dodgey

I slept a bit, listening to my music on headphones. Now I feel pretty good. The seas are no longer 6-8' with the occasional 12' wave (according to George). I find out that everyone (maybe other than the captain, and Cyrus - who took a pill earlier) is feeling a bit green around the gills. After having my second d-m, and my nap, I've actually got an appetite. Since the cook's down, I followed Anthony’s lead and fixed a ham-and-cheese bagel, followed by really tasty chocolate cake (left over from the last crew. There was a very fast turnaround for the ship, and the crew --except for Anthony, was changed over).

Not sure if he was kidding, but we may be up for some more waves like that tonight. hmm.

Right now, we're still heading into a harbor just inside Katmai so that we can tie down our huts. They had to be shored up earlier (while I was passed out). We were going to be past Katmai early this morning, but had to go into the waves. That took us up to Augustine (and not in the direction we wanted to go).

The first photo shows Josh (the deckhand) with the huts in the background, trying to make their way out to sea... The second photo shows the harbor where we nipped-and-tucked the huts.

..and so have the plates

I took Dramamine very shortly after last post. Just took a second one. Ugh. We're rocking and rolling, and the deckhand looks greener than even I feel. We're heading toward 4 peaks to take a little refuge and to adjust the huts, which are sliding around on the helipad. The kitchen's got broken plates, and the forward head is clogged. Not exactly planning on breaking into the beer that I brought along. :)

During the night, we didn't get very far at all. The waves had piled up against the inlet something feirce, so we resigned to running in directions other than west.

Starting the music player, and lying down.

Morning has broken

Well, I could talk more abut the loading process, but I really don't want to. I'm pretty proud I haven't had to use the Dramamine yet. Although there’s pretty sky this morning, we're being tossed around pretty well. Every few seconds I'm pressed deep into my bunk only to be invariably followed by weightlessness. Back and forth isn't too bad, but the side to side threaten to throw me from the bunk. I'm typing with one hand 'cause the other is bracing me. I didn't sleep too badly, but I'd be surprised if I'm not terribly sore form holding on for life. Can't continue typing... making me nauseous.

From Homer, heading west

Bobbing. We're finally under weigh. I suppose we left the dock maybe around 9:15 or so... just in time for the beautiful sunset. Our Captain's name is George, Deck Hand is Josh, The cook is Mike, the Mechanic is Jerry, and the helicopter mechanic is Anthony. I'm currently in my stateroom; a tiny room with three bunks, and barely enough room for me to turn over in bed.

Today, lunch happened at 6pm at something Olive's (or was it olive something?) (a fantastic restaurant). I also met Cyrus, who is a neat guy that works with AVO in Anchorage, and will also be travelling the length of the aleutian chain with me.

Oh, and here's a shot of the Maritime Maid, my home for the next 5 + weeks...

Starting the Western Aleutian Adventure

** This is the first post of a long series of log-entries from my trip to the Western Aleutians. The plan was to go set up seismic stations on Little Sitkin and Semisopochnoi. **

I'm now onboard a 737 heading to anchorage. Fairbanks was in fog, and looked beautiful, as Chena ridge peeked out over the Tanana valley. Shortly after takeoff, we passed through A second layer of clouds, a thin yet opaque veil that obscured the details below. I'm excited. Within 3 hours, I'll be in Homer, and starting my trip to all points west. I'll even be on the other side of the date-line, though I'm unsure that Alaska celebrates its true position in the world.

Security was tight, and I raced a bunch of firefighters for the pleasure of having my bags thoroughly searched. I think it took the lady, at a diligent pace, mind you-- a half hour to get through my backpack and computer case.

My baggage became the equivalent of one of those dolls that teaches you how to work zippers and laces, and such. I've had only one hour of sleep last night, as I tried frantically to get my abstract together for the Ecuador trip in Jan. Unfortunately, I didn't really come up with anything exciting. I burned a CD for Steve, but *ack* it ended up just sitting on my table at home.