Fin Whales and More

In my carelessness I neglected to mention the fact that we ran across a pod of fin whales yesterday. I was not awake for any of this but from what I hear, they were 100 yards away from the ship and we even diverted our course to chase them for a bit. I don't know how many or if there were any calves or anything like that, but it was pretty cool. Our marine mammal specialists says that they're pretty common and not as rare as a right whale, for instance. Anyway, I just thought I'd throw that out there.

I just found out that our spare parts for the HPLC will not be delivered to us, making the machine inoperable for the remainder of the cruise. Do not panic! We will still filter plenty of water but we've also loaned ourselves out to the other groups who need our help. We're like mercenaries. Of science. Nothing is scarier than a renegade scientist on a ship so we're working to remedy that. I've already made my rounds and developed the necessary connections amongst the others so I'll be just fine.

I was able to help out with the MOCNESS again tonight. We're doing a personnel transfer at St. Paul island right now, in fact, and among the 12 people leaving, three or four of those were on the MOCNESS squad, so I'm filling in for the remaining two weeks of the cruise. I'm sure I'll be participating on some of the Bongo net casts as well. Fun stuff up ahead! Crazy science activities are to behold when you enter. Until then, blog readers.