Well, we’re all on board our ship the JOIDES Resolution (affectionately known as the "JR") now, as she sits in Yokohama port waiting to leave.
Home sweet home for the next 2 months and I have to say, she’s a beaut:
400ft of cool, hard, steel with that all-important drilling derrick in the middle. You can see Yokohama Bridge and Tokyo Bay in the background.
She's a bewildering maze of seven decks (from bottom to top: Hold Deck, Lower T’ween Deck, Upper T’ween Deck, Main Deck, Forecastle Deck, Core Deck and Bridge Deck), complete with conference rooms, core labs, a galley, a gym and a mini cinema (way cool).
Needless to say, I get lost about 4 times a day.
All the corridors are this matt grey and look exactly the same, so it’s really easy to get turned around. My suggestion that we colour code the decks so that “ya know, Main Deck is blue, Bridge Deck is pink…” got shot down pretty quickly. Apparently the sailors weren’t too keen on having a pink deck… go figure.
We have been going into Yokohama in the evenings to get our last taste of dry land (and wet alcohol). The food in Japan is amazing. I’ve never eaten so much delicious fish in my life, although I’m feeling a bit guilty about that after watching “The end of the line” on the flight over. Apparently the old saying “plenty more fish in the sea” no longer holds true. A sad indictment of man’s wider impact on planet Earth methinks.
^ Yokohama central by night. Neon paradise.
Anyway, I think me and the JR are going to get on fine.
The people (both the scientists and the ship's crew) are very nice, the insane vacuum-toilets work (for now...), the labs are really well equipped, the food is of an impressively high standard and my cabin is comfortable and spacious. Not much cause for complaint so far.
I’m excited about getting out into the big blue ocean and seeing what there is to see out there. Stay tuned…
x
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