An idyllic day in the Gulf

Today the sea couldn't have been much calmer and the sky was free of clouds--perfect conditions for a few extramural research cruise activities. I spent the day working the A-frame out on the fantail. This job consists of pushing a lever back and forth between the "in" and "out" positions in order to guide the dredge as it lowers into the water and then returns to the deck. We dredged four targets in the Carmen Basin, bringing up rocks on all but one. Even after 17 dredges, it's still interesting to guess, as the dredge breaks the surface, what's going to be inside. Our last dredge of the day was full of particularly muddy rocks, which meant sifting through gobs of greenish-brown mud to separate the rocks from the sediment. This is definitely a dirty (and smelly) job. I had the additional task of hosing down the fantail after we'd created a big, muddy mess.

While pulling up the dredge in the afternoon, everyone got particularly excited upon sighting a large, eel-like animal a few feet below the surface. I first noticed it off the starboard side, seeing something metallic and more than 10 feet long flashing in the water. Whatever it was, it seemed curious about the ship, hanging out just off the stern for probably around 10 minutes. Unfortunately, no one could identify it--despite a few calls of "sea monster!" Where are all the biologists when you need them? If anyone has any suggestions based on this photo, we'd love to hear them.

In the evening as the sun began to set over the mountainous Baja Peninsula, Doris Pinero, who recently completed her Master's thesis at CICSE studying the geology of the Gulf, gave us a description of her research on a few islands west of Carmen Basin. In addition to interpreting seismic profiles from the Farallon Basin, Doris obtained the first geological samples of plutonic rocks from these islands, which include Isla Santa Cruz, Isla San Diego, and Isla Santa Catalina. She collected the samples by hand, sailing to the islands from the city of Loreto on the Baja Peninsula. It wasn't easy for them to land a boat on the islands; instead, someone had to jump from the boat to the rocks!

 

To round off a perfect day, Kent (our navigational officer), took us out onto the bow for stargazing and a lesson on celestial navigation. The moon had yet to rise, so the sky was phenomenal. Kent had a super-powerful green laser to point out constellations; it was strong enough that you could see the laser beam shooting up into the sky. He pointed out the North star, explaining how sailors have used it to navigate for centuries. Depending on your latitude, the North star will be at a different angle from the horizon. At the North Pole, it would be directly overhead, while it would sit just above the horizon if we were at the Equator. Kent pointed out a number of different constellations--like Sagittarius, shaped like a teapot, with the Milky Way coming out of its spout as steam. He also told the story of Cassiopeia, the jealous mother of Andromeda, who sent the monster Scorpius into the sky to chase after Andromeda's love Orion, whom Andromeda hid in the heavens as protection from her mother. I sat staring up at the sky for awhile, awed, and even noticed a few shooting stars!

We reached the northernmost point of our cruise today, so from now on we should be transiting south, with more dredge targets along the way. Now off to bed!