One big family

Saying goodbye is never easy – especially after being with people I can call family after being on the ship for 2 months. Over the course of 2 months, we had a family tree made.

A tribute to the ‘family’ we had on the ship.

We had a day and night shift family tree that also included some of the technicians. And of course I had a long list of quotes on mine courtesy of my night shift sedimentologists who remembers to print and put them on. A tribute to the new friends and colleagues I have made on the JOIDES Resolution.

Tell the world I’m coming home

I’m coming home, i’m coming home, tell the world i’m coming home…

The JR is expected to arrive at the pilot station in Colombo at 7am today (30th November 2015). I am all packed and ready to be back on shore. I have met many new and exciting people and it is sad to leave after 2 months. C’est la vie.

However, there are many exciting scientific plans going on after the expedition and I am just as excited to collaborate with the new friends and colleagues I have made.

Here is a picture of the second last sunrise aboard the JR as a night shifter of me and my Sarawak flag! Proud to be a Sarawakian.

Proud to be a Sarawakian!

Now, I am off to see the last sunrise aboard the JR!

 

 

 

Last Core on Deck!

27th November 2015. A night to remember. It is the night we had the last core on the description table and the last core to be measured! We had to take photos!

The last archive half core on the description table for the sedimentologists

Jesus taking the last core to the last point magnetic susceptibility measurement

The last core measurement to be made on the working half by the paleomagnetists

All in all, we are all exhausted and extremely glad we are done with the sampling and descriptions. Soon we will be in Colombo.

Happy Turkey Day!

I wish my family and friends Happy Thanksgiving! I guess I have to say that I am thankful for the opportunity to be aboard the JR. Here is our Thanksgiving expression:

Hand Turkey board

A dedicated hand turkey board. My hand turkey is running towards a pinot noir. No holiday here but I make the most out of it.

Honey, I shrunk the cups!

A few weeks ago, we had the chance to shrink styrofoam cups. Styrofoam cups were decorated and then packed by the laboratory officer (Lisa) and education officer (Juliet) into a mesh bag. The mesh bag of cups are then strung onto the drill pipe going through the moonpool down to the bottom of the seafloor at around 550 mbsl. Here are the results:

Decorated cups strung onto the drill pipe

Going through the moonpool

Our itty-bitty cups

So, the original cup is 7.5 cm and now it shrank at least by half. It is a pretty cute souvenir. Imagine if we had deeper waters to shrink our cups! But hey, I will take what we have here. Ciao~

Logo Campaign

9 more days until the end of the expedition. It is time for a t-shirt logo competition. Of course, we are now down to the final two designs. And of course, it is a battle between the night shift and the day shift designs. A temporary campaign started as we paraded the night shift design around while we were at work.

Parading with style

Penguin parade

I casted my vote before bed. So, may the best design win!

 

Sushi Party!

To celebrate that we got past week 6, our camp boss, Paul and his henchmen prepared a sushi feast for our eyes and bellies. Here are the photos taken by our Education Officers.

Entering the galley

Butter-carved seafood

More food!

Desserts anyone?

Artisan bread?

Sashimi is ready!

Notice the TV?

While all that food is laid out for us, we do not get a break from work. We still have to be sure we are there for the cores. NOM~

Sampling Table

What do we do when we get bored in the core description lab sometimes when core recovery is low and that 5 cm is all that you have to describe?

We wanna sample everything!!

Let us just sample it all! Crazy night shift sedimentologists!

Group Photo Day!

A couple of days ago, we finally took photos of all the crew and scientists aboard! Here are the results:

X359 Group photo of crew, scientists and technicians

X359 Scientists

Day shift (seated) and night shift (standing) sedimentologists

Women in science aboard the JR!

It was good to get some sun since it has been raining the past week! Hasta la vista folks!

Core 100!

It has been 5 days since my last entry! Today I will try to make it up. We hit core 100 yesterday. The first 100 for this entire expedition and yours truly will have to write a report on this site with a total of 111 cores. We had beautiful cores though – so, I would not be complaining too much except for the fact that the report is due in 2 days.

Core 100! Yoohoo! 

Yes, we have a board that keeps track of all the cores that comes out from the drill floor. The same board greets me every morning when I head to work. If you think 100% recovery is scary, imagine 105% recovery of 9.5 m. Sedimentologists go bananas with the workload. We will be logging this site soon, so there is some time to catch-up on reports!