I was scrolling through my emails the other day (I get a LOT of emails every day), when I clicked on an interesting link from gCaptain. For the first time ever, a cruise ship reached the North Pole of Inaccessibility. Looking at the picture there reminded me of the cruise I took to Antarctica a few years ago on the MS Roald Amundsen. We also plowed through the ice like that and we all got to get out and make snow angels where no one had ever been before. It was just amazing to be at the far end of the Earth like that still be so comfortable. I really enjoyed that cruise and hope to go back someday. 🙂
My cruise on the MS Roald Amundsen in Antarctica
Considering that the ship I’ve been sailing on lately is named the Point Nemo, I clicked around the net a little bit and found another article on Atlas Obscura (I bought a book of theirs a while back- they’ve got tons of really fascinating stuff they write about). Point Nemo (Latin for “nobody”) was named for the fact that it signifies the most remote spot on the planet. It’s also a nod to Jules Verne’s base for the Nautilus. It is called the oceanic point of inaccessibility, located at 48°52.6’S 123°23.6’W.
Point Nemo in Kodiak, AK early June 2024
It’s pretty far out in the middle of nowhere (pretty much like we are right now- a couple thousand miles SE of Hawaii). It’s 1451 nautical miles from land: North of Antarctica, S of tiny Ducie Island (‘near’ Pitcairn Islands) and SW of Motu Nui (near Easter Island).
Since it’s so remote, it’s a great place for dumping some of our ever increasing load of space debris. Not much chance of anything landing on top of somebody’s house, or a passing cruise ship or 737. It seems to be a favorite place for the Russians to send their old satellites. The most famous being the old Mir space station. Other countries also send their space junk there to the point it’s nicknamed the Spacecraft Cemetery with near 300 disposed of in the area since 1971.
Continuing with the spacey theme, the actual location of Point Nemo is within a relatively few miles of H.P. Lovecraft’s R’lyeh, a “nightmare corpse city (…) built in measureless eons beyond history by the vast, loathsome shapes that seeped down from the dark stars”. The drowned city of Cthulhu…
I’ve read very little of Lovecraft’s work. I never really got into it, tho I do love reading and some of my favorites are scary stories. I love Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Joe Hill, Anne Rice, Clive Barker, Justin Cronin, George Orwell, Robin Cook- I could go on and on…
I love all kinds of weird stuff. I read constantly. All kinds of things, but my favorite genres are science fiction and fantasy, history, alternative history, science, philosophy, politics and social issues. The final weird thing about Point Nemo mentioned in the Atlas Obscura article of “the Bloop” was just the icing on the cake for me. I just had to write this post and share it to the rest of you. 🙂
After 3 months away from home sailing across the Pacific Ocean on the Point Nemo, I came back to find class 1 “minimal” hurricane Beryl had done more damage to my property than all the other storms (Alicia, Harvey, etc) combined for the last 30 years.
Onboard the ship, I could only see news reports of Houston/Galveston and Surfside Beach. The photos and videos looked bad. Big trees downed and flooding all around Houston. Lots of flooding at Surfside and a few houses looked totally demolished. Surfside is only about 10 miles from Freeport where all of my rental properties are located. I used to live there and a lot of my friends still do.
I didn’t worry about it too much since I’d never been flooded before and I didn’t have many trees around my rental properties (though I did at my own house- which had trees fall through the roof twice since I’ve lived there).
I was more worried about the power being out again. Last time we had a storm knock the power out, mine was out for weeks. I came home to a horrible stink, tried my best to clear out the freezer without puking, threw out a couple thousand dollars worth of meat- but still couldn’t salvage the thing and had to buy a new one.
I lucked out this time. My own house made it through with minimal damage. Siding and gutters blown off and a few big limbs down in the yard (but thankfully not on my roof). I felt grateful. I walked around the block every day and it looked like at least a category 4 came through. There were trees down everywhere- BIG trees! People had stacked up huge piles of soaked sheetrock, carpet and ruined furniture along the side of the road. Only 2 houses down from me, a huge tree fell over from a neighbors yard onto their house. It must’ve been about 5 ft in diameter. One big old oak tree. I thought it was only sitting on the back part of the house, but a few days later there was a demolition crew there tearing down the entire house. Even the foundation is gone. All that’s left is their backyard shed. I hope their insurance paid.
My town, Lake Jackson, TX is a “tree city USA” and very proud of their beautiful trees. Beryl took out a lot of them. A friend of had one demolish their garage- took out a couple of their cool old cars. All over town the maintenance crews were out with backhoes and chainsaws for weeks. It was still going on when I left for work 6 weeks later.
I spent my entire time at home trying to deal with the damages to my rental properties. I felt so demoralized. Almost every single unit was damaged. I’ve spent so much time and money over the last few years working to get them in good shape to rent out. This was supposed to be my retirement. I finally had everything almost finished. Just one apartment needed a little bit more work- 2-3 days worth- and it would be ready to rent. Then we were going to paint a couple to make them look like new on the outside, I already had the paint and everything was ready to go.
Then came Beryl.
My manager didn’t want me freaking out while I was at work on the ship (and couldn’t do anything but worry) so she didn’t tell me everything about all the damage that had been done. When I got home, a lot of the major stuff had already been dealt with: 6 roof leaks, 27 blown out windows, 2 doors blown out, soffit and fascia blown off 1 building which caused the ceilings to collapse in the upstairs and downstairs apartments and also flooded the downstairs apartment. They told me the water was just pouring in, had a few inches of water on the floor!
My maintenance man had already fixed the roof, door and windows in one house and repaired the drywall and carpets that were ruined. He’d also fixed the roof leaks and drywall in another apartment, fixed most of the other blown out windows and doors, everything was fixed in the downstairs apartment.
When I got home, I think I pissed off my manager a bit since I insisted on getting the soffit/fascia repaired before anything else. We had more rain coming and without repairs, the rain would ruin all the work we just did in the downstairs apartment.
The woman who was “renting” that apartment (who had stopped paying rent before the storm came) was threatening my maintenance man every day to the point he didn’t want to work on that building anymore. She was also calling the city to complain about how I was such a “slumlord” every day. I had her apartment fixed only1-2 days after the storm, we had to prioritize. Lucky for her I wasn’t waiting on insurance like most people had to. Her actions slowed down our work quite a bit- for her and everyone else in that building.
Oh yeah, she also cut her ceiling back down after we fixed it so she could splice into the electric we were using to repair the upstairs apartment since she had stopped paying her electric bills and got cut off by the electric company. So she was blasting her AC 24/7 and threatening the maintenance man “don’t touch my electric” every time he tried to work on something in the maintenance room (she had cameras watching).
