots. All our catch are under 10cm, just the little guys. We finished up working at a little after 1am. I was too wired, and sat in the mess for a bit eating popcorn and watching a movie by myself it I relaxed enough to get some sleep. The rest of the sampling locations for the next few weeks are not as productive and we will not be fishing as much.
July 28th we moved to the west side of Hershel Island. I slept in as we didn’t fish til noon. I’m sleeping ok. I actually find the rocking of the ship relaxing while I’m trying to drift into sleep. But waking up to everything creaking around you, and your closet door banging as the ship rocks. The first few days onboard I couldn’t figure out how I was getting so many strange bruises including a huge one on my lower back – it’s from walking around the ship and bumping into things, as we’ve had some rougher water.
We really don’t have access to any worldly news here. I did hear today from my bunkmate that a local family from Inuvik, who spend every summer on a small coastal island to whale hunt were drowned, the only one who live was a 9 year old boy. How awful. It reminds you of the respect the ocean demands.
It was a cool day, only 4C, and the weather a bit weird as it was really foggy, we couldn’t see shore, but the sun was shining on us and directly above us you could see blue sky. The fishing was quick, three sets, not too many fish. We did however have two new species (new to this trip) we were pretty excited about: a pacific sand lance, and a variegated snailfish. We were all finishing with our processing by supper time. It was nice to have some personal time. I worked out for awhile and then watched a movie.
July 29th, today. We are on our way to Gary Noles. This is an area where there are suspected active mud volcanoes under the sea. It won’t be a complete sampling station (not all samples taken), only box cores and fishing. Once we get there, sometime after lunch, it shouldn’t take too long to complete.
I’ve been away for a week, three more to go. I feel a bit guilty complaining about the length of this trip, as the coast guard crew onboard are here for three months! But a month feels like a long time, and it is, since you can add the two weeks I was away before coming up here to it. Being home for one day in-between only made things harder I think. Don’t get me wrong, I was so happy to have that day with Scott and my Brook and Lanta. But it was hard to leave, and it’s hard to think of life at home going on without me. It’s also tough to think about what I will do after this trip, as I need to be looking for a job, an impossible task from here. What will the near future hold for Scott and I.
Missing you all. Hope you’re enjoying my updates. It makes me feel a bit like I have some sort of communications with the outside world. I do have an email address, and please, please drop me a hello. I do not have access to internet or my personal shawmail address, and can not receive email attachments. Please drop me a hello, and let me know the outside world still exists and how it is treating you.
July 25th, 26th and 27th were by far our busiest days yet. The Hershel site was important area for all the scientists on board so we were all hopping to get the work done. It is an area of particular importance as it has and continues to be explored for oil and gas reserves. There is a large (~700 ft in length) drilling platform already established, however at the moment not in use. We past quite close by it on one of our sampling transects (got a few good pics). It was kind of creepy in a way, this huge abandoned structure towering over us completely in silence. It’s only been there a few years but it looks aged by the sea.
The winds were strong on the 25th. Picking up to almost 25 knots. Bring in the beam trawl was tough and somewhat dangerous. The crane would lift it high to bring it in over the bow of the ship onto the forward deck but as it did it would swing with the sway of the ship. As we were fishing over a shift change, they kept the day crew on for an extra hour so that there were three guys on deck guiding the beam as it was lower to the deck, keeping it from swinging too wildly. After it’s on the deck I drag up our fish buckets and fill them with the hose, while the net is being pulled over the bow. When its on deck I untie it and with the help of a few other hands we lift the open end of the net into the bucket. Out net is made up of two bags, a course 1 inch mess bag on the inside and a finer meshed outside bag. Any larger fish and bycatch are trapped in the inner bag, while the smaller fish and larva are caught by the outer bag. We were going to set the trawl five times but it was too dangerous with the beam swinging so we finished with four sets.
