Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Holey Mackrel
I walked outside to find a 71" halibut sitting on the deck. Apparently, Max finally caught a fish worth talking about. I'm looking forward to fresh fish for the next few days... (it came in at 179 lbs according to the chart)
Lucy, I'm HO-ome.
3:30 PM 9/21/2005 - Wednesday
Bill has arrived, back from Adak. His precious cargo: 4-5 day old newspapers, a replacement GPS receiver, and --most importantly -- a replacement pump.
Within moments of his arrival, Jerry was down the hatch replacing the water pump while the rest of us were scavenging newspapers. Gloom. Doom. Sigh. I'm not entirely sure why I was eager to get my hands on the news. The only good thing I read was that the auroras have been fantastic. Not that I've been able to see any from here, especially with the cloud cover we've almost always got.
Today has been rainy and windy. Ed has gone up on the hill with Cy and John. They even brought Josh along to help.
Bill has arrived, back from Adak. His precious cargo: 4-5 day old newspapers, a replacement GPS receiver, and --most importantly -- a replacement pump.
Within moments of his arrival, Jerry was down the hatch replacing the water pump while the rest of us were scavenging newspapers. Gloom. Doom. Sigh. I'm not entirely sure why I was eager to get my hands on the news. The only good thing I read was that the auroras have been fantastic. Not that I've been able to see any from here, especially with the cloud cover we've almost always got.
Today has been rainy and windy. Ed has gone up on the hill with Cy and John. They even brought Josh along to help.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
The score
7:44 AM 9/20/2005 - Tuesday
We've been rolling around a little overnight. The door to our stateroom wasn't closed completely, so it's been softly slamming every minute or less. I finally got up to close it, and now am up. I've gotten a lot of sleep yesterday, with the Dramamine knocking me out cold for three hours or so.
Yesterday, we must have played 4 games of scrabble, and --surprisingly-- no backgammon. The scoring is taking place under the pseudonyms which are becoming a little more commonly used. At least it's easier to differentiate "Antonio" from Cyrus than "Celso" from "Cyrus"... Whenever we're on the radio, and a call comes in for me, the name usually uttered first is Cyrus. After no response, an additional, corrected call, comes in for Me. We have several celebrity mags on board, and peruse them for stories on each other.
Recap of names:
Bill Springer -Harrison Ford
Celso Reyes - Antonio Banderas
Guy Tytgat - Steve Martin
Jessica Larson - Demi Moore (pronounced Deh-MI')
John Paskievitch - George Clooney (called Clooney, so as to not to confuse with the Skipper)
Michelle Coombs - Sandra Bullock
Tina Neal- Holly Hunter
When playing scrabble with this rabble, you've got to really keep a close eye on Clooney—I won't say publiclyhat he cheats, but -- at the minimum-- he tries to get by with 40% bluffing. Sandy is a word-master.
Some observations about the helicopter operations. I pretty much have been taking the helicopter for granted. No longer am I oohing and ahhing about working with the helicopter like I did in Okmok. However, when you think about it, it is still intense: flying from a bobbing ship.
Every time the helicopter lands onboard, Anthony has to rush out and attach a ratchet-strap-ring to the helicopter's hook. Josh, then cranks down on it to secure it to the boat. Whenever the helicopter takes off, it has to be just about ready to launch before Bill releases the hook.
When airlifting stuff off of the boat, Anthony gets under the helicopter *as it is hovering* and attaches the load underneath it: there is no room for the helicopter to land with the load also on the landing pad. And when the helicopter is swing loading stuff TO the ship, well... There's wind; the ship is bobbing, and there's not an insignificant mast not terribly far from the helipad. When the load is finally dropped on board, then people scramble to secure it before it slides off the helipad.
On land, these operations are much simpler. the helicopter would land near the load, and then the cable would be attached. Dropping the load involves only adjusting for the wind.
I'm still having trouble with working the silly door on the helicopter. It always takes me a while to get the thing shut.
We've been rolling around a little overnight. The door to our stateroom wasn't closed completely, so it's been softly slamming every minute or less. I finally got up to close it, and now am up. I've gotten a lot of sleep yesterday, with the Dramamine knocking me out cold for three hours or so.
Yesterday, we must have played 4 games of scrabble, and --surprisingly-- no backgammon. The scoring is taking place under the pseudonyms which are becoming a little more commonly used. At least it's easier to differentiate "Antonio" from Cyrus than "Celso" from "Cyrus"... Whenever we're on the radio, and a call comes in for me, the name usually uttered first is Cyrus. After no response, an additional, corrected call, comes in for Me. We have several celebrity mags on board, and peruse them for stories on each other.