I also had another tenant who had a tree fall on her roof. I was told there was just minor damage, broke a window and some water got in that was causing mold to grow. She hadn’t been paying rent either, but my maintenance man had gone and fixed what he could for her a couple of times. She was moving out so when we went to take a look, we found the tree had done a lot more damage. Basically the entire back part of the house needs to be fixed and a window leak caused major damage in another room.
That’s the tree that fell on the roof, it basically destroyed that part of the house.
Another place I didn’t know was damaged except for a window and door turned out to have the entire ceiling come down in the kitchen and water damage practically everywhere.
SO. I’m back on the boat, waiting to hear back from the insurance agencies and my manager to hear what progress (if any) has been made. I knew rental property could be a hassle, but I really didn’t expect it to be this bad. I keep seeing stuff online about how landlords are just “evil”, out to just screw over the renters. Really? I don’t see it that way at all. I was a renter for decades and now I own rental property. I never felt that my landlords were screwing me, but I never rented a super top of the line place either. Maybe that would be different? My rents barely cover my expenses and so many tenants just screw me over- don’t pay rent, tear things up, etc. You really wouldn’t believe the conditions they leave. I wonder how in the hell anyone can live like that.
It’s pretty gross. I can tell you later. I have to get some sleep now…
We’re long gone from Alaska now. The Point Nemo left Dutch Harbor -our last port in Alaska- a few weeks ago- May 28 to be exact. This is really the first chance I’ve had to work on my computer. When the ship is constantly rolling around so much, it’s really too hard to concentrate on doing anything else but staying stable.
We had a nice break in Dutch Harbor. It took us about a week to get from Kodiak to Dutch Harbor and rough weather all the way. It was nice to spend a couple of days at the dock. We all got a chance to walk around town and relax a bit. Even the weather cooperated, it was actually pretty warm and sunny for most of our time there.
I really wanted to see the bears in Kodiak, but that will have to wait for another time. I did the next best thing and found Aleutian Life Tours to explore and learn more about Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Island and Alaska.
Lynda, one half of Aleutian Life Tours (her husband Dennis is the other half) was kind enough to meet me at our boat to start the day. She asked me more about what I was interested in and then took off around the ‘Spit’ to take a look at some of the fishing boats docked down there and see if there might be some sea lions hauled out on the rocks. I didn’t see any of those, but there were a lot of eagles waiting for scraps from the boats.
We took a ride around town to see the old radio station and the small boat harbor where more of the fishing fleet docks. Some of the famous boats from “Deadliest Catch” dock there. I got a few good pictures there. We saw a few sea otters drifting around, but too far away for me to get any decent shots of them.
WWII Radio StationDeadliest Catch
On the way back, we stopped at a place where Dennis’ family used to live. I love to explore old buildings and hear about the old days and it was really interesting to hear how people used to live here.
We rode up to a hilltop for a nice view of the town, overlooking the Russian Bishops house (1882) and the Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Lynda explained how the building was shipped up here in pieces and put together when it got here, too bad the bishop never got to see it completed. He fell overboard on the way to Alaska and so never got to live in his house. Luckily his body was recovered and was buried in the graveyard outside the Cathedral of the Holy Ascension.
Bishops House (1882)Lynda overlooking Dutch HarborCathedral
The town was small, but was very neat and clean. One small park had the most trees I’ve seen around these islands, they’re very uncommon around here due to the high winds. The school and community center looked like new and plenty big enough for the whole town to enjoy.
I really enjoyed hearing about the local history and Lynda told me stories about her family and how they’d been there for generations- about being evacuated during WWII and even about how they dealt with the Russians. She even knew where to find an eagles nest where we could see the mother eagle feeding her chicks. Amazing to watch…
Mama eagle with 3 eaglets, if you can zoom in you can see them (they’re grey)
It was time for me to get back to the boat after a really wonderful day of exploring the island. I highly recommend Lynda for anyone wanting to explore Dutch Harbor. Next time I might have to get Dennis to take me out in their boat to find those sea lions and get a better look at those otters. 😉
I haven’t had much work since the covid shots came out. Before that, things were finally starting to pick up from the last crash in oil prices and I was getting more work. I’ve had almost nothing since I was laid off late 2015.
Then, I just had to quarantine for weeks before I could join the ship. Locked up in a hotel room. Daily covid tests with a stick so far up your nose you’d think your brain was going to start leaking out. Cold food. Nothing to do but think about how things were so screwed up or distract oneself with mindless crap on TV. Well, at least I was getting paid. I had to consider myself lucky that I had an approved by the elites (“essential”) job.
No work for 5 years due to low oil prices and another 3 now of covid crap and I’m REALLY sick of it! Not that I’ve been physically sick for even 1 day since the covid crap started, but mentally? Yeah, that crap’s been doing a pretty good job of destroying my peace of mind, my daily sense of magnanimity, my outlook on society and life in general.
Lately things have been a little better. I finally got approved to teach again at San Jacinto Maritime College. I was teaching there part time before they had to shut down due to covid. I had to re-apply since it had been so long ago. I was ready to start with a couple of tankerman classes they had lined up for me when another job I’d been hoping for finally came through.
Of course I’d rather be out on a boat anytime than doing anything ashore, so I pissed off my boss at school and jumped at the chance to actually go somewhere other than the Gulf of Mexico for a change. So. Here I am now aboard the M/V Bluefin.
I left home at 0300 Sunday Jun 4 to fly to Kodiak, AK. I wish I was able to leave a couple of days earlier and do some exploring around town before joining the vessel, but I went straight to the boat- exhausted. They let me sleep late (amazing) and gave me the rundown Monday.
The Bluefin is an old fishing boat that’s been converted for research. We are chartered to NOAA to service their buoys all over the world. For this voyage, we are working the North Pacific Ocean. I joined in Kodiak, AK and will be getting off when we reach Yokahama, Japan. It took us about a week and a half to make our way here to Dutch Harbor from Kodiak.
We checked out about a half dozen buoys on the way. Also had to shelter for weather for a couple of days in Shearwater Bay (S side of Kodiak Island)- that’s where the bears were. One of the crew onboard- AB John- had a drone. He takes some amazing pictures (check out his Instagram). He sent his drone over to get some shots of the bears- they were too far away to see much more than big fur balls from the ship (that’s it in the background). Sadly, his drone ran out of juice on the way back to the ship and sank.
