dry lab – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

July 18, 2025July 24, 2025

Sinh Nguyen: Scientists who SEA, July 14, 2025

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Sinh Nguyen

Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces

July 7, 2025 – July 24, 2025

Mission: Larval Bluefin Tuna Slope Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: North Atlantic Ocean, Slope Sea

Date: July 14, 2025

Weather Data:

1:32 PM Eastern Time

Norfolk, Virginia

The temperature is 32°C (89°F)

Career Spotlight

Uplift Education, Mighty K-12 scholars: Did you know some people have jobs where they explore the ocean, study sea animals, and help take care of our planet?

Some of you, even those already thinking ahead in middle or high school, might be wondering what kinds of jobs or studies you can pursue one day. Well, today we’re going to meet some real-life ocean heroes: the scientists on the science crew who are sailing aboard NOAA Ship Pisces for the larval bluefin tuna mission. They come from all over the United States and are experts at what they do.

Why are they awesome? If you’d like: go ahead and think, share, and then draw or write your responses on this digital whiteboard:

https://www.whiteboard.chat/board/963e0100-9dc6-4679-85ff-2116fdc539d1-pgNum-1

Based on some of your responses… these scientists are curious like inquirers, hardworking and knowledgeable, and they show they are caring by helping protect sea life. They are communicators who share what they know, and courageous learners who explore the unknown! Now, let’s learn more about our science crew to find out how you might be a sea explorer one day!

* Note: I’ll be updating this post throughout the cruise. These interviews were rephrased to fit into the blog. For full interview responses, please click here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bvKvswISdjFMMqG7QNoc8FDox74Ysey-Xp2ERMLvajc/edit?usp=sharing

a view from an upper deck of NOAA Ship Pisces over the bow. Four women stand at the rail, leaning on their elbows, looking ahead as the ship exits the port of Norfolk. We can see tall buildings and other large ships off to each side. The words Meet the Scientists! are imposed in the middle of the image.

Meet the Scientists!

Hi, I’m David Richardson! I live in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, but grew up in Sierra Madre, California. I studied Natural Resources at Cornell University, then went to grad school at the University of Miami. I’m the chief scientist on this cruise, which means I help plan how we collect data to meet our science goals. My research focuses on larval fish, fish migrations, and how ocean conditions affect fisheries. My favorite marine animal’s the sail fish. They’re beautiful at every stage of life! I love science because it helps us make the world better. In fisheries science, our work helps keep fish populations healthy so people can continue to enjoy fishing and have access to food.

Fun fact: My first research was on baby eels near Barbados. I discovered and illustrated six types of eel larvae that were new to science! That experience showed me how much of the ocean is still a mystery. My advice: Pay attention in math and writing but also get outside! Observing nature is one of the best ways to become a great scientist.

photo of a woman in a float coat, black overalls, a beanie, aand workboots standing on an upper deck of the ship; we can see part of the bow, calm seas, and a cloudy sunset in the distance

My name’s Allison Black! I’m from eastern Connecticut and often at sea. I studied Zoo and Wildlife Biology at Malone University and worked briefly as a zookeeper before focusing on ornithology. My favorite (yet unseen) marine animal is the Wandering Albatross. They can travel over 75,000 miles a year! On this project, I’m surveying seabirds and marine mammals. I love the ocean’s mystery and the chance to keep learning through different cruises. Fun fact: by year’s end, I’ll have 500 sea days! My advice: stay flexible, stay curious, and seize opportunities you didn’t know existed.

I’m Chrissy Hernández! I grew up in New Jersey and now live in Oxford, England. I earned my bachelor’s from Columbia University and my PhD from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography. I’ve worked as a researcher at Cornell and Oxford. I’m a population ecologist who studies biological oceanography and theoretical ecology. My favorite marine animal is the bluefin tuna! Aboard the ship, I help deploy plankton nets, identify tuna larvae, and guide sampling efforts. I love the ocean’s vastness and mystery, and how tiny organisms like phytoplankton produce half the world’s oxygen. Fun fact: I once shaved my head and tossed the hair overboard during an equator-crossing tradition!