The 26th was a busy day. As everyday a sampling schedule is made up for how it will work best on deck, we didn’t start fishing til after lunch. Later that evening a seal swam up to the port side of the boat where I was sorting our catch. I couldn’t throw him any fish but I had lots of bycatch (antropods, isopods, star fish, sea cukes, etc) that I tried to throw overboard to feed him. He played in the boat’s wake while we slowly steamed to our next trawl site. And then he disappeared, I looked for his company the rest of that evening but he didn’t show up again. We worked til well after midnight trying to process our fish.
The 27th was more of the same accept busier. We did eight trawls over the day. We got an earlier start on the day however, doing three trawls before lunch and then the rest just before supper. This was a little easier to deal with as we processed fish from the first set in the earlier afternoon and getting those done before catching more. This is a highly marine productive area. We caught almost 700 fish total over the two days. A variety consisting on arctic cod, many types of sculpin (hamecon, arctic staghorn, two horn, spatuate) snailfish (kelp and gelatinous), arctic alligator fish, eel pout, eel blenny. Keep in mind we’re not fishing for large body fish, our trawl isn’t big enough, and we are only fishing at about 2 knots. All our catch are under 10cm, just the little guys. We finished up working at a little after 1am. I was too wired, and sat in the mess for a bit eating popcorn and watching a movie by myself it I relaxed enough to get some sleep. The rest of the sampling locations for the next few weeks are not as productive and we will not be fishing as much.
July 28th we moved to the west side of Hershel Island. I slept in as we didn’t fish til noon. I’m sleeping ok. I actually find the rocking of the ship relaxing while I’m trying to drift into sleep. But waking up to everything creaking around you, and your closet door banging as the ship rocks. The first few days onboard I couldn’t figure out how I was getting so many strange bruises including a huge one on my lower back – it’s from walking around the ship and bumping into things, as we’ve had some rougher water.
We really don’t have access to any worldly news here. I did hear today from my bunkmate that a local family from Inuvik, who spend every summer on a small coastal island to whale hunt were drowned, the only one who live was a 9 year old boy. How awful. It reminds you of the respect the ocean demands.
It was a cool day, only 4C, and the weather a bit weird as it was really foggy, we couldn’t see shore, but the sun was shining on us and directly above us you could see blue sky. The fishing was quick, three sets, not too many fish. We did however have two new species (new to this trip) we were pretty excited about: a pacific sand lance, and a variegated snailfish. We were all finishing with our processing by supper time. It was nice to have some personal time. I worked out for awhile and then watched a movie.
July 29th, today. We are on our way to Gary Noles. This is an area where there are suspected active mud volcanoes under the sea. It won’t be a complete sampling station (not all samples taken), only box cores and fishing. Once we get there, sometime after lunch, it shouldn’t take too long to complete.
I’ve been away for a week, three more to go. I feel a bit guilty complaining about the length of this trip, as the coast guard crew onboard are here for three months! But a month feels like a long time, and it is, since you can add the two weeks I was away before coming up here to it. Being home for one day in-between only made things harder I think. Don’t get me wrong, I was so happy to have that day with Scott and my Brook and Lanta. But it was hard to leave, and it’s hard to think of life at home going on without me. It’s also tough to think about what I will do after this trip, as I need to be looking for a job, an impossible task from here. What will the near future hold for Scott and I.
