During the transit...


A packed house for the finals of the ping pong tournament.
Luan Nguyen squares off against Tim Kane.
Following the successful completion of our program, we are transiting ~3000 km to port in Kodiak, Alaska.   This trip took us back across the date line and along the Aleutian Islands and Alaska Peninsula, where we were treated to glimpses of distant, rugged mountains shrouded in clouds. Our newly collected data has kept us very busy. The long trip enabled us to complete onboard processing of seismic and bathymetric data, discuss initial observations from the data and share our preliminary results with the rest of the Langseth’s crew.  We are seeing all kinds of interesting and unexpected things in the data.  We may even get close to completing the cruise report before we come into port, which would a minor miracle.

Mei Liu and her model OBS
But the transit has also given us a chance for some recreation now that our main data collection duties are finished.  The frequency and intensity of bridge games and dance lessons has picked up.  Some of the science party are learning Chinese. We’re designing a cruise t-shirt.  Some other impressive, recreational projects are underway, including the construction of a miniature model of an OBS using spare OBS parts.  And – we’re having a ping pong tournament.  You might not think that ping pong would be the best game to play at sea.  The ship is rolling, a non-standard table in a cramped space is normally used, and there are a zillion places for a ping pong ball to get lost. However, it is the classic sport aboard ships!  After a week of intense competition, the finals took place tonight.  The match pitted Tim Kane (WHOI), reigning champion from our previous cruise, against newcomer Luan Nguyen (Rice).  It was a hard fought and close match, and Luan was ultimately victorious.   Now that the ping pong tournament is finished, I guess we are ready to come into port.  We should arrive tomorrow afternoon!

Donna Shillington
LDEO

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