Hi, I’m Autumn Moya! I’m from Colorado and now live in Silver Spring, Maryland. I studied Biology at Western Colorado University with a focus on environmental biology, and I’m finishing my Master’s in Coastal Science at the University of Southern Mississippi. My research models how offshore development might affect the Atlantic surf clam fishery. I’m currently a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow with NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations. I support communications, policy, and events. I’m excited to join research cruises like this one. My favorite marine animal is the cuttlefish. Did you know they can change color as fast as a blink? I’ve always loved the ocean, even growing up in a landlocked state. Since finishing my bachelor’s, I’ve lived in seven states! My advice to future scientists: stay curious and never hesitate to reach out. Science is for everyone!

Hi, I’m Amanda Jacobsen! I’m from Rhode Island. I studied Environmental Studies at Connecticut College and now I’m working on my master’s in Marine Biology at UMass Dartmouth. On this cruise, I help deploy nets and collect seawater to study the carbon in it. My favorite sea creature is the lumpfish. Look it up, it’s cool! I’ve worked on over 80 boats, and I love biology because it lets me explore the hidden world of ocean life.

Sometimes only visible under a microscope.

My advice to you: Stay curious and try new things, you might discover something amazing or meet someone who inspires you!

a woman kneels on the aft deck on one knee, both hands on a piece of scientific equipment (maybe a water profiler) resting on deck. she pauses what she is doing to turn and smile for the camera.

Hi! My name is Kristen Walter and I live in Miami, Florida. I graduated from the College of William and Mary with a master’s in marine science. I now work for the University of Miami/CIMAS studying coral reef fishes and bluefin tuna! My favorite marine animal is probably the nudibranch! I’m here on this cruise to help locate larval bluefin tuna, set and recover nets, preserve and identify fish, and test out new methods of capture using light traps. A fun fact about me is that I got to participate in the Aquarius Reef Base Underwater Habitat in Key Largo when I was in grad school. If you’d like to get into marine science, look for summer internships. Many places offer programs for high school students. Get your feet wet. Anything is possible!

Personal Log

Over the weekend, we moved back onto NOAA Ship Pisces. It felt nice to return after a few nights in a hotel while crew members got everything ready for our big mission.

view of computer screens, keyboards, mice on a wooden desk in an interior room of the ship — When we’re not setting things up, we spend time working in a place called the dry lab. The dry lab has computers, machines, and tables for us to study the ocean data we collect during the mission. I’ve been using this time to write my blog!

broader view of the dry lab: metal tables, a wooden desk, computers, computer chairs, two unidentifiable people sitting, facing away from the camera — Many scientists also bring their laptops, journals, or books to read or work on. It’s a quiet place where people come and go, but when it’s time to work, everyone jumps in to help!

three women - one seated at a desk, two standing - are in discussion. the seated woman holds up a piece of plastic film with her left hand. — Scientists Kristen, Chrissy, and Sarah are making sure the light traps for our drifters (for catching fish) are ready.

Just like we practice fire drills and safety rules at school, there are also important rules and practice drills in case of emergencies.

two people walk through a hallway of the ship toward an exit to an outer deck — Staying safe is super important when you’re out at sea.

a NOAA Corps Officer (in blue uniform) stands at the front of the mess hall and holds a breathing apparatus up; it blocks the view of his face. we can see the chair legs are capped in cut tennis balls to prevent them from sliding — Lieutenant Musick, one of the operations officers, is giving us safety training. He’s showing us how to use an EEBD (emergency escape breathing device).

a group of people stand outside on the aft deck, surrounding a NOAA Corps Officer in a blue uniform using his hands to illustrate a point — We were given a tour of places to know for emergencies. All crews were involved including members from science, NOAA Corps, engineer, and deck teams pictured here

a piece of paper attached to a door with a magnet. the paper reads: TAS Nguyen, Sinh, and then lists three sets of muster locations for Fire & Emergency, Abandon Ship, and Mariner Overboard. The three scenarios also include depictions of the corresponding morse code, shown as boxes or rectangles — Outside of each stateroom, or everyone’s rooms, there is information on where you report to and what your role is during emergencies. It’s a good idea to study this information!