I was expecting the weather to be better- more like summer. It is the middle of June already. It’s nice that it doesn’t get dark til almost midnight, but so many days have been overcast, rainy, windy and rough. I’m really impressed with how well they’re able to work those buoys.
The Bluefin is technically a Dynamic Positioning vessel since it has a DP system onboard, but it’s not classed and they “never” use it. I rarely even notice them using the bow thruster. They tell me they usually only take an hour or so to work a buoy, but a couple of times so far we’ve spent 2-3 hours hanging on.
Yes, they literally hang on to the mooring of the buoy while the technicians are checking everything out. We can’t put any strain on the line, so have to maneuver the vessel so that we stay in position very close to where we picked up the buoy and put it on deck. So far, I haven’t had the chance to work a buoy. I’m on watch from 2330-0730 (fantastic watch schedules on here!), so I’ve mostly just been driving the boat. A couple of times they were still working the buoy but the mate wanted to finish the job rather than have me take over (when I’ve never run this boat before).
So we finished up our last one before our planned crew change in Dutch Harbor just in time to avoid another strong weather system. We arrived late afternoon on the 17th. The weather was beautiful. Sun shining and warm for a change- but I was sleeping. Saturday morning was cold and rainy again but I didn’t want to miss a chance to go ashore. I went to the grocery store with the cook and stocked up my stash of snacks- for some reason the owner doesn’t like to supply the boat with that kind of stuff (cereal, chips, sweets, etc) so we all bring our own favorites.
After shopping, we went for lunch at the Grand Aluetian Hotel. They had a really nice buffet. breakfast/lunch with all the usual- plus. Made to order omelettes, prime rib, ham, biscuits and sausage gravy, chicken breasts, baked halibut, pancakes, blueberry muffins, danish, bagels with cream cheese and lox, macaroni salad, potato salad, nice green salad with all the fixin’s, fruit tray (canteloupe, melon, pineapple, grapes, strawberries), smoked salmon, and a fantastic dessert table full of delicious sweets (chocolate layer cake, pecan pie, lemon meringue pie, cheesecake, brownie bites, petit fours, pudding, lemon bars, and more).
I went back again and again, pretty much stuffed myself. Needed those sweets like I need a hole in my head, but damn they were good! I spent about $50, but it was worth it (cost $49 plus tip). They have a seafood buffet on Wednesdays. Everyone says it’s amazing and “not to be missed”. That one costs $65 but I don’t think we’ll still be here by Wednesday.
Yesterday I got to go with the cook again. We went to the store again to check on some last minute grocery items. I found a couple of interesting books on Alaska and fishing (hopefully will review them here after I read them).
We drove around a bit, searching for a good lookout to get a few nice photos. We found the cultural museum (where I discovered my camera battery was dead)- it was closed- and the military museum– it was closed too. We spotted the ‘famous’ Russian onion domed church from afar, but it looked pretty far way so we skipped it. We found a real interesting old house of a former radio station and the ruins of an underground hospital. We never found a great lookout, conscious of other crew also wanting to get ashore and needing the van we were driving around in. We decided to check out the famous “rat bar” and then head back to the boat.
The Norwegian Rat is the best bar in Dutch (at least the only one we found). It sits right on the bay and has fantastic views of the beach and the boats sailing by. They have a huge fire pit outside and I can imagine how sweet that must be when it gets dark in the early afternoon. They had a pretty decent menu, it was hard to decide what I wanted. All kinds of burgers and sandwiches, chicken wings, spinach/artichoke dip, nachos, chili, gumbo, steaks, pizzas, etc. I finally decided on a pizza (pepperoni, mushroom and onion) and Derrick had chili (home-made) and nachos. The pizza was great and cheers from Derrick on the chili too.
Seems I’ll miss out on a lot of the things I was hoping to do here. The military (WWII) museum is closed for repairs and the Cultural museum was not open until Tuesday (today) from 11-16. I’m not sure if I’ll make it over to town again today. Still, I’m glad to be here at all and looking forward to Yokahama.
The muted wintry landscape sped by, shaded a weird blue hue by the vans tinted windows carrying us across the island to Bluff Cove. The browns of the tall withered grasses and deep greens of the heather lying close to the ground were broken up by weird rivers of broken rocks. This “stone run” landscape is unique to the Falkland Islands, caused by the erosion, thawing and freezing of the last ice age.
the landscape was so blue looking through the windows
this is more like it really looked
Bluff Cove Lagoon lies on the opposite side of the island from Stanley, about a half hour drive. Final approach to the farm passes over low rolling hills on a rutted dirt track to a wide spot where we traded in our vans for a fleet of 4 x 4’s (jeeps).
Speeding along in our jeeps, bouncing across sheep-shorn green grass and grinding through deep muddy ruts, we’re dropped off with a short speech at the rookeries near the beach. A flock of about 1000 gentoo penguins along with another 20 pairs of the kings we’d come to see were nesting there. Squeaking and preening, poaching rocks and tending eggs, they paid us no mind as we stood at the marked boundary and hustled for photos.
Along the edge of the lagoon, another 10-15 kings and their chicks- looking like fluffy brown puff balls- huddled in the steady cold wind. They paid no attention to us, but threatened the occasional goose that wandered to close to their chicks with their long sharp beaks.
It was wonderful to get so close to these wild birds. We were told not to approach closer than 5 m, but the birds apparently never got the memo. 🙂
It was a beautiful sunny day, but the wind was strong and it got so it was hard to hold my camera steady. With hundreds of penguin photos, I was ready for a hot drink. Picking my way through the fields littered with pellets of goose poop, I stopped at the top of the rise to take in the gorgeous seascape before me.
impossible to avoid the poop
The ocean was a dark teal color, with breakers shining electric blue as they rolled onto the blindingly white beach, the wind blowing streamers of spray and sand upon the few brave birds searching for food along the shore.
The Sea Cabbage Cafe beckoned with the smell of hot chocolate and baked goodies in the air. The small kitchen bustled with friendly chefs, all ready to suggest their favorites among the many options to choose from: lemon drizzle cake, Hattie’s famous carrot cake, scones with local Diddle Dee jam and farm fresh cream, chocolate chip, peanut butter and coconut lace cookies, chocolate cake and even gluten free varieties. Yum!
