I’ve been home from my voyage for almost two weeks, and I have been avoiding this last blog post because I don’t want the adventure to truly be over. (I have avoided unpacking my suitcase for the same reason!) But alas, all good things must come to an end. After cruising beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and making our way to port in San Francisco on June 26th, I immediately hopped on a flight back to Atlanta and was in my own bed by 2:00 a.m. the next morning.
Photo taken from NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada as we passed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco.
Saying goodbye to everyone aboard NOAA ship Bell M. Shimada was bittersweet, because I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever see those people ever again. (Thank goodness for modern technology, though, which will keep us connected.) Being at sea is an experience unlike anything I have ever done, and I am filled with so much gratitude for everyone who made this trip happen.
Classroom Connections
So, what’s next for me? Well, teachers in my area return to school on July 21st, and so my summer is slowly slipping away. That means that very soon, I will have six new classes of oceanography students walking into my classroom, ready to learn about the ocean. But first, as with any classroom, we will spend some time getting to know each other before we dive into the curriculum. I plan on introducing myself with a slideshow of pictures and stories from my time at sea, because I want my students to see that an average teacher from a landlocked city without any special college degree can still explore the ocean. I went to school in this same district and was raised in this same town; I want my students to see themselves in me. I want my students to see that it is okay to be scared of something new and to try it anyway. I want my students to see that science is messy and can be unpredictable at times, but it’s all part of the process. I want my students to see science as a verb; as something that is experienced, not only something that is studied in school.
In addition, as part of my agreement with the NOAA Teacher at Sea program, I will be creating lesson plans for my classroom that incorporate some of the research conducted during my time at sea. I will also be creating curriculum content around oceanography careers for my students to explore. I also want to include social-emotional learning about skills such as collaboration, communication, and self-awareness.
I want my students to learn that it’s not always about what you know, but what you can accomplish alongside others. Learning in the classroom does not take place in isolation, and neither does working in the field. I want my students to leave high school and enter adult society as functional humans who can work with a team to achieve a common goal, even if they feel uncomfortable at first. I want my students to understand concepts such as comradery and morale, and to understand how their actions can affect others. And I want my students to feel confident in their ability to problem-solve and communicate with others in times of uncertainty. These are all skills that I witnessed firsthand aboard the ship, and I feel that these lessons are just as important as the science content that I teach every day.
This is goodbye for now, but as part of the NOAA Teacher at Sea alumni association, I hope there will be more opportunities for me to partner with NOAA to explore the big blue world. And in the meantime, I’ll do what the character Dory from Finding Nemo does – just keep swimming.
NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada, docked in San Francisco.
Weather Data Snapshot: 9:16am, Pacific Daylight Time
Currently, the air temperature is 57°F (14°C) with a wind speed of 15 knots and a wave height of 6 feet. I have just completed my first daytime marine mammal watch (mentioned in a previous blog post), where I spotted several dolphins and sea lions. The bright sunlight and clear blue skies made it easy to spot mammals during the day, as opposed to the nighttime when I am normally on marine mammal watch. As with every marine mammal watch, if marine mammals are spotted, fishing operations are paused until marine mammals are no longer within a certain distance of our vessel. If marine mammals persist in the area, fishing operations may be suspended entirely. In today’s case, we called off our fishing operations after seeing several marine mammals over the course of an hour.
Photo of me using a pair of binoculars to watch for marine mammals.
Science and Technology Log
In other news, I finally got to experience my first and only hake trawl! Pacific hake, otherwise known as Pacific whiting, are another species of fish that are being assessed on this integrated survey. They are fished during the daytime hours at the midwater level as opposed to the nighttime hours at the surface level, as we do for coastal pelagic species (CPS) like mackerel, anchovies, and sardines. Scientists use real-time acoustic data to determine the best places to fish for hake as well as CPS, and up until this point in our survey, a hake trawl never quite lined up with my waking hours. After becoming an expert on CPS, I had to learn how to identify hake as well. (And in my completely biased opinion, I enjoyed trawling for CPS more than hake, but that’s just me!)
