Day 1: The journey begins

Arrival on Monday evening at the centre in Falmouth and being greeted with my old buddies, The A- team, the old sea dogs.... yes both myself and Stephanie would be lodging with the ships crew... of course this meant great food and great company and if doing research on any vessel, one must always be on the good side of the ships crew...... yes this trip would be great!!


So back to earth with a bang and Tuesday roared into view at 7 am in the morning, the wind beating the window and the prospect of potentially going 10 miles offshore....... great! With a quick cup of tea and a slice of toast (well if it was going to rough at sea, I certainly was going to have a light breakfast) we trudged to the laboratory, picked up all the equipment and set sail in the National Oceanography Centre minibus, destination, Falmouth marina to board the spanking new vessel, R.V. Callista.

After a long period of being a land creature, my sea legs had become rather flacid! So I will save the job description and the science bit for all non-sci people reading this or in fact non-marine people. Unfortunately the first day at sea ended with maria in the foetal position on the upper deck looking slightly green............................ yes I was indeed feeling very ill :( Luckily, the wave of nausea did not hit until late in the day and I had the chance to survey what we had to do for the next two weeks.

So I was to head to the supermarket and load my trolley with any foodstuff that contained ginger. This natural remedy has been used by the Chinese for years and it prevents dizziness and soothes that queasy stomach!! The only other remedy is to go out on the bow and look to the flat horizon... however, since four years had passed between the Skipper, Graham and myself, I think it was pay back time for stealing all the ginger buscuits and other sweets that the crew always had generously kept in their quarters. A walk on the bow turned into a salty shower as Graham moved the ship toward the oncoming wave, the only thing in its path...... me........... safe to say, my sea sickness passed in an instant!!!