01 November – Off to a rocky start by Brandyn Lucca (Stony Brook University, PhD student)

Good morning/afternoon!

We are currently ~10 hours away from our first site off the coast of Virginia; however, if you had read Joe’s previous blog post, you will remember that the marine forecast does not look amazing. That is still the case now, as confirmed by both the marine forecast and my grueling bout with sea sickness yesterday and this morning (spoiler alert: I lost said bout). Although it should not be news to you that the ocean is constantly moving, we have to constantly keep this in mind because of how it impacts the safety of our fellow crew, ourselves, and our equipment. This includes how we deploy equipment into the sea along with how we secure all of our gear inside. Tying gear down to tabletops, walls, railings, etc., is essential to making sure that none of our equipment turns into a missile that can damage other equipment or, more importantly, injure anyone else.

That isn’t to say that we aren’t allowed to enjoy ourselves when we are sailing through heavy seas. Rather, we just have to take extra precautions. Since yesterday was Halloween, some of us were able to lighten the mood by dressing up in costumes!