Young hake fish, otherwise known as Pacific whiting.
However, when asked if I wanted to “jump in there” for a photo with the hake, I couldn’t say no! As I’ve said, one of the best parts of this whole experience has been how much fun I am having with my team. They have been my personal photographers so that I have plenty of excellent pictures for this blog!
Photo of me holding a hake fish in a basket of hake, squid, and pyrosomes from our trawl.
The following night, we caught around a dozen jack mackerel that were the largest I had ever seen! We normally see smaller individuals in our trawls, but these big guys were the highlight of the night. And just like we do with the smaller specimens, we measured their lengths and weights and extracted otoliths (mentioned in a previous blog post). As you can see in the picture below, these fish were so large that they barely fit into our “taco trays” that we use for organizing fish for dissection.
Photo of me holding several large jack mackerel fish in dissection trays.
Personal Log
I am nearing the end of this adventure at sea, and I must say, I have a lot of mixed feelings about it. Am I excited to go home and see my family? Of course. Will I miss my newfound family aboard NOAA ship Bell M. Shimada? Definitely. As a teacher, I get to go home and relax for the rest of the summer, while everyone else on board this vessel will continue their work in some form or fashion, whether that’s on the ship or in an office somewhere on land. I will miss the sense of discovery that every new day brings, and I will miss the comradery of the ship. I have had such a positive experience with everyone, whether they are part of the science team, the deck crew, the NOAA Corps., etc. and it’s something that I wish everyone had the chance to experience. It’s not every day that you meet a group of people who are genuinely kind and cooperative with one another as they work toward a common goal.
Did You Know?
For today’s Did You Know? section, I have decided to highlight some information about two members of the science team who are sailing on NOAA ship Bell M. Shimada with me for Leg 1. I chose to interview John Pohl and Julia Clemons because their backgrounds are in oceanography, which is the subject that I teach. I hope to use the summaries of these interviews to help my students gain insight into the life and career of an oceanographer.
Interview with an Oceanographer: John Pohl
John Pohl, a research oceanographer with NOAA, has been captivated by the ocean since childhood and now dedicates his career to exploring and understanding the marine world. He believes the scientific method is a powerful tool to satisfy curiosity and make meaningful contributions to both human society and the natural world. Pohl emphasizes the importance of recognizing how deeply our lives depend on ecological systems, such as those that produce oxygen, food, and clean water. He enjoys the variety and adventure of fieldwork, whether on research vessels or diving underwater, as well as the creativity involved in developing new scientific ideas. While much of his time is spent analyzing data at a computer, it’s the blend of discovery and imagination that keeps his work fulfilling. He wishes more people would realize that scientists are not emotionless or robotic, but rather are fueled by curiosity and wonder. To students interested in marine science, Pohl advises taking charge of their own learning, using available free resources, and seeking out mentors and collaborators who inspire and support their growth. He believes that nurturing a sense of wonder and building strong, positive networks are key to both personal and professional development.
Interview with an Oceanographer: Julia Clemons
Julia Clemons, team lead of NOAA’s Fisheries Engineering and Acoustic Technologies (FEAT) team and co-lead of the Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey (IWCPS), has a background in geological oceanography and brings her lifelong passion for the ocean to work with her every day. Her team collects fishery-independent data, which is important because it helps scientists understand fish distribution and population trends beyond just areas that are easy to fish. This information is essential for tracking how fish grow and migrate, and for supporting sustainable fisheries management. Julia finds joy at work in collaborating with others, especially during large-scale surveys that inform stock assessments of important species like Pacific hake. Although much of her work is done in the office, she also spends one to two months at sea each year during intense fieldwork periods. She’s loved the beach since she was a toddler and turned that early fascination into a career. Julia wishes more people knew how much effort, planning, and dedication go into each research survey and how deeply scientists care about getting things right. Her advice to students is to follow their passion boldly, stay open to learning, ask for help when needed, and not let discouragement from others define their future. Passion and persistence, she believes, matter more than having all the answers at the start.
