mobile station (cough cough) I mean standard station..

This is probably the last post I'm going to write for this cruise, because it's just too pain in the butt to print out my blog, have the captain read it, and expect my friend to post it. We are currently at a coastal station that the crew calls a mobile station. Apparently we aren't supposed to know we're only here because the crew wants to talk to their family, so the chief scientist (who hasn't even touched a drop of water since we've been here) has claimed we've come to this station to compare a standard to what we are seeing out in the ocean.

We've been working our butts off, but seem to be the only group to be doing so. The other people here my age do maybe half the work, and can't understand why I am working so hard. When the chief scientist made the schedule for when our sampling would take place, everything comes to a halt during breakfast and lunch. They actually plan their work days around the meals, instead of doing the science when it needs to happen....I filter over 50 liters off water in the morning, run samples through our flow through microscope, titrate oxygen samples, and run/extract chlorophyll when I have time. Needless to say, I haven't had a chance to read too many of the books I've downloaded for this cruise.

I didn't realize how much sanity I gain by talking to my friends on gchat, or just being able to send simple e-mails until it is taken away. This cruise is definitely one of the more difficult ones if for that reason only. We get back to land on the 22nd, and I get back to the states on the 25th, so I will be able to catch up with a semi-normal life sometime around then. Ok, enough time spent on the computer...time to go count some cells!