Maybe I should’ve spent less time with my cameras and more with the cookies? I didn’t even have a chance to check out the gift shop before it was time to head back to the vans. Next time, for sure. 🙂
Here’s my entry for Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Hot or Cold Things. I was very lucky this year to go on a trip to Antarctica. I’ve been dreaming of a trip like this for decades. I had a fantastic cruise on the MS Roald Amundsen with Hurtigruten cruises. Here are a few photos. It was definitely COLD! 😉
We were very lucky with the weather so far. It was very changeable, but most of the time so far was pretty nice. Sunny without much wind. This was our first real meeting with “authentic Antarctic weather” according to our captain.
The weather eventually got better and it was more enjoyable to hang around and watch these funny little guys. More on that later…
After a beautiful day at Orne Harbor, we woke up to a more ‘typical’ day for Antarctica. So far, we’d been lucky finding nice weather most of the time. It changed quickly tho. We picked up our hearty campers, then headed on to our next planned stop at Neko Harbor (Andvord Bay).
Campers got to spend the night at Orne Harborwe can just barely see the campers from the ship (far right in the photo)The end of the red line is Orne Harbor. Around the corner to the South is Neko Harbor at the bottom of Andvord Bay. At the bottom left corner is Port Lockroy.
On arrival, we were met with high winds, rough seas, snow and very cold. There was a lot of ice in the water and it kept moving around. The zodiacs would have a hard time shuttling us back and forth to shore. After checking it out, the captain decided that the weather was not going to allow us to go ashore as planned.
too much ice for the zodiacs!
Expedition cruising, even more than normal cruising, is dependent on weather and other local conditions. You need to be flexible. It’s best to have the attitude of looking forward to whatever the day may bring and forget about being upset about what you might’ve missed.
We sailed on towards Damoy Point and Port Lockroy where we were scheduled to go ashore to the historic site run by the British. It has a museum and the only post office on the continent of Antarctica.
you can just barely see Port Lockroy middle left of the photo, we could just barely see their people waving with the binocularsseals on the ice, taken from my cabin- I’m not sure if they’re weddel or crabeater seals
Sadly, the weather was still too bad for us to go ashore. I would’ve liked to send some postcards home with an Antarctica stamp. We did drive by and we all waved at each other. Brave people, to stand around outside in that kind of weather to wave at our ship.
On we went, to cruise through the Lemaire Channel. The weather was still pretty nasty for a little while. Howling winds, snow and cold! It felt like about 20 below, but I don’t think it was actually below 0 F. It was the wind that really made it feel cold.
The scenery was spectacular. We made our way through the channel filled with pancake ice, the sharp tips of the mountains peaking out of their coats of snow, glaciers calving off large chunks of ice into the passage alongside our ship.
The passage narrowed as the day went on. The wind died down, the snow stopped and the sun came out. I sat in the lounge with it’s wrap around floor to ceiling windows and just watched the world go by. Towards sunset (around 9 pm- it didn’t get dark until about 11), we passed through the narrows- only 1600 meters wide. The sound of the ice scraping along the hull of the ship was loud enough to be heard everywhere onboard.
In my room, I fell asleep to the low pitched background sound of the sea slushing along the side of the ship and occasional bang of a berg as we came out the South end of the Lemaire Channel to find our next adventure in the morning.
Anticipation was high, people were concerned. We were crossing the Drake Passage- the area where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet- between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands. It’s notorious for bad weather.
Winds and currents circle the entire globe, swells have thousands of miles of open ocean to build so they can grow to enormous heights. The Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties, and Screaming Sixties refer to these latitudes. Dozens of ships have been lost in the area. How would we fare onboard the MS Roald Amundsen?
Turns out we had nothing to worry about. We enjoyed crossing the Drake Lake. The winds were only about 20-25 knots and the seas 2-3 meters. It was lovely for this area and the season. I was actually hoping to see something of the famous nasty weather, but a few people were complaining of mal de mer so I guess we were lucky. I wouldn’t want to spend a couple of days with a shipload of seasick passengers.
view from my cabin
The ship’s crew had plenty of things prepared to keep us occupied for the time we would be at sea with no landings to look forward to. They always had interesting lectures and workshops for us to choose from. There was a nice stock of games and puzzles to play with. Or you could always choose to visit the sauna, the spa, the pool and jacuzzi, or chill out in a comfortable chair with a drink while watching the scenery pass by.
Some of the members of the expedition team were also scientists and encouraged us to participate in their studies. There was one that collected information about the clouds and weather, to compare with what was picked up by the satellites (observer.globe.gov). Another was gathering data on the birds we saw (www.ebird.org).
They had presentations in the ships science center where we could look through the microscopes (one was projected onto a large screen) to see the details of different kinds of ice, plants, krill, feathers, etc.
Krill
I enjoyed a couple of arts & crafts workshops. Watercolor painting one day and clay modeling another time.
My emperor penguin model
I joined a rotating group of ladies working on jigsaw puzzles in the Explorer lounge on the 10th deck where we always had a wonderful view out the starboard side. We had snacks and piano music there in the afternoons.
Our crossing was altogether uneventful. We had a couple of relaxing days to look forward to arriving in Antarctica and our first landing at Half Moon Island.
I found a new photo challenge in my reader tonight. It’s hosted by Frank at Dutch Goes the Photo. This week the topic is ‘crawl’.
I have a few that will fit the challenge…
I took this photo a while ago at Moody Gardens in Galveston. I used to have a membership and so went fairly often. I gave that up a couple of years ago when I got laid off….
I took this one at the Houston Zoo. They have a ‘bug house’ with a couple of dozen terrariums with different kinds of insects. I believe this one is called a ‘blue death feigning beetle’ which is native to Texas (though I haven’t seen any wild ones around here).
I took this one at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It’s a tarantula. Bigger than my hand (I’m estimating, I didn’t pick it up). I go there and to the zoo a lot when I get up to Houston. I have memberships to both so it doesn’t cost me anything. Both the museum and the zoo always have something new and interesting to see.
I went again last Friday night, hoping to spend a little while looking around the museum before the event I was going to (Biophilia). Sadly, they had the entire place blocked off so I just had to wait around, bored, for 45 minutes until they let us in to the exhibit. It was worth the wait.
The amazing creativity of the artist was incredible. The museum did a great job. They had a few tables set up where we could make our own art magnets, check out some of the insects they keep around downstairs, and talk to some of the docents. They also had free food (pulled pork sliders, chips, pecan breaded chicken skewers and cookies). Drinks were available too.
There was a pretty decent crowd, the tables were full of people eating before or after looking through all the beautiful artwork. I loved the bright colors and fantastic designs. I never would’ve thought to make something so beautiful out of a bunch of bugs. Even tho when you look at almost anything in nature close enough you can find beauty.
