We have been working in waters right off of Carmel, which is just south of Monterey Bay, where I live, so I have been quite close to home which is rather fun. In the afternoon we did a survey line right into Monterey Bay. I had been looking forward to seeing the familiar coastline of the beautiful bay I live on, but it was not to be. When we were in the bay the fog was thick as pea soup, the foggiest we have seen on this leg! My sister was aware of my location and looking for the ship. She captured the fog bank quite well from downtown Monterey.
Meanwhile, the challenges keep piling up. When we were still down by Carmel a medical situation developed for one of the scientists aboard and we had to do a transit into Monterey Bay for a small boat transfer off the ship. Fortunately the scientist has been checked out onshore and is fine.
We were already short 2 scientists, so we had to change schedules somewhat to keep operations going and I agreed to shift mine. I have been working noon to midnight, but now I will be doing 3 pm to 3 am to help out the night crew. The trawls we do during the day and at night are different so I will be seeing a slightly different process, and a different composition of fish. The day trawls are targeting hake in the mid-water, ~ 250 m, whereas the night trawls are targeting what we call Coastal Pelagic Species, or CPS, which is a mixture or sardine, anchovies and mackerel. My first shift doing CPS did not disappoint - we got a ton of anchovies (which I have to admit are more attractive fish than hake, which has been all I had been doing on this cruise so far), a few sardines and a variety of mackerel (my favorite fish to eat) and some pretty large squid.
Food Highlight
There was some down time for the scientists on the night shift due to the unplanned transit and they created this amazing lox and cheese cream platter that was served up as part of breakfast.
Ohh my my my. We’re gonna give those clothes a good hot wash when you get home!