Sinh (right) and a woman (left) pose for a selfie with a dummy used in safety exercises — With our floaty rescue dummy!

Safety first! I need to make sure I can stay afloat in case I ever have to evacuate into the water.

I tried on an immersion suit, or “Gumby suit,” to make sure I can float in water. It’s also designed to keep people warm in the water in case they have to abandon ship or go into the water.

Sinh, wearing his Teacher at Sea baseball cap, poses for a photo - making a shasta sign with his left hand and with his right, grasping the bagged survival suit and personal flotation device. he is standing on an outer deck. — So far, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know everyone on board. I’m a lot more familiar with everything around the ship, including where all the rooms, crew members, and emergency equipment are. I’m feeling excited about our mission once we set sail.

Next time, I’ll be writing about a special tool we use called the CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth), which helps us learn more about the ocean!

Did you know?

NOAA ships have their own weather stations right on board. That means they can measure wind, rain, temperature, and more. Even while they’re sailing across the ocean! What do you think scientists do with that information?

close up of a digital display mounted to a ceiling. currently it displays latitude and longitude — The station also shows navigational information, which gives everyone exact locations (coordinates) of the ship.

July 29, 2017August 15, 2017

Samantha Adams: Day 6 – Testing… 1 – 2 – 3, July 29, 2017

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Samantha Adams

Aboard NOAA Ship Hi’ialakai

July 25 – August 3, 2017

Mission: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Hawaii Ocean Time-series Station deployment (WHOTS-14)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaii, Pacific Ocean

Date: Saturday, 29 July 2017

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Latitude & Longitude: 22^o45’N, 157^o56’W. Ship speed: 1.3 knots. Air temperature: 27.8^oC. Sea temperature: 27.0^oC. Humidity: 72%.Wind speed: 14 knots. Wind direction: 107 degrees. Sky cover: Few.

Science and Technology Log:

The most difficult part of Thursday’s buoy deployment was making sure the anchor was dropped on target. Throughout the day, shifting winds and currents kept pushing the ship away from the anchor’s target location. There was constant communication between the ship’s crew and the science team, correcting for this, but while everyone thought we were close when the anchor was dropped, nobody knew for sure until the anchor’s actual location had been surveyed.

blog.4.Day6.image1 — Triangulation of the WHOTS-14 buoy’s anchor location. Look at how close the ‘Anchor at Depth’ location is to the ‘Target’ location — only 177.7 meters apart! Also notice that all three circles intersect at one point, meaning that the triangulated location of the anchor is quite accurate.

To survey the anchor site, the ship “pinged” (sent a signal to) the acoustic releases on the buoy’s mooring line from three separate locations around the area where the anchor was dropped. This determines the distance from the ship to the anchor — or, more accurately, the distance from the ship to the acoustic releases. When all three distances are plotted (see the map above), the exact location of the buoy’s anchor can be determined. Success! The buoy’s anchor is 177.7 meters away from the target location — closer to the intended target than any other WHOTS deployment has gotten.

After deployment on Thursday, and all day Friday, the Hi’ialakai stayed “on station” about a quarter of a nautical mile downwind of the WHOTS-14 buoy, in order to verify that the instruments on the buoy were making accurate measurements. Because both meteorological and oceanographic measurements are being made, the buoy’s data must be verified by two different methods.

Weather data from the buoy (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, etc.) is verified using measurements from the Hi’ialakai’s own weather station and a separate set of instruments from NOAA’s Environmental Sciences Research Laboratory. This process is relatively simple, only requiring a few quick mouse clicks (to download the data), a flashdrive (to transfer the data), and a “please” and “thank you”.

blog.4.Day6.image2 — July 28, 2017, 5:58PM HAST. Preparing the rosette for a CDT cast. Notice that the grey sampling bottles are open. If you look closely, you can see clear plastic “wire” running from the top of the sampling bottles to the center of the rosette. The wires are fastened on hooks which, when triggered by the computer in the lab, flip up, releasing the wire and closing the sampling bottle.