Weather Data Snapshot: 12:23pm, Pacific Daylight Time
Currently, the air temperature is 63°F (17°C) with a wind speed of 14 knots and a wave height of 8 feet. The seas have been rough lately, but at least the sun is shining! I wandered onto the back deck earlier to combat some seasickness, and it was quite chilly with the strong wind.
Science and Technology Log
I am amazed at how quickly conditions change while at sea. One minute, I forget I’m even on a moving vessel. The next, I’m bumping into walls and feeling like gravity isn’t following its own rules anymore. And getting work done? That’s a whole other challenge!
Two days ago, the seas were relatively calm, and we had a ton of work to do in the science lab. My teammates extracted 150 otoliths from various fish specimens, and I must have measured and weighed at least 100 more fish. We had an amazing set of trawls that brought us samples of each of our target species: anchovy, sardine, and mackerel. We are studying these species to estimate their biomass and better understand their population dynamics and life cycles. I had already seen plenty of anchovy and some small mackerel. However, this was my first time seeing such large mackerel – and this isn’t even their full size!
Photo of me holding a Pacific mackerel and being very excited about it.
According to NOAA, Pacific mackerel are a smart seafood choice for consumers in the United States because they are harvested sustainably; their nets are selective and therefore reduce bycatch; and they are caught using surface trawls instead of bottom trawls, which can destroy sensitive habitat. (Click here to see if some of your favorite seafood is harvested sustainably, or if you should make a different choice at the grocery store or at your favorite restaurant.)
Here, the mackerel are laid out in special trays that we use to organize them for dissection. Each mackerel will be dissected for otoliths, or ear bones, as mentioned in my previous blog post.
Let me explain some keywords related to seafood sustainability:
Sustainable fishing means catching just enough fish for people to eat without hurting fish populations to the point that they can’t grow and stay healthy for the future. It also means protecting the ocean environment and other species that share the habitat. This helps make sure there are fish for people to catch and eat for many generations.
Bycatch is when fishers accidentally catch animals they weren’t trying to catch, like turtles, dolphins, or other fish. These animals are often thrown back into the ocean, but some may be injured or die in the process. Reducing bycatch helps protect ocean ecosystems and endangered species.
Bottom trawling is when a fishing net is dragged along the ocean floor to catch fish or shellfish that live near the bottom, like shrimp. Surface trawling, also called pelagic trawling, uses nets that are pulled through the open water to catch fish that swim near the surface, like the anchovy, mackerel, and sardines that we are targeting.
The surface trawling net on NOAA ship Bell M. Shimada is also equipped with a marine mammal excluder device, which is a special apparatus built into the net that prevents large mammals such as dolphins or sea lions from becoming trapped. If these animals do happen to swim into our net, they can escape through the excluder device. This reduces bycatch of other large animals as well, such as sea turtles and sharks.
Photo of me on deck with some fishing gear.
Going back to the changing conditions at sea, yesterday was a rough day! Our trawling operations were cut short due to a tangled net, so we finished our work early. That was a very good thing for me, because I had time to catch up on this blog, do some laundry, and even take a break to try and combat some seasickness. I am taking Dramamine every single day, but when the waves are rough, there’s not much you can do except step outside for some fresh air and hope you don’t lose your lunch. (Or breakfast, in my case.) The sea was so rough that afternoon that instead of being rocked to sleep, I was awake for most of my sleeping hours, which left me feeling exhausted when I woke for my next shift.
Personal Log
I need to take a minute to give a shout-out to the incredible team of human beings that I have been working with on this cruise. Honestly, everyone here has been so friendly, helpful, and supportive in every way. While I interact with many people on the ship throughout the day, I am part of a specific night shift of individuals that work alongside each other during the midnight to noon hours. Melissa, Kelsey, Bryan, and Elias have been so much fun to work with, and I am learning new things from them every day. They hold a variety of positions: a fish biologist and project coordinator, a research fish biologist, a fisheries biologist, and an affiliated data analyst.
