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.