Salinity, temperature and depth measurements (from the MicroCats on the mooring line), on the other hand, are much more difficult to verify. In order to get the necessary “in situ” oceanographic data (from measurements made close to the buoy), the water must be sampled directly. This is done buy doing something called a CTD cast — in this case, a specific type called a yo-yo.

The contraption in the picture to the left is called a rosette. It consists of a PCV pipe frame, several grey sampling bottles around the outside of the frame, and multiple sets of instruments in the center (one primary and one backup) for each measurement being made.

blog.4.Day6.image3 — July 28, 2017, 6:21PM HAST. On station at WHOTS-14, about halfway through a CDT cast (which typically take an hour). The cable that raises and lowers the rosette is running through the pulley in the upper right hand corner of the photo. The buoy is just visible in the distance, under the yellow arm.

The rosette is hooked to a stainless steel cable, hoisted over the side of the ship, and lowered into the water. Cable is cast (run out) until the rosette reaches a certain depth — which can be anything, really, depending on what measurements need to be made. For most of the verification measurements, this depth has been 250 meters. Then, the rosette is hauled up to the surface. And lowered back down. And raised up to the surface. And lowered back down. It’s easy to see why it’s called a yo-yo! (CDT casts that go deeper — thousands of meters instead of hundreds — only go down and up once.)

For the verification process, the rosette is raised and lowered five times, with the instruments continuously measuring temperature, salinity and depth. On the final trip back to the surface, the sampling bottles are closed remotely, one at a time, at specific depths, by a computer in the ship’s lab. (The sampling depths are determined during the cast, by identifying points of interest in the data. Typically, water is sampled at the lowest point of the cast and five meters below the surface, as well as where the salinity and oxygen content of the water is at its lowest.) Then, the rosette is hauled back on board, and water from the sampling bottles is emptied into smaller glass bottles, to be taken back to shore and more closely analyzed.

On this research cruise, the yo-yos are being done by scientists and student researchers from the University of Hawaii, who routinely work at the ALOHA site (where the WHOTS buoys are anchored). The yoyos are done at regular intervals throughout the day, with the first cast beginning at about 6AM HAST and the final one wrapping up at about midnight.

blog.4.Day6.image4 — July 29, 2017, 9:43AM HAST. On station at WHOTS-13. One CDT cast has already been completed; another is scheduled to begin in about 15 minutes.

After the final yo-yo was complete at the WHOTS-14 buoy early Saturday morning, the Hi’ialakai traveled to the WHOTS-13 buoy. Today and tomorrow (Sunday), more in situ meteorological and oceanographic verification measurements will be made at the WHOTS-13 site. All of this — the meteorological measurements, the yo-yos, the days rocking back and forth on the ocean swell — must happen in order to make sure that the data being recorded is consistent from one buoy to the next. If this is the case, then it’s a good bet that any trends or changes in the data are real — caused by the environmental conditions — rather than differences in the instruments themselves.

Personal Log:

blog.4.Day6.image5 — The *Hi’ialakai*’s dry lab. Everyone is wearing either a sweatshirt or a jacket… are we sure this is Hawaii?

Most of the science team’s time is divided between the Hi’ialakai’s deck and the labs (there are two; one wet, and one dry). The wet lab contains stainless steel sinks, countertops, and an industrial freezer; on research cruises that focus on marine biology, samples can be stored there. Since the only samples being collected on this cruise are water, which don’t need to be frozen, the freezer was turned off before we left port, and turned into additional storage space. The dry lab (shown in the picture above) is essentially open office space, in use nearly 24 hours a day. The labs, like most living areas on the ship, are quite well air conditioned. It may be hot and humid outside, but inside, hoodies and hot coffee are both at a premium!

Did You Know?

The acronym “CTD” stands for conductivity, temperature and depth. But the MicroCats on the buoy mooring lines and the CTD casts are supposed to measure salinity, temperature and depth… so where does conductivity come in? It turns out that the salinity of the water can’t be measured directly — but conductivity of the water can.