Kelsey, a research fish biologist, is very excited for otolith dissections.
Did You Know?
Part of our job as scientists is to conduct a marine mammal watch before every trawl to ensure that we avoid marine mammals that may be swimming within range of our net. This is another way that we work to reduce bycatch and keep marine mammals safe while we conduct our trawling operations. We conduct these watches during daylight and nighttime hours in all kinds of weather, because you never know when you might spot a marine mammal. I took this picture of the moonlight reflecting on the ocean’s surface during one of my late-night marine mammal watches.
Photo of the moon reflecting off the Pacific ocean during my nighttime marine mammal watch shift.
Weather Data Snapshot: 5:18am, Pacific Daylight Time
Currently, the air temperature is 64°F (17°C) with a wind speed of 4 knots and a wave height of 4 feet. The sea looks quite calm from the side deck, and the air feels a little chilly to this Georgia girl. Yesterday, I wore shorts and a sweatshirt and felt fine. Today, I am wearing jeans with a long-sleeve thermal shirt, a T-shirt, and a fleece jacket and am still feeling quite cold. The sun is only just starting to rise, but there is a dense layer of cloud cover and fog in the area at this time of year, so I have yet to witness a true sunrise while at sea. Hopefully the sun will make its appearance at some point today.
Science and Technology Log
Before we can talk about what’s happening on the ship, I need to highlight the amazing visit to the La Jolla location of NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center on my second day in San Diego. My Teacher at Sea mentor and newfound friend, Melissa Liotta, took me to see where she works and to learn about some of the incredible things happening with her colleagues at the Center. There are too many names and faces for me to remember everyone, but I want to emphasize how genuinely excited everyone was to meet me and to work with me as a Teacher at Sea. It was quite a warm welcome, after flying across the country by myself and not really knowing what to expect when I landed on the west coast for the first time in my life.
Photo of me using large binoculars on a terrace at the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center.
There was one part of this visit that deserves its own highlight, and that’s my tour of the experimental research aquarium at the Center. Melissa introduced me to Kathy Swiney, a research fisheries biologist who studies abalone populations off southern California. What are abalone, you might ask? Abalone are a family of marine gastropods, which are invertebrates related to snails, found within the phylum Mollusca. In other words, they are soft-bodied creatures with hard shells that crawl along the ocean floor. Here is a NOAA article if you would like to learn more about abalone.
Two abalone from the experimental research aquarium at the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center.
I had seriously underestimated how interesting they could be! Kathy explained their anatomy, their reproductive strategies, and NOAA’s conservation efforts to me as I held one of the sweet little creatures in my hands. (My abalone even did a little “dance” where it wiggled its shell – so cute.) Most species of abalone are endangered or vulnerable due to overfishing for their meat and their beautiful shells, and Kathy’s team works to breed abalone that can be reintroduced to the ocean to help supplement wild populations.
Photo of me and Kathy Swiney in the experimental research aquarium. Here, I am holding a live abalone for the first time.
Now, back to the ship. Since this is the first leg of the Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey, many operations and procedures have been modified to combine data collections from two previously separate surveys, one targeting Pacific hake, and the other targeting a collective group of coastal pelagic species (CPS), including sardine, anchovy, and mackerel. The plan is for the ship to trawl for Pacific hake in the midwater region during the day and to trawl for CPS at the surface region at night, which means the science team is working 24 hours a day to maximize the use of resources while at sea.
Photo of some artwork from the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center that demonstrates some of the sardine, anchovy, and mackerel species we will we targeting on our survey.
