Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 08:03:49 +0000 (GMT)
From: Jason Goodman <sci5@knorr.whoi.edu>
To: seadiary@MIT.EDU
Subject: last day
Message-Id: <Pine.SUN.3.91.970313072833.14881A-100000@mike.knorr.whoi.edu>
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53 14' N, 50 14' W
Temp: +3 C, Winds: east, 14 m/s
Seas: annoying

Today marks the southernmost point of our cruise, and perhaps not 
coincidentally the first day it's been above freezing.  It actually 
_rained_ most of today, which is not exactly an improvement.  I read on a 
map that the Lab Sea's average temperature is about the same as 
Minnesota... the difference is that Minnesota gets above zero once in a 
while.

Today was the last day of scientific activity on the ship: the captain 
called an end to it at midnight so we could start heading home.  (That 
is, the last day of science which requires the ship to stop moving.)  The 
trip around Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, across the Gulf of Maine and 
into Woods Hole will take about a week... our scheduled arrival is March 
21st, though Bob thinks we may get in a day early.  So that means I've 
got a week to get back onto a regular daytime schedule.

It was kind of a party when we finished with science; lots of people were 
out on deck as we recovered the last CTD cast; we had kept a few floats 
in reserve in case something interesting cropped up; those all got 
deployed, with people snapping pictures.  The end of the cable which carries 
the CTD tends to get beat up over the course of a cruise, so that bunch 
of cable gets chopped off at the end.  Shelley performed the ceremonial 
Cutting of the Cable with a hydraulic cable cutter (picture the unholy 
union of a car jack and a pair of wirecutters.  Way cool tool.)  Then 
everyone went inside, leaving me with 48 sample bottles to rinse and 
fill.  For them, it's over.  For me, more work.  Sigh.  But my watchmates 
helped out, and then we watched Bladerunner.

Everyone's getting kinda weird.  Bob's been placing bets on everything in
sight: the depth of the mixed layer, the weather, and most especially
darts.  There's a dartboard in the lab (useful for generating data), and
Bob's been sharking everyone.  Dan (my watchmate and Bob's employee) lost
and had to stand Bob's watch, unpaid; then he lost again, to the tune of
two liters of bottled water.  Mark (the scientist in charge of the RAFOS
floats) lost to Bob and now must be chief scientist on the next cruise Bob
and Mark are on together.  It's practical joke time, too... though most of
'em haven't come off.  Shelley and I had planned to put red food coloring
in one of the Niskin bottles, to surprise Bob when he tried to draw a salt
sample from it.  Unfortunately, we didn't get around to it until today,
when Dan was standing Bob's watch.  damn!  Shelley filled Mike's insulated
work suit from legs to neck with spent XBT canisters.  Marshall had
planned on shooting down Peter's last weather balloon with a potato
cannon, but Dan played the spud gun and broke it.  We did 127 CTD 
stations on this cruise; there's some talk of "station 128", where we 
deploy Bob at the dock.

Anyway, see y'all soon!