They’re having another event at the museum tomorrow, but even if you can’t make it the exhibit will be on display for a while. Don’t think you have to go only if you can go with someone from the museum. It’s definitely worth going if you like anything to do with art, nature, design.
I’m taking a break tomorrow. It’s not that I’ve been working (I wish that I was), but I’ve been busy catching up on all kinds of things around the house that I’ve been putting off for ages. It hasn’t been much fun, but I have slowly been getting a few things accomplished. Tomorrow I’m going to spend the day in Houston. First at the zoo and later at a members only event at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Here’s how the museum describes the event…
Spend an evening with HMNS and artist Christopher Marley for a look into Biophilia: A Dialogue with Art, Nature, and Science. Enjoy themed crafts, lite bites and cash bar and then dive into Marley’s world of nature and art with this multimedia and sensory experience in this exclusive meet and greet only for members. Reservations required, limited space available.
I’m usually interested in science and art and this sounds very interesting to me. I googled Christopher Marley and I have to say, I really liked what I saw! He combines natural items like bugs, shells, rocks, with design to make gorgeous colorful images. I’m amazed at how he shows off the beauty in so many of the common things we see around us every day. Like these bugs, for instance.
Isn’t that just gorgeous? It’s just a bunch of beetles! If I had a bunch of extra cash and some spare room on my walls, I would definitely go on a shopping spree!
Tomorrow night is for members only but next Wednesday (Feb 13) at 1830, the museum will have a lecture and tour where the director of the Cockrell Butterfly Center Erin Mills will introduce you to these inspiring works of art and the amazing animals that comprise and showcase their beautiful, yet functional, features. After the presentation you can check out the special exhibition. There will be ‘special guests’ from the butterfly center and insect zoo too. 🙂
If you get your tickets before Feb 6, they’re $16, after that they’ll be $20 (members get $6 off).
If you’re anywhere around the Houston area and you’re interested in art, it’s probably worth taking a look. The museum is worth spending some time there anyway.
I found another cool photography challenge in my WordPress reader. This one is by the Lens-Artists. They have a challenge every Saturday. The topic for this week is Landscapes.
I don’t usually take a whole lot of ‘landscape’ photos. If anything I take ‘seascapes’. I take more photos of ‘things’. Like animals, or plants, or flowers, or boats, or even people (tho I’m not real comfortable taking photos of people yet).
I recently took a long trip overseas. Part of it was a week long photo safari in Tanzania. The animals were amazing, but I have to admit I was equally impressed by the landscape. It was just so wide open. Miles and miles of nothing but the tall grass waving in the wind. Maybe a lone tree on the horizon. Or a herd of buffalo slowly making their way across a river.
I loved how everything seemed so wide open. There were so many miles of space with no sign of mankind (even tho of course we did see towns and villages full of people while passing through). The landscapes sometimes seemed empty, but if you looked harder there was always some sign of life. Maybe an ostrich popped up from under that lone tree. Or a lioness wandering by a herd of wildebeest, or a bird hiding in the grass or basking in a far off lake.
I don’t get to see so many wide open and interesting spaces around here. Even tho Texas probably has more of them than most. My neighborhood is on the wide coastal plains but full of homes, and businesses (mostly chemical plants).
I do have some wildlife around my house: raccoons, opossums, owls, squirrels, bats, rats, etc. We even see an occasional coyote around the beach. Somehow it’s not the same. Compared to the African landscape, the one around here is pretty boring. 😉
I was a little concerned about joining the ship last week. Hurricane Michael had just gone ashore while I was on the way to the heliport to fly out to work. I had been checking in with Marine Traffic on the internet to see where the ship was and how close it would be to the hurricane.
From what I saw when I checked Monday night after I got a call to go back to work, it looked like the hurricane would pass right over the top of the ship. I checked again Tuesday and it looked the same.
I find it hard to believe any ship would choose to sit still and let a hurricane pass right over the top of them but that was what it was telling me on the internet (and I knew they were supposed to be drilling a well).
So, I was wondering what I would be dealing with when I was flying out to work. It wasn’t until the pilots mentioned right before landing that the ship was underway, that I knew for sure that the ship had moved out of the way of the storm and was on the way back to her work location.
Turns out they ran about 100 miles to the West and only had about 50-60 mph winds and 20-25 foot seas. No worse than a bad Norther we usually get a few times every winter.
We’ve been back on location for a couple of days now and have just this morning moved back over the well head. We should be back on track in a couple of days. I’m hoping to be out here for another 2 weeks. I should know something for sure by tomorrow morning. 🙂
I’m interested to see what will happen in the morning. I (finally) got a call to go back to work on Monday. I flew out this afternoon after rushing around yesterday and this morning to get everything done I needed to do before leaving town. I’ve pretty much been on call for the last couple of years, so stay as ready as I can. Half way packed all the time, but I can never seem to get the groceries right and always wind up having to throw out a bunch of good food. I hate that!
Right now I’m at the hotel in New Orleans, waiting for the crew change van which will pick us up at 0400. The alarm is set for 0300. We’re supposed to be at the heliport at 0500 to fly out to the rig at 0600.
I can never sleep the night before crew change. It doesn’t matter how tired I am. I try to get some sleep and just toss and turn until about 1/2 hour before I have to get up. It doesn’t help that my usual bedtime when I’m home is midnight or later. It’s the same when I’m coming home from the ship. Can’t sleep until I get home and then I don’t want to do anything but sleep for 2-3 days!
I checked the location of the rig out of curiosity on Monday. While I was doing that, I checked the weather, just to see. Looks like the rig was pretty much directly in the path of hurricane Michael.
I’ve been checking up on both since then. Position of rig. Position of hurricane. Looks to me like the eye passed pretty damn close to the rig. I bet the DPOs had some pretty stressful watches for the last couple of days.
I’m really curious to hear how the ship rode it out. What kind of winds and seas were there on their location? What kind of footprint did they have? I’m assuming they were latched up since last time I was on there, they were going to start a new contract the first part of September. Normally, we don’t like to move more than a couple of meters. I’m wondering how much they moved around in the storm.
I was a little surprised they didn’t move out of the way of the storm’s predicted track. Then again, I think Michael came up fairly quickly. Might not have been enough time for them to shut everything down, unlatch from the well and move far enough away to make a difference. It looked to me like the worst of the storm passed a little to the East of them, good thing the storm followed along the expected track.
Michael has moved inland now, so weather offshore should be calming down. I drove up the beach to Galveston today (for a job fair at Texas A&M). Tide was very high and the waves were decent sized. All the surfers were out having a blast. That’s about the only time we get ‘decent’ surf- when there’s a hurricane in the Gulf.