While initial operations are underway, I am learning my way around the wet lab, which is where we will be sorting, measuring, and dissecting different fishes after each trawl. There is a lot to learn! As a teacher, I am reminded how overwhelming it can be for my students to learn new vocabulary, concepts, and processes in a short period of time. Each interaction with a member of the science team is like a miniature lesson all on its own, except there are no guided notes handouts or Google Slides for me to refer back to. Although it is overwhelming, it is also exciting to learn more about the oceanographic concepts that I teach to my students each year. This experience is helping me understand how critical it is for teachers to be able to explain concepts in age-appropriate ways and in small enough “chunks” for students to grasp in a single learning session.
Personal Log
Overall, there has been quite a bit of free time for me while we wait for normal operations to begin. While the scientists are busy preparing equipment and setting up their data collection programs, I have had time to get settled into my stateroom and chat with the other scientists about the best ways to avoid seasickness, which has been on my mind since we embarked. (Motion sickness medication, eating light meals and snacks, and looking at the horizon are all common recommendations.) The most interesting adjustment for me is the fact that everything is moving all the time at sea. Whether you’re in the wet lab, in the shower, or walking up and down steep staircases, you are constantly swaying in a corkscrew-like motion as the ship wobbles back and forth in the water. It can be quite disorienting during waking hours, but when it’s time to sleep, I have found the rocking motion to be comforting.
The view from the porthole in my stateroom.
Speaking of waking hours, I’m in the middle of adjusting my sleep schedule so that I am awake from midnight to noon each day. That means that I am going to sleep early in the afternoon and missing dinner so that I can be awake around 11:00pm to begin my shift. I am told that the first three days are the most difficult, but after that, your body starts to settle into the new routine.
Did You Know?
At the research aquarium, I learned about rockfish and something called barotrauma, which is a type of bodily trauma caused by a sudden change in pressure when rockfish are captured and removed from deep water. When rockfish are brought to the surface too quickly, the air inside their bodies expands, leaving them unable to control their buoyancy. When released back into the ocean, these fish may have trouble swimming downward, which leaves them vulnerable to predation at the surface. Other symptoms of barotrauma in rockfish include bulging eyes and a bloated belly sticking out of the mouth. But don’t worry – there is hope for the rockfish! Recompression devices and strategies can be used when a fish is returned to its normal depth, which allows its body to adjust back to its normal state. Here is a NOAA article if you would like to learn more about rockfish barotrauma and recompression.
A friendly rockfish from the experimental research aquarium.
That’s all for this blog post – focusing on this laptop screen while at sea is making me feel a little queasy! I hope to provide more concrete updates on our trawling operations over the next few days, as well as career insights and personal anecdotes about my experience at sea. Thanks for reading!
NOAA Teacher at Sea Justin Garritt NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada September 1-14, 2018
Mission: End of Hake Research
Geographical area of cruise: Seattle, Washington to Newport, Oregon
Date: September 11-14, 2018: Day 11-14
Location: Off the coast of Newport, Oregon. End of research cruise.
Throughout my life there have been moments when I recognize I am in the presence of something truly unique and special. Moments when I realize just how beautiful our planet can be. Moments I know will be engraved in my brain as life passes by. Hiking Zion National Park, night boat riding down the beautiful Saint Lawrence Seaway in the heart of the Thousands Islands, the view on top of Whiteface Ski Mountain, climbing the mountain islands in Greece, landing a helicopter on an Alaskan glacier, gigantic waves crashing in on an empty Puerto Rican beach with nothing but the moon in sight, taking a train ride up the gigantic Alps, and color of the fall leaves over the Castleton University skyline in Vermont are just a few of those moments I have been so privileged to have experienced in my short life. Monday evening, I got to add another new nature wonderland experience aboard the NOAA Bell M Shimada.
