Another stormy day at the Palmer. We were supposed to have had a station around 10 am; it is 2:18 pm and we are still steaming at 5 knots chasing our tail trying to fend of the big seas. I am getting used to the motion, but my stubbornness, considered by many a family trait, is not helping me out here.
If you have never been on a rocking boat, let me tell you that it is quite amusing; assuming your body lets you enjoy it. Walking down the corridor, one of the most mundane activities, becomes a difficult challenge. Good thing there are railings, as I keep going from wall to wall. The best part of it is when the boat goes up and down. As the boat dips into the water, my foot is left somewhere above the floor and not where my brain thought it would be. I feel light, floating around. Payback comes as the boat moves upwards and my foot finds the floor much sooner than it though it would. I feel heavy as a rock as my leg muscles tighten and do extra work. A dance is established; from the boat's frame of reference, I move side to side as I float and sink with a chaotic cadence.
You might wonder what is everybody else doing while we wait and wait for calmer waters. Join me in the corridor dance as we take a field trip around the boat to find the answer to that question. Yo will find that the corridor dance is not so bad once you have gotten used to it, but, please, do not forget to hold to the railings, specially on the stairs.
It seems most people are in their rooms, as I found only a few in the public spaces. . I found Brian in the lounge playing guitar amazingly. He is pretty talented. You will get to listen to him as I recorded some of his own music and will use it on the videos that I will post when I get back home.
Brian kills time honing his already excellent guitar playing skills
Chris is organizing a cribbage tournament to begin in a few days. This is perfect time for practicing, so I found a few devoted cribbagers at the mess hall.
Chris and Max are top contenders for the Palmer Cribbage Tournament 2011
Not everything revolves around the cribbage though, Ming and Eric were extremely concentrated on their chess match,
Ming and Eric do not jump on the cribbage bandwagon and play chess
I found Bill listening to music in the hangar for the missing helicopter.
Bill enjoys music in the helio Hangar
I saw Ryan and Anthony reading in the conference room, and Aimee enjoying hte view of the stormy seas from the bridge. On my way back I found Brian again, this time writing a story in his room. Not only a musician scientist, but also a write. I presume that many folks, like Brian, are not asleep but working on one thing or another in their rooms.
Brian takes a moment from the guitar to write a story
I thought I would have time to work on some short stories that I have written and need some polishing, but so far I have nto had the time.
Labs were mostly deserted, as there are no samples to run. There are some people at their computers working away.
It is now 6:41 pm and we are on our way back to the station at slug speed, hoping we will be able to get those samples. A lot of people found their way out of their hiding places for dinner, hoping for a sampling station.
Some of you will notice that I am loading less pictures. I was asked to limit the number of pictures to five per blog for different compelling reasons.