I’ll be out for at least a week. Maybe longer (I hope so). I may or may not have enough internet access to blog, so if you don’t hear from me for a while that’s why.
Todays Just Jot It January prompt is: words that start with “oc”. I always found octopi to be extremely interesting creatures. I like to watch them at the zoo. They’re super smart and curious. There is a large variety around the world (about 300 species), from tiny little ones the size of your thumb to the giant pacific octopus, where one was measured at 30 ft across it’s arms!
Check out the video for a quick introduction to the octopi. 😉
I found a new photography challenge tonight (thanks to Cee for leading me to it). Nancy Merrill’s Photography blog is running the Photo a Week challenge. This week the challenge is to come up with a post using ‘crowd‘.
Here’s how it works:
Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
A ‘dazzle’ of zebras. I was very lucky to travel to Tanzania on a photography safari last year. The scenery, the amazing animals and the beautiful people we met made the trip unforgettable.
I wish I could go back. I’m doing what I can to save up for another trip to Africa. I don’t know when I’ll be able to go, but hoping by the end of the year.
Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “eco.” Find a word that starts with “eco” or has “eco” in it, and base your post on that word. Have fun!
I chose the word ‘ecocide’. It means the destruction of the natural environment (by human agency). With all the news about global warming- or climate change- lately, of course I’ve been thinking of it.
It’s always been in the back of my mind ever since I first became aware of it when I was just a little kid. Maybe 3rd-4th grade? Back then, the official scientific consensus was that we’d all be frozen into icebergs by now. They’ve changed their minds to the ‘global warming’ scenario now.
There has always been some debate between the optimists- who think human ingenuity will be able to solve all the problems brought upon ourselves by our insistence on breeding to the point of total destruction of the planet, and pessimists (like me) who think we will not.
It’s 40+ years later and I am still listening to the same basic arguments. The only difference is: now it’s global warming instead of global cooling. Or climate change to cover all the bases.
And, just to say it now… I am not a ‘climate change denier’. Of course the climate changes . It always has, it always will. I’m even willing to say that mankind most probably has had something to do with it. My problem with the ongoing debates at the moment has to do with the proposed solutions to the problems.
Of course, the ecocide has only progressed over those 40+ years. More pollution, more clear cutting, more soil erosion, more pollution in the air helping cause climate change, more ocean acidification, more habitat destruction for farms and houses, loss of biodiversity, and on and on and on.
Our leaders want to convince all of us to give up our high standard of living (which we get through the use of things like oil, chemicals, etc.), and bring about a ‘carbon neutral’ economy. Or even to reduce our use of energy so that we can ‘save the planet’.
I’m not totally sure what to say about that. I think there’s a much better solution than what ‘our leaders’ have come up with.
Of course I don’t want to see the destruction of planet Earth (even if I would love to see us out there exploring space and making ourselves a backup plan). I would love to see each and every person on this planet have the ability to live a good life!
Not one mired in poverty. Not one where they have to struggle every single day just to scrape up the bare necessities to exist, but a good life. One where they can work at what they enjoy, where they have plenty to eat and drink, one where they have time to enjoy the fruits of their labors.
I also want to see a planet where every other living thing has the ability to live without the threat of humanity’s greed destroying the habitat needed for survival. I want to see a planet with plenty of free space for nature. Room for all the plants, animals and humans to enjoy the natural world.
Not just for the fact that it’s healthy and good for people to be out in nature, not just for the possibility of all the things we’ve not yet discovered in the natural world that will help us live better, not just for the fact that the Earth is a cohesive, interconnected organism and we have no idea what we’re screwing up beyond repair with our human activities, but also because it’s morally, spiritually and even economically wrong to destroy so much of the world around us.
Why? Because we are so greedy.
I am NOT using that word in the way most people would. I see nothing wrong with people trying to live the best lives they possibly can. My issue is with the fact that so many people choose to have so many children (or don’t even consider not having them). Birth control? WTF? It’s like their only purpose in life is to breed. 🙁
I’m scolded for being a ‘selfish American’. One who was lucky enough to be born in the USA and so afforded a higher standard of living than most people around the world. I’m very lucky I don’t have to work my ass off for $1-2/day like so many do. But, where you’re born is mostly a matter of luck. I know I personally had nothing to do with where I was born!
What I ask people who ‘dis’ me for my ‘selfishness’ is: “and how many children do you have?” (or plan to have)?
Consider. Even if you only have one child, that child may chose to have only one, or they may have dozens. And each of those children may chose to have one, or dozens more. You have absolutely NO control over anyone but yourself in this matter.
And so, by my choosing to never have any children, I have already done more than my share in ‘saving the world’. I will spend the rest of my life being ‘selfish’ and enjoying the things I’ve earned the right to enjoy.
Don’t tell me not to use my air conditioner, or my car, or anything else! No, you don’t have a right to say diddly-squat about it until YOU stop having kids!
My solution to the problem of ‘climate change’ (and all the other problems) is to simply stop having so many kids!
Not forcibly, like China, but voluntarily. Spend some of the resources going on about global warming on convincing women around the world on the benefits of only having 1-2 children. Start promoting THAT as a way to save the planet instead of trying to convince everyone to give up on their hopes to live a decent life!
The optimists insist we can put up everyone on Earth in Alaska! That may be true, I don’t know. I do know that I don’t want to live in a world where 7 billion + people are living in Alaska! I do know that I don’t want to live in a world where we continue to commit ecocide simply so that we can fill it up with more and more people.
I can’t even understand WHY so many people think that’s the way to go. It saddens me, that we have so much beauty in this world and we are throwing it away. Why? Because we need to fill up the world with another few billion people? Why?
I had a real treat yesterday! I got to go to NOAAs research facility in Galveston and learn all about what they’re doing with the sea turtles there.
I only found out about this whole thing last week. I happened to Google ‘things to do in Galveston” and one of the things listed was a sea turtle tour. I had known about the turtles in the back of my mind, since I’ve known about the turtle patrol and the efforts to protect the turtles along our beaches.
When I heard of this tour, I thought it would be interesting, so I called and signed up.
They only have the tours on Thursdays, and you have to make an appointment beforehand. It’s free. 🙂
Apparently I got there a little late (tho not by my watch). The room was full and they were already discussing all sorts of things about the program. Tip: Arrive early!
The tours are put on by volunteers. Thursday’s presentation was led by the team of John and Lynn Wright- “master naturalists”. They did a great job of explaining the situation with sea turtles today and what NOAA is doing with them in Galveston.