It was 5:15pm and I was eating a terrific dinner when one of the scientists came in the galley to tell us fishing was on hold because of the abundance of marine wildlife that was surrounding our ship. I immediately ran upstairs to check it out. When I stepped in the bridge (command room of the ship) the first thing I noticed was the beautiful blue skies with a touch of clouds and the sun that set the stage for the spectacle. My ears rang with the crashing waves against the boat and seagulls squawking in the background. As I looked over the side of the boat there were two pairs of dolphins synchronized swimming all around the ship. After a few minutes, three California sea lions came floating by on their backs waving at the passing ship. Another minute later, the dolphins came back for their encore followed by a spray of a Humpback whale spouting directly behind it. As the whale came closer it swam gracefully in an up and down pattern until it bent its massive dinosaur-like body down followed by its tail flipping over as it took a deep dive below the surface. As soon as the whale took the dive another pair of sea lions came floating by smiling as they took in the heat of the sun. Before I could look again, a Pelagic Cormorant landed directly in front of me on the ship. Right after I took a picture of that I looked up and saw at least fifteen spouts surrounding the ship like a spectator would see at the Bellagio Hotel light show in Las Vegas. For the next hour whale after whale surfaced, spouted, and even breached behind the beautiful blue sky backdrop. No matter where I looked I was seeing whales grace our presence. No camera could capture the magic of that hour as I ran from side to side on the viewing tower above the bridge to soak in as much of this experience as possible. I was in awe at the majesty of the sea creatures. As the ship made its way through the evening and to sunset, the whales slowly trickled off beyond sight as the sun came down in the background. Hope that future generations can experience this beauty for centuries to come.
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The reality is the ever growing world’s population consumes large amounts of fish. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations states that in 2016, the global seafood trade was worth $140 billion. In the US it is estimated that 1.5 million people are employed by the fishing industry. That is a lot of communities and families that rely on the resources in our water systems. Throughout the week I learned that so much of the work of NOAA is not limiting the growth and catch of our fishermen/fisherwomen, but it is to ensure there is a fish population to catch and future generations can experience what I was able to experience these past two weeks. Part of NOAA’s mission is to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. Having the most high tech equipment constantly being researched to seek improvements mixed with “ground truthing (catching and surveying)” to analyze different species is crucial for the future of the world’s fisheries.
Two weeks ago I wrote about the main goals for this research cruise. The first was to gather data to study the impact of the US 32mm net liners and the CANADIAN 7mm net liners. The second was to compare the old acoustic equipment called the EK60 with the new equipment called the EK80. Throughout the last two legs of the trip, scientists have gathered data and will be working on analyzing it over the coming months to make better conclusions on these goals. The vision is for someday to reduce the number of surveying trawls needed to determine the population of fish, and instead, use this highly advanced acoustics equipment instead. If those ships are filled with as curious, hardworking, and focused people as the people I met on this ship, I am confident we will be able to obtain this goal in the future.
Here are some pictures from the final 3 days of fishing and exploring the ship:
Reading the acoustics for hake
Hake are present. . . it’s go time!
Hake are present. . . it’s go time!
Another pile of krill (the hake eat these)
Jellyfish
Holding a Big Squid
Sturgeon poacher
Myctophids
Rockfish being caught in the net onscreen
A large catch of hake
A Big Squid
Scientists analyzing the Big Squid
Super Chu
Myctophid x-ray
Myctophid x-ray
Spiny dogfish shark
A Big Squid
A Big Squid
A Big Squid
Spiny dogfish shark
Bringing my experience back to the classroom:
Throughout the past two weeks I constantly thought about how I can bring my experience back to my students in Baltimore. My students receive half the amount of hours of science instructional time than math and reading. After much reflection I decided to use the same core standards we are obligated to teach but begin rewriting most of the 6th grade statistics unit. At the start of the unit I will begin with the purpose of NOAA, pictures of my trip, and exciting stories from my adventure. From there I will have investment in the subject from my students which will allow me to dive in to applying data collected at sea to find: mean, mode, range, variability, mean absolute deviation (MAD), and interquartile range (IQR). We will also be able to use real live data to create histograms, frequency tables, box and whisker plots, and dot plots. I believe it will be exciting for them to have the opportunity to apply required statistical concepts to learning how NOAA (along with others) survey our fish population so species will survive for generations to come. It will also make our school’s 6th grade teacher, Mr. Davis, very happy!
