Comps - almost done, worst yet to come?

Mt. McGinnis from the Mendenhall campground

So today is day 3 of my comprehensive exams.  I am done for the day, I think...though I'm a bit trigger-shy and am having a hard time hitting 'send'.  All three days have been challenging, some more so than others.  I'm pretty sure tomorrow is going to be the hardest of all of them, by far (it's my primary advisor's day to ask the questions on a topic I'm least experienced in overall). 

My day 2 questions were really hard, and I don't know how I did on them.  I turned those in after 13 hours, far short of the 24 hours allotted, but by 13 hours, my brain was shot and nothing else useful was coming out.  But the downside to having Saturday and Sunday off was that I just kept thinking about the questions!  Grrrr.

Beaver pond at the Mendenhall campground

I had Saturday and Sunday off from questions, so Steve and Steve and I spent some time outside. We've had really moody weather - clouds, sun, rain - all mixed together sometimes.  

Seca did a lot of swimming in ice cold water, and was so darn happy.  She ran and ran and ran all over the place on our walk (so unusual for her these days) then once we we back home she crashed out on her bed for the rest of the day, totally exhausted.  She just really loves to swim.  :)

 We didn't see any bears on our walks, but did see one porcupine, some tiny fish, and lots of flowers.

Mt. McGinnis from the bear viewing platforms near the glacier.  Soon there will be salmon in the creek and bears to watch.

Interesting tidbit...

The 8.0 earthquake the just struck the Aleutians seems to have been located very near Little Sitkin Island, which I think is where were were sampling near on June 7 (the halfway point!).  I think this is Little Sitkin Island...but my notes on which islands were in my photos each day aren't great!

Also, no tsunami warnings for here in Juneau due to the earthquake. 

start back on June 1...

If you want a chronological read, start on June 1 (link here) for the pictures and details about the trip!
And I don't think the video posting from yesterday will work...

Home.

Homeward bound.  And more steaming volcanoes.

We got a wake up ‘knock’ at 6 am letting us know we were pulling back into dutch harbor.  I watched from deck a bit.  The flight from Dutch to Anchorage is about 3 hours, and I filmed the takeoff – will try to post.  We have a couple hours in Anchorage, then should be home by 9 pm.  Getting of the plane to walk to the terminal in Anchorage it was 61 degrees outside and it felt almost hot after the past two weeks.  

Later –

Made it back to Juneau, but the luggage won’t arrive until tomorrow.  That wasn’t entirely unexpected, since they announced in Dutch Harbor that we had ‘weight and balance issues’ which means they can’t get all the people and luggage on board and still take off on that short runway. 

11 pm - I’m so tired but can’t sleep.  It’s too light out, the Rv’s not rocking (but it feels like it is), and it’s too darn quiet yet noisy without the white noise of the boat engines.  

I’m glad to be home, but wish Steve was here!  He’ll get back from Wisconsin on Tuesday night. Sounds like he’s having a blast there, and I’m so jealous!

End of the line

It’s our last two days of fishing.  We’ve actually been pretty busy working up samples, which is nice.  There have been lots of rockfish coming up, some of which get pretty big.

It’s been a good two weeks, incredible scenery, but I’ll be ready to be home tomorrow. 

Almost done

 

Saw what I think was a smoking volcano.  Had a very slow (and cold morning) sampling. 

We’ve started to get silly with boredom…mock tagging one of the sodas the crew throw in the fish holding tank to chill, just to take pictures and kill time. 

The afternoon was better (more busy) and we put out our final satellite tag on a sablefish.

Meanwhile in Juneau...

Back in Juneau, Steve is leaving for Wisconsin today.  I’m really sad I can’t go too.  There are three sampling days left (including today), then a 17-hour steam back to Dutch Harbor.  We’re going to set gear a couple of hours early tomorrow and Saturday, in the hopes that we can finish up early on Saturday afternoon and thus get back to Dutch Harbor earlier.  Dana and I have a 1:20 pm flight on Sunday, so time might get tight if we run into any weather, gear, or mechanical issues Saturday while fishing or on the steam back to port.  

Today – so very cold.  This is the coldest I’ve been the whole trip.  I can't even imagine what it's like out here in winter, when it's much colder, much windier, and you can spend hours on deck breaking ice off the ship.  I don't think I am cut out for that, and I'm not ashamed to admit that.

Dana found a tiny snailfish tucked inside a small hard coral. It was pretty cute.

Look for the small pink blob of jelly tucked into the coral, that's a fish.

Snailfish after it came out of the coral.

Still fishin'

Is this an attack formation for seagulls?

Another day, another station with low projected sablefish catches, so not much for us to do.  Yee haw.  And it’s cold and windy, just to make it more fun down in the factory.  Yesterday, the captain asked me why I take so many pictures (I’m up to ~1600), and why so many of birds?  It’s because I’m trying to keep busy, and birds make a nice moving target, especially when it’s grey outside.  Today, I think I took two pictures all day. 

Troublemakers.

Dana and I have taken to sometimes switching off shifts – one works in the morning, the other in the afternoon.  Whoever is ‘off’ checks in from time to time in case things actually get busy. 

It was cold and windy and there was a lot of spray coming off the waves and the bow of the boat as we rode up and down the waves.  The waves were mostly 5-8 feet, but towards the afternoon there were a couple of 10-15s thrown in for good measure. But, since this boat is so stable (and still really full of fuel) there wasn’t a lot of movement while we were working.  That's good, fewer bruises that way.

Saw more ST albatross today.  No whales.  Cook made halibut ceviche for lunch – very yummy.