Recap of names:
Bill Springer -Harrison Ford
Celso Reyes - Antonio Banderas
Guy Tytgat - Steve Martin
Jessica Larson - Demi Moore (pronounced Deh-MI')
John Paskievitch - George Clooney (called Clooney, so as to not to confuse with the Skipper)
Michelle Coombs - Sandra Bullock
Tina Neal- Holly Hunter
When playing scrabble with this rabble, you've got to really keep a close eye on Clooney—I won't say publiclyhat he cheats, but -- at the minimum-- he tries to get by with 40% bluffing. Sandy is a word-master.
Some observations about the helicopter operations. I pretty much have been taking the helicopter for granted. No longer am I oohing and ahhing about working with the helicopter like I did in Okmok. However, when you think about it, it is still intense: flying from a bobbing ship.
Every time the helicopter lands onboard, Anthony has to rush out and attach a ratchet-strap-ring to the helicopter's hook. Josh, then cranks down on it to secure it to the boat. Whenever the helicopter takes off, it has to be just about ready to launch before Bill releases the hook.
When airlifting stuff off of the boat, Anthony gets under the helicopter *as it is hovering* and attaches the load underneath it: there is no room for the helicopter to land with the load also on the landing pad. And when the helicopter is swing loading stuff TO the ship, well... There's wind; the ship is bobbing, and there's not an insignificant mast not terribly far from the helipad. When the load is finally dropped on board, then people scramble to secure it before it slides off the helipad.
On land, these operations are much simpler. the helicopter would land near the load, and then the cable would be attached. Dropping the load involves only adjusting for the wind.
I'm still having trouble with working the silly door on the helicopter. It always takes me a while to get the thing shut.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Disappointment
4:06 PM 9/19/2005
What an anticlimax. I can't complain, but the crossing was as smooth as anyone could hope for. While this was great on the stomach, it leaves you with questions... Could we have stayed longer? Would we have been in danger where we were? Will we be able to get back to the island to finish our job?
The general mood here is disappointment; disappointment at not being able to finish installing stations and disappointment with not getting as much geology done as may have been possible. I, for one, am also disappointed that I've wasted a Dramamine and am therefore in a somewhat drugged stupor.
So, here we are in Amchitka's Constantine harbor. Again. The helicopter should return sometime today /tomorrow with the part we need for repairing the fresh-water maker. (My very last item on the agenda before we left the last harbor was to *finally* take a shower. It'd been a little more than a week since we had news that it was broken, and that we were going on water restrictions.
I can't wait to do laundry!
What an anticlimax. I can't complain, but the crossing was as smooth as anyone could hope for. While this was great on the stomach, it leaves you with questions... Could we have stayed longer? Would we have been in danger where we were? Will we be able to get back to the island to finish our job?
The general mood here is disappointment; disappointment at not being able to finish installing stations and disappointment with not getting as much geology done as may have been possible. I, for one, am also disappointed that I've wasted a Dramamine and am therefore in a somewhat drugged stupor.
So, here we are in Amchitka's Constantine harbor. Again. The helicopter should return sometime today /tomorrow with the part we need for repairing the fresh-water maker. (My very last item on the agenda before we left the last harbor was to *finally* take a shower. It'd been a little more than a week since we had news that it was broken, and that we were going on water restrictions.
I can't wait to do laundry!
It's just another Monday
10:28 AM 9/19/2005 - Monday
"I'm going to start throwing up now, and beat the rush" - Ed
Well, Tuman was fogged in, and the weather we were going to avoid has started to creep around to our little island paradise. The boat, still at anchor, has swung around with the wind and is now facing the mouth of our bight. That doesn't bode too well, since with the wind comes the waves.
This morning, (A second red-sky morning), found the boat rocking a little more than usual from side to side. The plan? Drop the geologists off on the far side of the island, get a weather report for CETU, and then create two stations... hopefully before 1 or so.
Well, now it's not even eleven... the beach has been cleaned up, with everything being left here that was required. Everything else has been picked up, except (as of this typing) the geologists. The hatches are all being battened down, and the ship is being made wave-worthy again. Forecast is for winds out of the south, turning to 35 - 40 tonight.... waves in the 10' range. We'll be running against the wind, which means we'll be battered about a bit.
"I'm going to start throwing up now, and beat the rush" - Ed
Well, Tuman was fogged in, and the weather we were going to avoid has started to creep around to our little island paradise. The boat, still at anchor, has swung around with the wind and is now facing the mouth of our bight. That doesn't bode too well, since with the wind comes the waves.