When salt is dissolved into water, it breaks into ions, which have positive and negative charges. In order to determine salinity, an instrument measuring conductivity will pass a small electrical current between two electrodes (conductors), and the voltage on either side of the electrodes is measured. Ions facilitate the flow of the electrical current through the water. Therefore conductivity, with the temperature of the water taken into account, can be used to determine the salinity.

May 24, 2015August 21, 2021

DJ Kast, Interview with Survey Tech Geoff Shook, May 24, 2015

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Dieuwertje “DJ” Kast
Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
May 19 – June 3, 2015

Mission: Ecosystem Monitoring Survey
Geographical area of cruise: East Coast
Date: May 24, 2015, Day 6 of Voyage

Interview with Geoff Shook, Survey Tech

Geoff Shook running the Bongo at a station site. Three screens and his walky talky to the rest of the crew to make sure everything is deployed correctly. Photo by DJ Kast

What is your job here on the ship?

Survey Tech

What does that mean?

I have two similar but different jobs

Run and monitor the ship’s scientific equipment
- I help fix things when they break down
- I am the Liaison between the ship and the scientific party (we mean everything). Anything the scientist needs, the survey techs help provide it.
- I know the capabilities of equipment.
  - For example, the fish lab is one of the most high tech fish labs in the world. Incredibly advanced.
We work within the science spaces, so we are always around. Point of contact!
- I work with deck department and with their help I deploy a lot of gear
- Jack of all trades. We get to be involved with a little bit everything;computer software, electronics, plumbing, carpentry etc. I am also on the bridge for lookout sometimes.

Right now, I am planning for the marine mammal and deep water coral cruise. We are also taking multi-beam data when we pass through certain points on this cruise that helps us prepare for future cruises.

When you are in the dry lab with us (deploying the bongo plankton nets or Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) unit) what do all of the techy things on your computer mean?

The camera to the side sampling station, the winch and weather screen and the CTD screen. All of these Geoff monitors. Photo by DJ Kast

Left side of the screen: Winch Data (winch data, line speeds (how fast they are moving), depth, depth of instrument, how much line is out). There is also data from the ship’s meteorological sensors available as well.
- Performance of the winches as well as the instrument information.

Winch and Weather Data. Photo by DJ Kast

Weather conditions that relate to the deployment of the instrument.
- For example, wind conditions (speed and direction)
- Set the wind on the starboard side so that the boat gets pushed away from the instruments and lines.
Right side of the screen: the Vertical profile of theCTD. Watching this to make sure theCTD is functioning correctly. Oceanographers use it differently, for example trying to find the chlorophyll maximum depth and the thermocline, where the temperature changes suddenly with depth.
- My job is to make sure that the equipment is functional and collecting accurate, valid data.

Vertical Profile of the CTD in action. Photo by DJ Kast

Whenever the sensor on the CTD on the bongos is activated by seawater, the numbers show up on Geoff’s screen. He then announces, “We’ve got numbers, lets Bongo!” It’s literally my favorite quote of the trip and makes me laugh every time he says it.
- CTD numbers means that it is on, functioning properly, and is ready to be deployed.
- Sometimes there is a software/ hardware glitch, or a plug or connection might fail. If this happens, the cast cannot be completed. So observing the CTD output is very important.
Label printing! This has Ot (Other), I (Ichthyoplankton), Z (zooplankton) designations to indicate the type of nets used on the bongo frames.

Labeling of the Plankton collected in the bongo nets. This one was used for the baby bongos, and processed with ethanol to preserve the specimens. Photo by DJ Kast

I will also do post processing, which summarizes everything.
- To me its important to make sure we are properly collecting accurate data for the end user, I care about how the data is collected. I need to make sure that the sensors are all working and displaying the accurate data so that scientists can go ahead and use that data in their research.

How do you get trained to be a survey tech?

(He laughs.) Truthfully, it’s a lot of On the Job Training (OJT). I read manuals and study our various equipment, and so I have a full understanding of how all of our equipment works and how to fix something when it breaks.