Missing you all. Hope you’re enjoying my updates. It makes me feel a bit like I have some sort of communications with the outside world. I do have an email address, and please, please drop me a hello. I do not have access to internet or my personal shawmail address, and can not receive email attachments. Please drop me a hello, and let me know the outside world still exists and how it is treating you.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Beaufort Sea
We’ve been moving almost constantly for the last two days. Noon on the 24th we left Tuk toward the Kugmallit gas vents. These gas vents are caused by shallow layers of petroleum substances under the sea floor. Where these types of methane vents have been found in other parts of the world the zooplankton and benthic invertebrates living here seem to have a type of bacterial organism living within them that acts in a symbiotic relationship providing the larger animal with a source of energy (as explained to me by Alec). Here we sampled with the CTD unit (water quality profiling), box cores and fished. I was bored waiting for our turn to fish, as we all use the crane to lift our gear into the water, so I helped out with the box core sampling – what a messy job! Basically they take giant samples (~1m3) of the ocean floor sediment in a large grab sampler. This is then separated out into a number of different samples for grain size, core profiles, radioisotope analysis, fatty acids and sorted for benthics. By the time the crane brings the box up, sets it on deck, and it gets separated into the required samples everyone and everything is covered in mud! It’s great. Next was our first go at the fishing. We are using a beam trawl, about 5m across, maybe 20m length. We got the net in the water, and there was a lot of uncertainly on whether we were on the bottom or not, it will take the first few times to sort out where it is in the water column with the tools we have. We set the net for 20 minute intervals, and then pull it. At the gas vents we did 3 sets, and caught over 100 fish, including loads of arctic cod, eel pouts, eel blemy, snailfish, and sculpin. As we didn’t get to fish until after supper we were up til about 1am processing these fish (taking three different length measurements, weight, and stomachs from the arctic cod). After finishing up at the gas vents the ship had to head back to Tuk to collect a late piece of acoustic equipment, a few hours away. When I went to bed after 1am it was still as bright out as the middle of the day! The ship left Tuk in the wee hours of July 25th to head toward the next box core sampling site, about 53 nautical miles from Tuk. No fishing here. We left this site at about 10:45 and are currently headed west toward Hershel Island. This will be an important fishing area for us, and will keep us busy for the next few days.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Docked in Tukutukutuk
We cruised up the MacKenize yesterday. Every now and then I’d head out on deck to get a few shots of pingos (little hills created when water seeps into the permafrost and freezes causing the ground to rise, this continues and causes quite a little mountain to form). Later in the day we saw a pod of belugas. We arrived in Tukutukutuk sometime around 1am. We’re here to attach a side winch, our freezer for fish samples and some equipment calibrations. Not sure how long we’ll be before heading into the open sea, Mark and I will be fishing right off the hop once we get out there. I’m sorry I won’t be able to send along pictures with my journal entries our internet connection is just too slow. I feel a bit like the cycle tour is just now catching up with me, I’m exhausted. Can’t sleep enough. The 24 hour sun isn’t throwing me off as the port in our bunk is blocked off. I do feel like I’m coming off a bit of a high. The tour was so much fun, and I really felt like we were a big family and now I’m feeling like reality is setting in – I’m in the field on my own getting a job done, and to top it off summer is over! It’s pretty darn cold, had to hunt for an extra blanket last night. I’m looking forward to fishing as it will give me more to do, pass the day more quickly, so I can get home to my Scott.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Docked in Inuvik
After rumours that we may be stuck here at port for 2,3 or more days we suddenly received word to sail at 13:30 today! Some of the scientists have been here waiting for a week to sail! Mark and I have only been waiting for one night but that’s long enough for me. To kill time this morning after breakfast I worked out a bit. Down in the aft hull of the ship, amongst piles of miscellaneous equipment, shoved into a corner is an exercise bike, rowing machine and weight bench. As the aft hull is partially open to the engine room it’s a bit noisy and fumes waft in. Fumes aren’t too bad and the noise I blocked with my ipod. It was a bit of an escape; expect I’ll hide down there from time to time.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Inuvik, NWT
Departed Winnipeg at 16:40 en route to Yellowknife via Air Canada with Mark. Mark and I worked together a few years ago at Dept of Fisheries, and have kept in touch. It was impeccable timing that Mark called me the day I was packing my Golder office, not looking for someone to help him out with this job but just some thoughts on another project. And thus I ended up here.
Stayed overnight in Yellowknife and caught a Canadian North flight to Inuvik this morning. The original plan was to get a charter flight to Tukutukutuk where the ship would meet us, however Mark contacted the head scientist on-board and found out that the boat has been delayed due to missing paperwork and delayed equipment. Our flight stopped briefly in Norman Wells (I got a few good shots of some husky pups just outside the airport) and then on to Inuvik. We were picked up by a couple of the ships scientists, and had a quick drive through town. Inuvik is a few thousand people mostly employed by oil and gas or tourism. Inuvik just celebrated its 50th anniversary this past weekend, which explains why most buildings look relatively new. Saw the church igloo and brightly painted row housing.
