My watch started as usual at 4am just as the 'A team were finishing sampling in the most horrendous rain storm. Fortunately it had cleared up by the time we had to emerge on deck.
The last CTD was completed at lunchtime and the afternoon was spent in a flurry of packing up gear and samples. The little turnstone? was still around and not quite as nervous as yesterday but not eating the titbits offered. I suspect a crust of bread is not as tempting as a juicy worm anyway.
Today it is Kirsteen Allison's turn to do some blogging. She is a SAMS/UHI undergraduate who is about to do her 4th year having spent last year in the Arctic studying at UNIS.
Today is the last day of sampling and the last day of watches. I am in
Team Expendables and our watch is 8-12 so it’s the easiest for our sleep
pattern. We don’t miss any meals and we have one more person than the other
shifts, hence our name, but that just means we do more work! Today we did the
last CTD, which is nice as we also did the first CTD way back in the Sound of
Mull. I woke up to the view of Iceland off the portside (left) of the ship and
in the distance we could also see the famous Surtsey Island. The island first reached sea level in 1967 making the island only 45
years old, which is younger than the ship we are on the RRS Discovery (being 50
years old)!
It
was a beautiful ending collecting the samples from the last two CTD’s (IB22 and
IB23) with Iceland in the background. This was slightly hampered by the fact we
were surrounded by hundreds of noisy birds, that thought we were a fishing boat!
:) Once all the samples were all collected it was photo time!
Team Expendables from right to left
Karen, John, Olly, Kirsteen (me) and Charlotte.
After our sad farewell to the CTD and Team
Expendables, it was time to pack. In only a few hours most of the equipment was
packed away in the chemistry labs. The samples were wrapped in many layers of
bubble wrap, tissue, cardboard, tape, bean tins (Alex), zip ties and then put
in boxes which are then put into even bigger boxes. So once the samples have
survived their cozy journey to the labs, I think it might take much longer to
actually get to the samples than it did to take them. :)
To top it all off tonight we had a wee social
gathering to celebrate the cruise and the chefs kindly brought through platters
of food. Tomorrow we will be heading in to Reykjavik and will be our last night
onboard and our farewell to the ship before it goes on another few trips before
its retirement.
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