*As a side note from the XO: You need a degree in science and some motivation to be a survey tech, and its a great job for recent college graduates because survey techs make pretty good money, ball-parking approximately $60,000 annually, and sometimes even more depending on the sailing schedule.*

While these next trainings are not directly part of my job as survey tech, the two trainings below are a part of being a well-rounded ship crew member.

Ship SCUBA divers- NOAA Dive School. This allows us to check on the ship’s echo-sounders, seawater intakes, propeller and rudder.
Medpic training – one of the ship’s medics. I do anything from minor first aid to assessing an injury to responding to medical emergencies. I am qualified to administer medicine but not prescribe it.

My background is actually in fisheries. I worked in a fisheries lab as a fisheries scientist, which is why I was originally brought onto the Henry B. Bigelow in the first place. I then realized I was more interested in the vessel operations, so I made the switch over to the survey department.

I was hired to do a lot of Bottom Trawl Surveys and would only go on cruises when they pertained to that particular survey. While I wasn’t on board a research vessel, I was a sailing instructor and a substitute teacher. I taught 8^th grade social studies for a year as a long-term sub and what I’ve learned is that it’s most important to teach students how to learn. It’s something that I use to explain new boat protocols and equipment to new crew.

I think that working and going to sea is a very unique experience, and even though the romantic idea of being on a research vessel is very different from the reality, it’s still an interesting life and I love it. I love going to sea. I’ve spent about a decade of half year ship time on vessels. My wife keeps asking me, “When are you done going to sea?” My reply would be that I don’t know if I can ever be done. The ocean’s siren call always seems to call me back.

June 13, 2013August 11, 2021

Beverly Owens: The Tenacity of a Scientist, June 13, 2013

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Beverly Owens
Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
June 10 – 24, 2013

Mission: Sea Corals and Benthic Habitat: Ground-truthing and exploration in deepwater canyons off the Northeast
Geographical Area: Western North Atlantic
Date: June 11, 2013

Weather Data from the Bridge:
Air temperature:18.4 ^oC (65.12 ^oF)
Wind Speed: 24.56 knots (28.26 mph)

Science and Technology Log

The Tenacity of a Scientist

The science crew has been divided into two teams – the day watch (noon to midnight), and the night watch (midnight to noon). Those who are on “watch” are expected to be around the science labs while on duty. When TowCam is deployed, members of the science party on watch should be in the Dry Lab to monitor images and record data.

My watch is midnight to noon. Did I mention that my normal bedtime is 9:00? It will take a little while to get adjusted to this new schedule.

While the TowCam is in the water, the “Dry Lab” is bustling with activity. The TowCam operators, and some of the ship’s crew, ensure that the equipment is safely deployed. After lowering TowCam to a specified depth, control of TowCam is passed from the Bridge to the TowCam pilots. It is interesting to see how this large piece of machinery is operated. The pilot uses a joystick to raise or lower TowCam to the correct depth just above the ocean floor. In addition to the joystick controller, the pilot must also interpret data that is being recorded by TowCam or the ship. Knowing the wind speed, tension of the winch wire, altimetry, and depth are all variables that help the pilot to make the most informed decisions about the placement of TowCam.

Even with the best planning and most precise implementation, sometimes things go awry. For example, a cable may break, or the altimeter may not be registering correctly. During a research cruise such as this, spare parts, tools, and other materials must be packed for the voyage. There are no trips to the hardware store when you’re out in the middle of the ocean!

After yesterday’s practice dive, the engineers made some adjustments to TowCam so that it could work to its optimum capability. After adjustments have been made, a series of tests are run on TowCam to ensure that everything is working properly. After testing is complete, TowCam will be deployed again, allowing us another glimpse of the ocean floor.