They started with a slide show explaining the facts that there are 7 total species of sea turtles and 5 of them can be found in the Gulf of Mexico. Those include (from smallest to largest): Kemp’s ridley, Hawksbill, Loggerhead, Green and Leatherback.
They showed us how to tell what kind of turtle we see (if they have 4 ‘scutes’ they’re either green or hawksbill, if they have 5 they’re either Kemp’s ridley or loggerhead- leatherback doesn’t have any).
They described turtle life cycles and what kind of food they liked to eat. They showed some amazing movies of the arribada from the late 1950’s. Thousands of female sea turtles arriving on the Texas beaches.
Then they showed a slide telling the sad story of their decline since we’ve become more ‘advanced’. Decimating all 7 of the turtle species, by eating their eggs, catching them in nets while fishing for other species, killing them with our pollution (especially plastic), destroying their habitat…
They also mentioned a few things we can do to help protect the turtles. Mainly- reduce your use of resources, especially plastic. Dispose of trash properly. Reuse and recycle. Help clean up the beaches and waterways. Take care with your fishing gear. If you see a sea turtle, its tracks or nest on the beach call 1-866-TURTLE-5
I learned yesterday that the Kemp’s ridley has been designated the official state sea turtle of Texas. The Wrights informed us that in 1985 there were 400 nests after a large drop in numbers, in 2017 there were 353. They found 3 right here in Surfside (and 1 on Quintana)! They said there’s been some recovery. I hope so.
After the slide show, the Wrights led us over to the turtle barn where we could see all the little turtles. First, we got a chance to see how a TED (turtle excluder device) works. The kids were happy to run through the net and escape- acting as surrogate sea turtles. 😉
NOAA has kind of a conflict of interest here. They are supposed to help the fishermen, and they are supposed to help the sea turtles. They are doing a lot of studies to try and come up with answers to solve many issues surrounding our ocean resources.
One of those studies is to do with testing TEDs. The objective is to find a way to increase the survival rates of any sea turtles (and other by catch) that get caught up in a shrimp boats net. The turtles in the turtle barn are all about 1.5 years old. They’re raised in Galveston til they get to be about 2. Then they are sent over to Florida for the tests.
They’re placed in larger tanks and allowed a few weeks/months to acclimatize themselves. Then they’re taken out to sea and working with a team of shrimpers, divers, and scientists the turtles are run through the nets, out the TEDs and collected again afterwards. After the turtle finishes its run through the TED, it’s released to the wild. The scientists will use the data to refine the TEDs and other fishing gear.
The barn was full of turtles (hawksbills), at least a few dozen, all about 1-2 ft long. They swam around in small plastic containers set inside larger tanks of filtered seawater. We were warned not to touch the turtles or put our hands in the water (it’s a ‘federal offense’). If something fell in the water, they would have to drain the whole tank and replace the water due to concerns about contamination. 🙁
I felt kind of sad for all those little turtles, swimming around in their tiny little tanks, but they told us that if they were all allowed to swim together they would fight and/or eat each other. They said the turtles didn’t notice or care that they were stuck in such small containers, they would circle around forever and never know the difference. I suppose, but I still felt bad for them. 🙁
I also wondered why they weren’t raising more turtles- in a breeding program. Like they did with the whooping cranes down in Port Aransas. I’d hate to see the turtles go extinct. With only 353 nests (of Kemp’s ridleys) on the Texas beaches last year it wouldn’t take much to wipe them out. I asked John about it. He said in Texas the focus was on finding nests and moving them to Padre Island which was safer for them and where they’d be released to return later. There were other programs around the world that raised the turtles for a higher survival rate on release.
I recommend the turtle tour for anyone interested in marine science or sea turtles. The Wrights were very knowledgeable and great with answering any and all questions. Hopefully the research done there at NOAA will help more sea turtles survive (and also help the fishermen with better results and less bycatch). I’d love to see more turtles out at sea and maybe even find a nest on the beach one day. It would be fantastic to see an arribada like the one in the film they showed us. Let’s hope we can make that happen. 🙂
This looks like the video they showed, but there was no sound and they said the video was taken in Texas. This video is from Mexico it might be a different one. I found it on youtube.
PS- This is my Just Jot it January post for today. 😉 Today’s prompt is: memories. Well, they’re only a day or so old, but I think they count. 🙂
…It snowed here yesterday! WOW! I had the air conditioner on the other day, since the temperatures were up in the 80’s. Yesterday I woke up to snow.
It hardly ever snows here. I think the last time was in 2004. I got up fairly late this morning, around 1100 and was surprised to see snow all over my hedges outside my front windows. It was all over my windshield too. I had to brush it off when I left for Houston yesterday.
I did learn not to throw hot water on it the first time I had to deal with ice and snow here in Texas. I cracked the hell out of the windshield of my old el camino. What a waste of a beautiful car. I couldn’t afford to replace the windshield, so couldn’t get it to pass inspection, so eventually wound up buying this F-150 I have now.
That was in 1997. So, looks like we get snow here about every 10 years average (3 times in 30 years).
We’re not used to this kind of cold weather here. I know I’m not and I’m more cold- blooded than most people I know here. I will have to get used to it quick tho, I am supposed to ship out next week. Heading across the Atlantic Ocean to Northern Europe. I’m sure it’s going to be much colder for much longer than it will be here.
More flowers for Cee. Today’s flower is azalea. Join in and post your flower photos and let’s make a beautiful online garden. It’s cooler but very dreary weather here, so nice to look at everyone’s pretty flowers.
I took these photos at the Houston zoo the last time I went. They were blooming like crazy. So beautiful. 🙂
I’m not really sure what kind of flower this is. All I know is I really love the photo. 😉
Cee has another floral photo challenge to join in on. This time she’s looking for orange ones. Here’s what she has to say…
I decided for the month of October I’m going to be posting flowers that have some sort of orange in them. Remember you don’t have to have an orange flower to join in the fun.
So, let me know what you think of my flower. Be sure to comment if you know what kind it is. I’m guessing some kind of ginger. Why not join in and post some flowers of your own. Just click the link to Cee’s blog.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is to post something using a word that starts with ‘C’ that is at least 4 letters long. My entry is: chameleon.
I’ve always loved watching these little guys creep around. They move with such purpose, their eyes swiveling around in different directions. All the sudden they whip out their long sticky tongue . If they’re lucky, they’ve caught a nice big bug for a snack. Quite the little hunters, these chameleons.
