My name is Cassie Fries, and we just left port on the RV Endeavor, cruise EN615. Currently, you can still see a faint outline of San Juan, and this will be the last time we see land for the next three weeks. This is my second time on a ship like this, but this cruise will be the longest I have been at sea. We got to Puerto Rico on Sunday, and it took three days for us to unpack, organize, and tie everything down. It's super important for us to make sure everything is tied down before we set sail so that nothing moves even if we hit rough seas. Lots of knot tying is involved, and I got lucky enough to learn a new knot. With all the equipment we have, having it secured is the most important thing.

I am part of the night crew (aka Team Krillstrong) helping with the oceanographic data collection and bioacoustics. Originally, I am from Massachusetts, but I recently graduated from Stony Brook University with a B.Sc. in Marine Vertebrate Biology.  I currently live in Long Island, New York. I have helped out graduate students from ALES (Acoustic Laboratory for Ecological Studies) when I was an undergrad, and it’s been great to continue to help them out and see where the project goes. It’s going to be an exciting trip out on the RV Endeavor; the crew and the science teams are already hitting it off. I can’t wait to get to station in a few days and start “sciencing”!