August 3, 2012August 11, 2021

Steven Frantz: Language at Sea, August 1, 2012

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Steven Frantz
Onboard NOAA Ship Oregon II
July 27 – August 8, 2012

Mission: Longline Shark Tagging Survey
Geographic area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic off the coast of Florida
Date: August 1, 2012

Weather Data From the Bridge:
Air Temperature (degrees C): 28.9
Wind Speed (knots): 13.94
Wind Direction (degree): 224º
Relative Humidity (percent): 082
Barometric Pressure (millibars): 1012.18
Water Depth (meters): 67.08
Water Temperature (degrees C): 28.5
Salinity (PSU): 35.649

Location:
Latitude: 3135.76N
Longitude: 07931.19W

Language at Sea

The language while at sea is English, however, there are many nautical terms you may not be familiar with. In today’s blog I will look into just some of the language typically used exclusively while on board not only the Oregon II, but also all ships in general. Along with the lesson on vocabulary, I will also be taking you on a visual tour of the Oregon II.

First let’s start with a little quiz. You’re on your own. This is NOT for a grade!!

Bridge _____Right
Port _____Restroom
Starboard _____Stairs
Bow _____Front of Ship
Stern _____Floor
Head _____Left
Deck _____Bedroom
Berthing _____Mop
Rain Closet _____Rear of Ship
Mess _____Control Room
Ladder _____Shower
1829 _____Hallway
Passageway _____Restaurant
Swab _____Time

How do you think you did? Follow along on a guided tour of the Oregon II to find out!

Here I am steering the Oregon II preparing to deploy the high-flier for another longline survey. The Bridge is where the captain conrols the ship. And yes, today is Luau Day! — Here I am steering the *Oregon II* preparing to deploy the high-flier for another longline survey. The Bridge is where the captain conrols the ship. And yes, today is Luau Day!

View from the Bridge looking over the bow. — View from the Bridge overlooking the bow.

Port, Starboard, Stern, Bow image courtesy of Google Images — As you can see, Port is left (red light), Starboard is right (green light), Bow is the front of the ship, and Stern is the rear of the ship. Image courtesy of Google Images.

The Deck refers to each Floor of the ship.

Your Berthing is where you sleep. Bunk beds, three drawers, cabinet, one personal grooming shelf, shared sink and desk. On the Oregon II this is called your Stateroom. — Your Berthing is where you sleep. Bunk beds, three drawers, cabinet, one personal grooming shelf, shared sink and desk. On the *Oregon II* this is called your Stateroom.

Water Closet is where we shower. — Rain Closet is where we shower.

Galley=Food Eating Area! Walter and Paul are the best. Furthermore, "Steward" is the term for chef. — Mess Deck=Food Eating Area! Walter and Paul are the best. Furthermore, “Steward” is the term for chef.

The Ladder is the Stairs that take you from deck to deck.

The current time is 1829 (6:29 p.m.). We use a 24-hour clock. One p.m. is 1300, two p.m. is 1400, etc.

Maybe you've heard the expression, "Swab the Deck?" It just means "Mop the Floor." — Maybe you’ve heard the expression, “Swab the Deck?” It just means “Mop the Floor.”

How did you do on the quiz? I thought I would share a few more interesting aspects about life on a ship.

All doors and drawers are latched. You just can't have door and drawers swing back and forth as the ship rocks on the waves. — All doors and drawers are latched. You just can’t have door and drawers swing back and forth as the ship rocks on the waves.

We must do our own laundry. There are four types of water. Of course fresh water and salt water you've heard of before. On the ship we also have brown water, which is water from laundry and sinks. We also have black water, which is the water from the head. You do remember what the head is don't you? — We must do our own laundry. There are four types of water on a ship. Of course fresh water and salt water you’ve heard of before. On the ship we also have brown water, which is water from laundry and sinks. We also have black water, which is the water from the head. You do remember what the head is don’t you?

People are trained to be on the ship's Fire Department. We have fire drills on the Oregon II. — People are trained to be on the ship’s Fire Response Team. We have fire drills on the *Oregon II*.

The Wet Lab wasn't used much for the Longline Shark Survey. — The Wet Lab isn’t used much (mainly for staging equipment) for the Longline Shark Survey.

The bulk of our work was done in the Dry Lab. — The bulk of recording our research was done in the Dry Lab.

There you have it. A vocabulary tour of the Oregon II. Rest assured, we have been catching sharks. Stay tuned. There WILL BE sharks in my next blog!