A map and a mess

Aloha from station ALOHA.  If you wonder WHERE most of this science is going on, here's a map (courtesy of UH's Oceanography school.)

We've been stationed near ALOHA for a few days now - stopped for some science, and on the move for other science (like net tows,which are  just what you'd think they are.)  We're in water that is about 4,500 meters deep.  Tonight we'll do our deepest cast, collecting water from near the bottom.  We'll send as many styrofoam heads down as we can fit.  Any that don't fit will go down tomorrow night when we'll be at station Kaena (which everyone pronounces Ka'ena.)

Before I set out, several students (and grown-ups, too!) asked about the food situation on the ship.  Here's a lousy picture of "the mess" (the very clean room where we eat; ships have odd names for spaces.)

The space doesn't lend itself to photos (and/or I'm a bad photographer) but this is as good an opportunity as any to tell you about the food. The meals have been amazing: I've had filet mignon, pizza, and a fabulous chicken breast stuffed with a pepper stuffed with cheese (I do not ask how, I just worship the cooks.)  Soup and a salad bar are available with most meals.  Desserts abound: cinnamon rolls, brownies, 'smores cupcake (also miraculously stuffed, layer upon layer), lemon merengue pie, cookies. There are two cooks on board - they make three meals a day, everyday, for 3 months.  Then they go off shift for 3 months.  They also make the shopping list - which is pretty serious - and see that the food gets loaded onto the ship while in port.  Mealtimes are strict (7:15am, 11:15 am, and 5:00pm), and seating is limited (it can't accommodate everyone on board, so no lingering - eat and leave your seat for someone else.) Like many on board, I can't make it to every meal (my work schedule and sanity require that I'm asleep at 7:15 am.)  But the mess has a variety of foods accessible even between meals - yogurt, sandwich fixings, pretzels, leftover desserts, ice cream.  I'm not going hungry.