This morning, (A second red-sky morning), found the boat rocking a little more than usual from side to side. The plan? Drop the geologists off on the far side of the island, get a weather report for CETU, and then create two stations... hopefully before 1 or so.
Well, now it's not even eleven... the beach has been cleaned up, with everything being left here that was required. Everything else has been picked up, except (as of this typing) the geologists. The hatches are all being battened down, and the ship is being made wave-worthy again. Forecast is for winds out of the south, turning to 35 - 40 tonight.... waves in the 10' range. We'll be running against the wind, which means we'll be battered about a bit.
Shore leave
Sometime around 1pm yesterday (today) I was picked up to fly with Guy to Tuman Head, where we were going to set up the repeater site. However, it was totally in the fog, so no-go. We did fly counterclockwise around the perimeter of this island, though and saw what looked like town sites (no photos), and a crashed WWII bomber. Anvil peak was out and clear, and the shoreline around the island is beautiful. The large boulders must give the island a reefish appearance. Supposedly there's a sea lion pull-out, also.... though I didn't see any.
We ended up at CERB and dropped off guy. My help wasn't really needed, so Bill let me off by the cache. I grabbed my lunch and waded through very heavy tussocks towards the beach. By very heavy, I mean knee-high tussocks with grass to the waist. Absolutely terrible walking.
The waves were breaking beautifully along shore, so I just sort of sat there and watched them for a while. Gull prints were everywhere, but overall life appeared scarce. The only shell I found was a single limpet. There was also a single dead fish. But all else was black-sand. I was very entertained by watching the waves rework and smooth out the sandy beach, erasing gull prints and leaving a fine rim at the edge of its length.
Guy worked a little more on CERB with Max and Ed, while Cyrus and John finished CESW. The location fogged out, so they ended up staying there a while. I could tell that bill was getting tired of running about like an errand-boy with the helicopter... no, today wasn't all that much more organized than yesterday...
Tomorrow, I think I'm going out with Guy to finish CERB and /or install CETU. Ed & Max will install the broken ridge site, maybe. After those two are done, we've got it all...
Tina found a warm-spring today, and will be hopefully taking measurements (and maybe a dip? doubtful) tomorrow. The evening's meal was spaghetti, Scrabble was cutthroat with a very narrow score, and Cyrus is continuing his winning steak at Backgammon. Now, he's only down by 4 games. The movie was It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad world, which Max seems to like as much as I do...
Practical jokes are being played a little more frequently, now. People were messing with Max's line as he was fishing, making him think he'd caught one. Josh crumpled crackers into Anthony's gloves, and apparently the duo did something or other to the chief.
Possibly, John and Cyrus will be flying back to Amchitka tomorrow. Also, tomorrow, I'm taking a shower; ready or not.
G'night.
We ended up at CERB and dropped off guy. My help wasn't really needed, so Bill let me off by the cache. I grabbed my lunch and waded through very heavy tussocks towards the beach. By very heavy, I mean knee-high tussocks with grass to the waist. Absolutely terrible walking.
I poked around beachside for a couple hours. There were several gulls that hung out nearby-- they didn't even bother me for scraps of lunch! Plenty of driftwood, and bits of rope that washed ashore. It's always fascinating how mankind's junk can arrive absolutely everywhere; There's not an Island in the Aleutians that doesn't have buoys or plastic garbage of one sort or another.
The waves were breaking beautifully along shore, so I just sort of sat there and watched them for a while. Gull prints were everywhere, but overall life appeared scarce. The only shell I found was a single limpet. There was also a single dead fish. But all else was black-sand. I was very entertained by watching the waves rework and smooth out the sandy beach, erasing gull prints and leaving a fine rim at the edge of its length.
Guy worked a little more on CERB with Max and Ed, while Cyrus and John finished CESW. The location fogged out, so they ended up staying there a while. I could tell that bill was getting tired of running about like an errand-boy with the helicopter... no, today wasn't all that much more organized than yesterday...
Tomorrow, I think I'm going out with Guy to finish CERB and /or install CETU. Ed & Max will install the broken ridge site, maybe. After those two are done, we've got it all...
Tina found a warm-spring today, and will be hopefully taking measurements (and maybe a dip? doubtful) tomorrow. The evening's meal was spaghetti, Scrabble was cutthroat with a very narrow score, and Cyrus is continuing his winning steak at Backgammon. Now, he's only down by 4 games. The movie was It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad world, which Max seems to like as much as I do...
Practical jokes are being played a little more frequently, now. People were messing with Max's line as he was fishing, making him think he'd caught one. Josh crumpled crackers into Anthony's gloves, and apparently the duo did something or other to the chief.
