On the last full day of ADEON Cruise IV aboard the R/V Neil Armstrong, the science party is busy with all that can be done in preparation for demobilization the following day. Many attend to work emails as they get ready to return to their respective universities. While science operations may be secured, news of a wayward Ocean Observatories Initiative autonomous glider reached the crew and a recovery operation was launched.

As I’m writing this post we are officially in transit back to homeport. I think most of us have very mixed feelings about concluding this trip. On one hand, everyone is anxious to get home to see their friends and family, on the other, we’re sad to be leaving this little ship family (Familyship?). While there is a gym available in the transducer room, nothing can come close to the intensity of the abs workout I’ve gotten from laughing with these people for 12+ hours a day.

We have begun our trip back up the coast towards Woods Hole, MA! During the night shift tonight, we caught two huge catches of animals including enormous copepods, a plethora of myctophids and Gonostomatidae, and some large (although not giant) squids.

Happy weekend, everyone! Unlike the typical 9-5 schedule, ships don’t have days off – to keep the ship running and to maximize on sea time, the crew and science party work 24-7. This means all on board need to adhere to a strict schedule that ensure everyone gets enough sleep and mealtimes are predictable. When ships travel through multiple time zones, it can get complicated.

My favorite views from the boat are those of storms over the ocean. The mountainous clouds making up massive thunderheads are especially beautiful. Off the coast of Florida these are especially common, and often times dark sheets of rain can be seen; from afar. The precipitation in these cloud banks looks like a painting.