Being a marine biologist - day 1

On the 4th of July I joined the mackerel survey cruise aboard M/V Eros. It's a brand new vessel that is even nicer than G.O. Sars! However, as I found last year, most of these luxuries aren't used on the survey because we are quite tired from 12 hour work days; and the gym is the most important room when you are limited to only walking up and down a flight of stairs. The first dinner was a very Norwegian meal of raspeballer (potato and flour mixed together with some bacon), sausages and potatoes. At least the crew blasted some CCR after dinner, so that was about as "American" as it got for the 4th. 

I'm working the 2-8 shift, so 2am-8am and 2pm-8pm. My shift partner's name is Stine (Justine and Stine -- cute) - and pronounced like 'steeneh', not stein. On this survey I have more responsibilities than last year. This year I can add plankton sampling to my resume. And this probably sounds weird, but the one thing that has officially made me feel like a marine biologist was when my cruise leader asked me how I thought the sonar should be tilted to observe the mackerel schools best. Felt pretty cool to be asked my opinion, and it will be even better in a couple of days when we do some experiments on the recommendations from my thesis for observing mackerel. 

[Luxury cabin]

[Lounge area, the room to the left is the "cinema"]

[Heading out of the Bergen area fjord]

[Captain]

[Setting up the fish lab]