I’m not sure how things will be on the ship, I’m sharing a bunk with one of the ship’s cooks, Jen. Seems a lot of people are here just putting in time, getting a job done. Maybe I expect too much to think it will be anything more than that as it is a job. Everyone seems nice enough. Just do my science and stay out of the way of the crew. Mark and I talked about the sampling and where we’ll be cruising – which will be west to the Alaskan board by Hershel Island and then as far east as Bathurst Inlet. Besides the required sampling, sounds like if there is time we will be putting together a library collection for a small remote community near Bathurst Inlet can’t remember the name.
To give you a bit of geographic reference: Inuvik is on the MacKenizie River and Tukutukutuk is at the outlet of the MacKenzie into the Beaufort Sea.
Stayed overnight in Yellowknife and caught a Canadian North flight to Inuvik this morning. The original plan was to get a charter flight to Tukutukutuk where the ship would meet us, however Mark contacted the head scientist on-board and found out that the boat has been delayed due to missing paperwork and delayed equipment. Our flight stopped briefly in Norman Wells (I got a few good shots of some husky pups just outside the airport) and then on to Inuvik. We were picked up by a couple of the ships scientists, and had a quick drive through town. Inuvik is a few thousand people mostly employed by oil and gas or tourism. Inuvik just celebrated its 50th anniversary this past weekend, which explains why most buildings look relatively new. Saw the church igloo and brightly painted row housing.
I’m not sure how things will be on the ship, I’m sharing a bunk with one of the ship’s cooks, Jen. Seems a lot of people are here just putting in time, getting a job done. Maybe I expect too much to think it will be anything more than that as it is a job. Everyone seems nice enough. Just do my science and stay out of the way of the crew. Mark and I talked about the sampling and where we’ll be cruising – which will be west to the Alaskan board by Hershel Island and then as far east as Bathurst Inlet. Besides the required sampling, sounds like if there is time we will be putting together a library collection for a small remote community near Bathurst Inlet can’t remember the name.
To give you a bit of geographic reference: Inuvik is on the MacKenizie River and Tukutukutuk is at the outlet of the MacKenzie into the Beaufort Sea.
Depart Winnipeg for Yellowknife
Dear Blog,
after having only been home with my husband for 24 hours I had to leave him again. This time for the north. I caught a plane to Yellowknife at 4pm on Sunday. It was really hard to leave this time, different than other field programs I have left for as I am unsure what kind of communication access I will have with him. I have been told I will have email and very limited sat phone access, so writting to my blog and emailing it to him to post for everyone might be the best way to keep in touch.
Arrive in Yellowknife around 11pm, slept at the Chateau Nova. Wondered out into town for breakfast this morning, and now am just killing a bit of time in my hotel room before we head to the airport to fly to Inuvik. The boat has not yet left dock there and so we'll met it there this afternoon, and hopefuly be cruising later today.
I'm working with Mark, an old colleague from a few years ago when we both worked for DFO. We've spent alot of time in the field together so I'm sure we'll make this month long program work.
That's all for now. Take care and write soon.
Cat.
after having only been home with my husband for 24 hours I had to leave him again. This time for the north. I caught a plane to Yellowknife at 4pm on Sunday. It was really hard to leave this time, different than other field programs I have left for as I am unsure what kind of communication access I will have with him. I have been told I will have email and very limited sat phone access, so writting to my blog and emailing it to him to post for everyone might be the best way to keep in touch.
Arrive in Yellowknife around 11pm, slept at the Chateau Nova. Wondered out into town for breakfast this morning, and now am just killing a bit of time in my hotel room before we head to the airport to fly to Inuvik. The boat has not yet left dock there and so we'll met it there this afternoon, and hopefuly be cruising later today.
I'm working with Mark, an old colleague from a few years ago when we both worked for DFO. We've spent alot of time in the field together so I'm sure we'll make this month long program work.
That's all for now. Take care and write soon.
Cat.
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