My view while lesson planning
My view while lesson planning
An example of my change in classroom instructional materials to teach Box Plots with data from the research cruise.
At any given moment, there are thousands of NOAA employees studying our environment across the globe. I had the honor of sailing with incredibly intelligent and hardworking people who are dedicated to the mission. From them, I learned so many valuable things that I will carry with me as I disembark on Friday.
Chief Scientist, Rebecca Thomas was an excellent manager/role model. She taught me that leading through kindness, support, trusting others, and giving people rest will produce better and more accurate results than pushing people past their limitation.
Scientist Steve de Bluis encouraged me to maintain a hobby outside of work that you love. Steve loves to fly planes and dive and talked about these trips all the time. You can tell how much joy it has brought him and how excited he is to continue to dive well into his retirement in a few years. He was also a BEAST in the wet lab!
Roommate and Future Scientist Charlie Donahue taught me the importance of accuracy over speed. He constantly pushed me to be sure the data we were collecting was as accurate as possible. He never let speed and efficiency take away from quality. For those of you who know me, this is certainly an important push for me!
Scientist John Pohl taught me about supporting newcomers. He was the first guy I met aboard and always spent time breaking down complicated science topics for me.
Scientist John Pohl analyzes the depth of the net vs. the acoustic picture on his screenScientist Melanie Johnson taught me about working through chaos with calmness. She has been on both commercial and scientific ships and constantly kept calm during any situation that arose.
Scientist Dezhang Chu (Super Chu) taught me about focus. No matter what was going on “Super Chu” always kept a clear view of his own goals and purpose aboard and stayed focused on the prize. Chu was also super hard working and was in the acoustics lab at 6:30am when I went to the gym and still in on his computer analyzing data from the day when I returned from yoga at 10pm. I think he could even give KIPP Ujima Resident-Principal Reese a run for it in terms of work ethic!
Super Chu and I
Super Chu
Volunteer Scientist Heather Rippman taught me about service and life-long learning. Heather commits herself to volunteering for important science missions across the country. After leaving an executive position with Nike, she now travels and volunteers to learn all she can about marine science and give back to the marine science community. She shared so much knowledge with me and was the first person to teach me how to dissect hake.
Master Chef Arnold Dones reminded me about the power of food bringing people together. At exactly 7am, 11am, and 5pm, roughly 40 people from all over the country with all types of jobs aboard came together to feast. Arnold made that happen because of the pride he takes in his craft.
Chief Engineer Sabrina Taraboletti spent 3 hours with me on our last day to show me the massive engine room. She explained what every piece of equipment does below deck. I learned the science behind creating freshwater from sea water. I learned the regulations behind sewer and contaminants. The best part was climbing to the bottom of the ship and watching the shaft that makes the propeller turn move. Her team of engineers barely see daylight and work long hours to make sure the ship moves safely and all the amenities and scientific research equipment works flawlessly. She keeps the morale of her team high, keeps an impressively organized work space that is approximately the size of over a dozen typical garages, and is one of the most knowledgeable professionals I ever crossed paths with.
Sabrina teaching me about controlling the generators for the engines
The 2nd of 4 generators
Heather and I in the engine room
How to apply for the Teacher At Sea Program:
Ms. Ellmauer is a 25 year veteran science teacher from my hometown of Liberty, NY. She was also my high school ski coach. She has been following my blog and reached out about information on how to apply. I am humbled to see so many teachers and school officials reading my blog from across the country so I thought I would pass on the website with information about the program and how to apply for this once in a lifetime experience. Please reach out to me at JAGarritt@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Tomorrow we pull in to Newport, Oregon, and the research cruise will come to an end. Thank you to the nearly one-thousand readers who have been following my journey. I am grateful for your support.
Good bye for now, until I hopefully sail again a part of the NOAA Teacher At Sea Alumni Program,
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