They’re also quite the change artist. The colors they can recreate are amazing. They can match pretty much any color you put them on and they’ll do it quick too. They’re really entertaining little lizards. 🙂
I’m heading out to work early in the morning. I have a 2 AM wakeup call so I can meet the bus that will get us to the dock by 5 AM. That’s where we’ll hop on the crew boat to take us out to the rig I’ll be working on for the next 6 weeks.
I was so excited to finally be going back offshore for a halfway decent hitch. Six weeks sailing as DPO will do wonders for my mindset (and my bank account). All was going well (with just a few minor annoyances) until I happened to hear about Harvey.
At the moment, it’s just a tropical depression. Hanging out just to the North of the Yucatan Peninsula. Predictions are for it to strengthen over the next couple of days. Even becoming a hurricane by landfall (Friday).
Of course, no one can ever predict what a tropical storm or hurricane will do with 100% certainty, but it has me worried about my property. I’m even a little skittish about my own self going out to join this vessel that I really have no idea about.
I’ve never sailed on anything like it before. For one thing, it’s round. Here’s a picture I got off the internet.
But it is a semisubmersible dynamically positioned drilling rig and I’ve worked on plenty of those. I hope the ballast system isn’t as convoluted as the last one I worked on. 🙁
I assume it’s much bigger than it looks in that photo. According to the specs, she’s 100 m diameter. Built in 2013, so shouldn’t be in too bad of shape (unless she’s been stacked for a while). I haven’t found anything yet about her contract status. Hopefully they found a decent contract and she’ll be working for a while.
It’s been way too long of a dry spell for so many of us out here. Let’s hope things are finally starting to turn around. 🙂
If you don’t hear from me in a while, it’s just because I might not have much internet access or time at work to get online. I’ll be back when I can. Hope you’ll stick around. 🙂
Another weeks worth of maritime matters, courtesy of Monkey Fist and gCaptain. The story of the North Sea Sat divers was really interesting. I thought so, maybe because I work fairly often with those guys (sat divers). I just got off a job a couple of weeks ago with a bunch of them.
Interesting thoughts on snacking. I’m not a fan of oysters (too ‘slimy’ for me). I don’t think I would like the jellyfish chips either (tho I bet my Korean crews from the tuna boat would love them). 😉
I’d be more in favor of the bags of Doritos, beer and whiskey. That’s much more my style.
And I really wish I had known about this (Denizler Kitabevi Bookshop in Istanbul) bookstore when I would’ve been able to check it out! I probably walked right by it. 🙁
Hope you enjoy this weeks collection…
Pioneer North Sea Divers: In the 1970s, deep sea divers were at the sharp end of the North Sea oil boom. Alex Last has been speaking to the former diver David Beckett, who wrote The Loonliness of a Deep Sea Diver, about his dangerous life working under the waves. More on BBC World Service Brewing […]
Looks like another week of interesting maritime news courtesy of Monkey Fist and gCaptain. I haven’t been able to read it all due to lack of decent internet access out here on the boat this week. I can’t complain. I’m SO happy to have work- finally! Even if it’s only for a week or 2.
I hope you enjoy the news. Please comment with your favorites. Let me know what you liked and why. It should make for some good discussions later on. 🙂
Viking longboats on the Thames Oscar Adolf Wisting (6 June 1871 – 5 December 1936) was a Norwegian Naval officer and polar explorer. Together with Roald Amundsen he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. In later years Oscar Wisting was an active force behind the preparations and building of […]
Here’s my entry for Jennifer’s One Word Photo Challenge: Giraffe.
Last November I went on a photography safari in Tanzania where I took these photos. It was fantastic! I went on safari with Great Escape Publishing, they’re great at running their trips. I always have fun and learn a lot while I’m at it. I can’t wait to go again!
Another interesting week of maritime matters courtesy of Monkey Fist and gCaptain. My favorites this week are the gorgeous photos of the whales, the octopus video and the story on the USS Liberty. I went to a presentation given by one of the last survivors of that attack a couple of months ago. A friend bought me the book but I haven’t had the chance to read it yet. I’m no fan of the NSA (to put it mildly), nor do I support our involvement in most wars we’ve inserted ourselves into, but it’s an amazing (and eye-opening) story…
Fifty Years Later, NSA Keeps Details of Israel’s USS Liberty Attack Secret On June 8, 1967, an Israeli torpedo tore through the side of the unarmed American naval vessel USS Liberty, approximately a dozen miles off the Sinai coast. The ship, whose crew was under command of the National Security Agency, was intercepting communications at […]
I was at work last week (finally!) and while taking a break I was watching the fish swimming around the ship. It was a beautiful calm clear day, one of the few like that I saw in the month I was offshore. It was entrancing watching the fish swim around.
They mostly moved together, it looked like some sort of order. Was there a boss fish leading them all around? If there was, I sure couldn’t tell which one it was. They all just seemed to be meandering around, then all of a sudden they would change direction. All together. Weird. Spontaneous order.
I know some people don’t believe in such a thing (especially when it comes to human society). I see it all the time.
There have actually been studies done on how fish school together like that. On birds too.
The science behind it is pretty interesting, but I think just watching is cool. Too bad we seem to have lost the ability to just sit and observe nature. That’s one of the things I love the most about working at sea. I haven’t even been home a week and I’m already missing it.
Check out more on “order” from the Daily Post here.
Sorry I’ve been away from the computer for so long. I finally got a little bit of work. Not nearly enough, but even those short couple of weeks will keep me going for another couple of months! I wish they had decent internet aboard, but can’t be picky about work at this point!
I got in late Saturday night, it’s taken me this long to catch up a little bit and start to interact with the world again. I got my dose of Maritime Monday yesterday and felt like it’s worth passing on. There’s a cool story about Singapore and the latest cool project over there. Be sure to check out the interesting pottery by Florida sculptor Mitchell Grafton. I really like what I’ve seen of his work so far.
As if there weren’t enough to worry about, Singapore is being invaded by giant crocheted sea urchins. >> via Trevor Corson, author of the books “The Secret Life of Lobsters” and “The Story of Sushi.” –TrevorCorson.com National Ocean Service – Looking for a getaway for a few minutes during your work day? Check out our […]
I had meant to create a series of posts for “Wild Wednesday” since I first started my blog. I’m not sure why, but I never have managed to make very many posts. There are so many interesting sea creatures out there, and so much we don’t know about them. I’d like to make this a regular feature and share more about them. 🙂
Let me know how you like the idea.
This is the first time researchers caught the creatures locked in a vicious fight in the wild
