The Knorr looked resplendent at the pier in Punta Arenas. We initally had a gigantic cruiseship moored across from us. Many people from the cruiseship came over to take pictures of themselves in front of the Knorr. Quite a few asked us questions about what we do. The cruiseship was replaced by a rather large freighter that unloaded a bunch of pipe.
This is my room on the Knorr. I moved in on Saturday, January 28. The agent came around to all of the local hotels to pick up the scientists and our luggage. Very nice, because I have over 100 lbs of luggage. I have the room all to myself this time. It's located on the starboard side and pretty far aft. It's a little smaller than my room last time. My room on the last cruise was added when the Knorr was cut in half and lengthened in the 90s. I'm glad I don't have a roommate, as I managed to fill lots of the drawers and closets with camping and fishing gear. It's nice having a lower bunk this time. I can hear a little chirp outside of my room from some depth sounding device. The emergency breathers are on the shelf. Mostly they are used for escaping during a fire. Above the closets are survival suits and lifejackets.
Our departure was delayed until Monday at noon because we had to wait for a box of chemicals. It took over a month to airship the box from San Diego to Punta Arenas because so many carriers refused to take it. There would have been no point in us leaving without it. I'm on the night shift (midnight to noon) again on this cruise, so for the last few days I had been working on waking up earlier and earlier. These pictures are from the morning of our departure. There is a faint rainbow over Punta Arenas in the first one. It was a beautiful and pristinely calm morning.
The box showed up. A Chilean Navy van brought the customs agents out to the ship. In the library they looked through everyone's passport and stamped the appropriate forms. We were on our way. They used a ship's crane to hoist the gangway on top of our cargo van. The Captain and pilot rotated the thrusters and edged us away from the pier. Dan, an ODF chemist, talked on his cell phone one last time. We have some good-sized deck lines for mo0ring. The AGUNSA boat pulled away with the pilot and agent not 300 meters from the pier, and we were on our own.
Here we are cruising through the Straits of Magellan. We stopped at one point to do a practice cast. I ran the rosette. There were a lot of people standing behind me getting instructions. It makes it more exciting on the bottom approach when there is a gaggle of talking scientists watching over one's shoulder. I'm glad I didn't run it into the bottom. Everything seemed to be working.
Exiting the Straits. We gently rounded that corner and headed south towards the first station. We are definitely in the open ocean. The swell has really picked up, whereas it had been pretty calm in the Straits. We've got a pretty good roll going. We had our first abandon ship drill. At the alarm bells we mustered in the main lab, practiced putting on our survival suits, and then went outside to where we would climb into the life rafts if we were abandoning the ship. I hope it never comes to that. 1/31/2006