Possibly, John and Cyrus will be flying back to Amchitka tomorrow. Also, tomorrow, I'm taking a shower; ready or not.
G'night.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
The Red-headed stepchild
That's what I'm being called today. There's a lot of movement out and about in the caldera, but I'm just sitting here waiting. Forgotten.
Well, not really... Max and Ed went to shore to inventory, and set up a different gig. John is off finishing our site (CEPR). Guy and Cyrus are out finishing CERB. If CESW opens up, then I'll be out there with John. We'll see if that happens.
The weather has given the boat a reprieve. We were going to take off this evening, but the real bad stuff has been delayed a day. We'll be able to work on the island again tomorrow, too. I can just imagine our crossing though -- yuck.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
CEPR - Cerberus - Perret Ridge
11:11 PM 9/17/2005
Man, am I bushed. Shortly after my last post, I got called away to help Paskie with a different site: CEPR (Cerberus - Perret Ridge). We (Bill and I) picked him up from the staging area up on the beach.
We set up CEPR while dancing in and out of fog. It was still nice enough that Bill slung our hut up to us. Poor guy was run absolutely ragged today; he slung 3 huts to the three groups of us (Guy & Max, near Cerberus; Ed & Cyrus in the NE corner CEAP - Cerberus-Anvil Peak; and Paski & I). Also crawling about the caldera were the geology crew, each in a different spot. Not only did Bill have to get all of us out there and sling huts, but there were other loads of goods that needed to go out also; batteries & cement & solar panels, for example. Then, to top it off, each of us had forgotten something or other and he had to haul it all back to whomever it was. Paskie & I forgot water; Guy didn't have a drill or a VCO, Ed needed solar panels... )
The site setup went pretty well; the hut is facing mostly south, with the antenna shooting the signal just under the solar panels. I spent all my time digging holes for the hut's j-bolts and for the seismometer. Then I mixed and poured the cement for each of the huts corners.... Getting the right consistency was a challenge.
Another challenge was finding the proper place for the seismometer. The digging was great, but my first hole (3' deep) was about 3 feet too far from the hut: the cable wouldn't reach. The next hole was better. I learned that when you bury a seismometer, leave a coil in the cable, just below the sod level. Don't pack the instrument itself at first, rather pack the soil gently around it. John did the wiring of stuff. We had a small glitch in the water (already mentioned) but also with the nuts for the J-bolts; they were just a tiny bit too small. We used nuts from the eye-bolts instead and siliconed the hole.
Cyrus caught a tiny halibut (don't mention it to him...), and then played me some more backgammon. He finally won one, after a 7-game loosing streak; now I'm up only by 6...
Went out to look at the moon this evening. It is beautiful and bright and full. The sea is looking inky black, yet still reflects the moonlight in a ghostly, yet pretty, manner.
Tomorrow, were going back to finish the site (30 mins tops... I need to finish burying the cable, and John needs to change out the voltage controller. Then, weather permitting, we'll head over to CESW and install a hut there.
The rest of the crew will scatter around the island installing the rest of the sites, while the geologists do a mad scramble for their last bit of information.
Weather looks like it'll be getting worse, so we're planning on pulling up anchor at 7pm tomorrow, and skidattling back to Amchitka. Hopefully we can do it before the seas get too rough. Bill will, meanwhile, fly to Adak and get the replacement pump for the boat. Looks like a long day for all of us. G'night.
Man, am I bushed. Shortly after my last post, I got called away to help Paskie with a different site: CEPR (Cerberus - Perret Ridge). We (Bill and I) picked him up from the staging area up on the beach.
We set up CEPR while dancing in and out of fog. It was still nice enough that Bill slung our hut up to us. Poor guy was run absolutely ragged today; he slung 3 huts to the three groups of us (Guy & Max, near Cerberus; Ed & Cyrus in the NE corner CEAP - Cerberus-Anvil Peak; and Paski & I). Also crawling about the caldera were the geology crew, each in a different spot. Not only did Bill have to get all of us out there and sling huts, but there were other loads of goods that needed to go out also; batteries & cement & solar panels, for example. Then, to top it off, each of us had forgotten something or other and he had to haul it all back to whomever it was. Paskie & I forgot water; Guy didn't have a drill or a VCO, Ed needed solar panels... )
The site setup went pretty well; the hut is facing mostly south, with the antenna shooting the signal just under the solar panels. I spent all my time digging holes for the hut's j-bolts and for the seismometer. Then I mixed and poured the cement for each of the huts corners.... Getting the right consistency was a challenge.
