Rockin' and a Rollin'

Last night, we passed through a storm front on the way to our research site. We had gusts up to 32 knots (~37 mph) so the boat was rocking pretty good. Sure made us walk funny through the halls! After zig-zagging my way to my room, I decided I needed some fresh air. My brain was definitely confused and I was starting to feel a little woozy. I felt better after ~5 minutes of watching the water and the horizon but I stayed out ~30 minutes longer just because I liked the sound of the crashing water as the boat moved along at ~11 knots (~12.5 mph). The waves and wind and crashing water have such a calming effect. Plus, having the image of the horizon slowly bob up and down for awhile helped my brain's confusion to die down enough to fall asleep. And I slept like a rock! :)

This morning has been really pleasant. We're back to the gentle swaying and everyone is settling into a daily routine. This morning we got our science rolling by starting the drilling of our first site. We'll be doing the drilling in 3 stages for each site because the deeper you go, (typically) the smaller the gauge of the drill. So, we're going to drill this site and another site with the size drill we have loaded now then come back to both sites with a smaller drill then come back again with an even smaller drill.

Some of us scientists don't have a big hand in the drilling part of this expedition, so we've had some free time to start the Cruise Report (nope, it's *never* too early for that). We've already started to put together the Methods section and take lots of pictures. We've also been jumping right in to our Journal Club (where we read and discuss scientific articles related to the Expedition objectives) and our EOC activities (got a meeting in 5 minutes, speaking of which).

We have a great team here and I'm really excited to see what kinds of things we produce in our 2 months together. If you have any questions or ideas for the crew and scientific staff, feel free to ask. It's all of our friends/family/colleagues on shore that keep us grounded and we would love to hear what about our expedition that strikes your interest. :)