Current position while writing (diamond shape). We’ve nearly reached the equator. The circles are the positions at previous blog post, the black line is roughly the route we took (base map from
ggplot2).
Today, you’ll get less text and more pictures. I made a little collection of pictures (and videos).
Building in the port of Guayaquil where our passports and luggage were checked. Afterwards, we waited for quite some time for our taxi to come pick us up again.
Not only the inside of the ship is densely packed and confusing. It takes some time to find your way.
Containers are waiting to be unpacked.
Stickers of previous cruises. Ours was not at the board yet when I took the picture.
In the port there were some quite small boats going back and forth.
Port of Guayaquil disappearing into the darkness.
Not the bridge but a small observatory. From here scientists can watch for birds, whales, plastic pieces or whatever they are interested in. None of us are using it (at least not scientifically, we still go up and look for animals).
From the top, you can see how confusing everything seems to be. In the night, the deck is lighted.
There are always interesting perspectives to find for pictures.
Sunny place for a break. However, the temperatures here, we don’t really use it because it’s just too warm.
View to stern. You can see one CTD in the foreground and the containers in the back. The crane is holding a pump for trace metal clean samples overboard.
View along the side of the ship. On the right side, you can see the two openings where the CTDs can be set into the water.
The main deck is made from wood.
Everything is neatly put away so no one will fall and it’s easier to use.
The containers are also tightly secured. Here, you can see again how crowded everything is. This is because we already have containers for the next cruise on board.
Animals on board. Only some of them are happy to be photographed from up close.
As my lab does not have any windows, I try to at least go outside during breaks and in the evening. The weather has been calm with some rain from time to time but only very little wind and calm waves. The clouds, the wind and the sun always change the scenery. Nothing but water around us but there is still always something to look at. It is especially nice when any animals show up, however, even without animals its great (on the first picture there are – at least – two birds if you look closely):
PTB doctoral student Rieke Schäfer is blogging here directly from the RV "Sonne" on her way west from South America across the Pacific Ocean.