Another challenge was finding the proper place for the seismometer. The digging was great, but my first hole (3' deep) was about 3 feet too far from the hut: the cable wouldn't reach. The next hole was better. I learned that when you bury a seismometer, leave a coil in the cable, just below the sod level. Don't pack the instrument itself at first, rather pack the soil gently around it. John did the wiring of stuff. We had a small glitch in the water (already mentioned) but also with the nuts for the J-bolts; they were just a tiny bit too small. We used nuts from the eye-bolts instead and siliconed the hole.
Cyrus caught a tiny halibut (don't mention it to him...), and then played me some more backgammon. He finally won one, after a 7-game loosing streak; now I'm up only by 6...
Went out to look at the moon this evening. It is beautiful and bright and full. The sea is looking inky black, yet still reflects the moonlight in a ghostly, yet pretty, manner.
Tomorrow, were going back to finish the site (30 mins tops... I need to finish burying the cable, and John needs to change out the voltage controller. Then, weather permitting, we'll head over to CESW and install a hut there.
The rest of the crew will scatter around the island installing the rest of the sites, while the geologists do a mad scramble for their last bit of information.
Weather looks like it'll be getting worse, so we're planning on pulling up anchor at 7pm tomorrow, and skidattling back to Amchitka. Hopefully we can do it before the seas get too rough. Bill will, meanwhile, fly to Adak and get the replacement pump for the boat. Looks like a long day for all of us. G'night.
Site CESW (Cerberus-Southwest)
Unbelievable. The sunrise this morning was beautiful, and the weather very nice. I went up with Paskie to the CESW site (Cerberus-Southwest) to prep for the hut. Unfortunately, it was too foggy to sling, but at least the site is now set up. Meanwhile, Ed and Cy are setting up a hut in the NW that will need to be repeated before reaching Amchitka.
Prepping the site involves locating the general place for the hut, then determining if you can "see" the place you're transmitting to, and also determining which direction the signal will need to travel. For us, there's a beacon transmitting from the Amchitka site that we use to determine if a site is able to communicate.
First, John pulled out a thing that detected the beacon. It was behaving as though it had a loose wire, but was able to detect the signal fine. Next, he pulled out the GPS and calibrated it... He had Amchitka programmed in, so he knew exactly which direction to point stuff.
Afterwards, there was nothing to do but dig. We removed sod over an area about 6' square, where the hut was to be placed. Next, we dug holes in each of the four corners (for cement) and dug a larger hole for where the wires and stuff will be leaving the hut.
The fog didn't seem to have any intentions of clearing, so we hopped in the chopper and headed back to the boat (after a brief detour to some junk that was in the caldera.)
Friday, September 16, 2005
Transferring ashore in Semisopochnoi
OK, it has finally happened! I was seriously beginning to doubt the possibility .... We're sitting in salt-and-pepper bight, off the east coast of Semisopochnoi. Earlier today (maybe around 5:30pm?) we offloaded six huts, 30 batteries, a crate of solar panels, cement, and other various implements of desctruction.The day started with a fast and furious 4-wheeler ride up to Amchitka's site, where I was to help Paski and Cyrus bolt down solar panels into the solar panel farm. Almost as soon as we got there, the pilot radioed in that the crossing was calm. At that point, I continued to try to bolt down the crossmembers for the farm, while Paskie and Cy gathered their stuff. The new plan?
All hands down to the boat. We're going to get to Semi, and then offload absolutely everything that's required for the island, while there's good weather. The crossing was unevenful; the sun was shining, and I was even able to hang out on deck behind the wheelhouse and catch some sun. Of course, the wind was very cold, so I did so in my mustang survival suit. Less chance of skin cancer that way, anyway.
The process of offloading went fantastically well. It only took us about an hour and 15 to shuttle off something like 12 loads. The wind in the bay was (is) still whipping through at a respectable speed, but Bill made it look like sling-loading was effortless. Anthony was in charge of hooking up the loads to the helicopter, while chief operated the sling, and the rest of us rigged huts and put batteries/cement into bags.
Tomorrow morning, we'll break into perhaps three groups to set up sites. Guy has already reconnaissanced one site, which John and I will travel to in the morning. He'll be doing more reconnaissance while everyone else digs/pours/wires/drills the other sites. I wonder, if the weather is nice to us, will we be able to do almost all of Semi tomorrow? Dare to dream...
Oh, and today we finally got a little recreation in. Several fishinglines were dropped from the boat, though only Max cought something -- only to loose it. (100 lbs?) Crab pot is still on the boat waiting for launch.
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