Day 7: Monday owntime in the lab and a little stroll in Falmouth

Today was officially my day off ....... day off in the laboratory with the studs!!!!!! My partner in crime was on her own... but with the help of Dr John Williams , one of my old tutors at Southampton......... one of the most awesome guys on the planet........ looks like the dracula grandad off The Munsters......... but mucho respect......... hes the dude!

So I was on hand with my expertise to assist and guide the eager young students!!! So I was Matt's little helper for the day........!!! Matt is the heart of the laboratory here, nothing pumps properly without him here to organise the show!!!! If it aint done right, the students have no results!!! Photos will follow of all the people involved!

So fellow Sahfonians... you will be pleased to know that the book of choice here for the zoo. is Todd and Laverack!!!!

So while working on my own stuff....... a gasp aired from one peticular student...... she found something very strange..... nothing ever seen in the zooplankton realm before............. It was............ a terrestrial fly...................... I should have pretended it was a baby flying fish as you could see the wings........ yeah flying fish in Falmouth, that'd be a first!!

So then to the town of Falmouth......... and taking a break in 'Jam', record store-come art shop- come-coffee shop............... excellent................... and talking to the locals about mammal and shark sightings etc................... then back to my lodgings for dinner............ I tell you its great living with the ships crew... myself and Steph are getting our dinner cooked every night!!

Then as the sun came down, myself and Marc, one of the other PhD students, whipped the behinds of every one at pool............................... and Matt the man managed to take care of an old issue and ran the lap of hounour as he won the biggest game of pool in his life!!!

Its 12.30 am and we are eating chocolate cheescake
xx

My Life aquatic

Day 6 : Sunday downtime (not)

Well today was 'Discover Oceanography' day............... The R.V. Callista relies on sponsorship from other institutions, whether it is scientific, media etc.......... to provide trips out for kids......... a really great idea because, maybe I would have discovered oceanography a little earlier ?!
So Team Callista were on standby to impress the big people who make decisions for their respective companies!!!

So we had of course, the wonderful Maria smoozing them with a wealth of knowledge of the microscopic kind.............. and the rest of the hot ladies doing their bit!! This was a pretty great day because we had on board other academics who obviously knew their thang, but maybe wanted to be a little more impressed as such well enough to part with the notes baby .......... iIthink we did a great job........ and I did a bit of networking... both for myself and the Callista team, who are pretty amazing ..... and lets not forget the R.V. Bill Conway team, who are just as amazing......... In fact, one member of the Bill Conway is actually Harrison Ford........ photos will follow soon!!! So yeah Sunday was a bit different, less hectic............. and still reading zero on the sharkometer, damn................................

But we had a charming old lady on board part of the PRB (Purple Rinse Brigade), who had some interesting info on sightings of basking sharks in the area........... none have been sighted since late may in the area.......... which is unusual this time of year................... so myself and Steph (my partner in crime) will have to do some serious digging to work out why......... well we have a few theories so far....................... but it just hurts to think that I may never see one here!!! Come on people will the sharks to appear.....we need everyone to think positive at the same time ............. I tell you who we need ..... we need the man himself............ NOEL EDMUNDS........ HE WILL SURELY HELP US.......................

Maria is on the case!!!!
bye movers and groovers, keep logging on and commenting.......

Day 5 (again):The Hoff has returned as my chemistry prof!

Health and Safefty must be taken seriously at all costs!!!! Right Dickie.............

Day 5: Visuals

Amazingly we spotted a tornado forming when we arrived in the harbour..... it was just forming when when this photo was forming............. when i had my back turned it funnelled right down to the land I assume...... pretty awesome!!!

Forgot about the footie game..... someone didnt zoom, im there 6th from the right!! taking onn the men!

Forcing Lesley to help Claire eat the makerel raw....... its all fun on the Callista

We managed to somehow find stowaways in the bow ?!

The boys and their bongo nets! 'get your bongo nets on the air'

It looks like some strange marine creature but no its the bongo nets in the water

We decided to water bomb R.V Bill Conway (just for fun)

Day 5: Saturday, its saturday, saturday, its work!!

Today was pretty good on the weather front, the group we had were confident and experienced and were pretty fun!! We pushed way out today to get some deep readings for the group..... had to let a few cargo ships past as we approached the shipping lane...... and we had our sights on seeing some Orcas (killer whales).................... but again, zero on the sharkometer and any other kind of marine creature!!! We had a few scavenging seabirds but that was it!!



Take a look at me on the binocs..... yeah baby!

Fising was the thing of the day and Claire (our resident physics person) caught some makerel........... I was on mega watch and you can see me in fuill satem with the binocs.......... its pretty great being at sea when it is virtually flat calm.............





The group had trouble getting the vertical haul net into the sea for a surface trawl so we used whats called 'bongo nets'. they lay side by side and colect phyto (plant) and zoo (animal) plankton due to different mesh sizes (the science bit) .............. man they were like soup!! Today was great..... we finished the night off with a very fancy meal in Falmouth.... 'le bistro sur la mer' ... were i enjoyed a kilo of the finest mussels!!! Well one must be rewarded for hard work!!

More photos to come folksxx

Day 4 (Friday 6th): Sunshine at last

Sunshine at last..... yes basking shark weather!!!! We had a somewhat non- enthusiastic bunch of students today who really shouldnt have been let loose on a boat!!! But it takes time to get adjusted and they are just learning to commandere a research cruise, but I think we all were very tired after all the bad weather and days of feeling ill!!!

Today was a bit of a success, because of a force 8 again, we had to abandon plans and surveyed quite close to the shore, but again the sharkometer registered a zero :( :( :(

All was not doom and gloom though, we did see some grey seals both in the water and basking in the sunshine (see above, you can see the adult peering at the ship, look to the right edge of the rocks, we couldnt get too close due to the rocks themselves) and about 15 guillemots (sea birds)... so at least that can be logged!!

I continued with my plankton samples as normal.................. and also continued to devour the crews supply of jammy dodgers, gingernuts, choco bars, hot chocolate............ the sea air does make one very hungry!!

The group decided to venture into the River Helford and perform analysis from river to estuary to sea!! We seen another seal, but we had a major casualty, my team mate Steph, suspected food poisoning from a tesco chicken and sweetcorn sandwich filler... we found her asleep on the bow, check out the photos!! She is still in bed!

Ocean spray from the back of the boat!

Steph- asleep on the job!