Orientation SEA!

MFT: Fresh fruit and cold water
LFP: Feeling sick

Hallo, everyone. So today was a really full day. We woke up at 4:30 am to go to the Sunday market nice and early. I have to say I slept great! A full 8 hours – I could have slept another 8 ;).  But it’s nice to know that I can sleep with people walking around and doing things (course last night was probably the quietest night we will ever have). Anyways, Melissa woke me this morning (which is good because setting alarms will be a touch difficult for me) to get ready for the Market. I tagged along with our steward, Saycie, to help her with buying food supplies (she does all the wonderful cooking among other things). The SEA students all have projects they are working on that involve talking with locals so they wandered around the market with specific objectives in mind.

The market was pretty cool. There were tons of fresh fruit and vegetables and of course fish. I got some cool pictures of the fish but on a different camera so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get those photos for the blog. We bought 25 lbs of citrus (oranges, mandarins, limes, and various mixed strains), leeks, baguettes, tomatoes, taro, and of course lots and lots of thon rouge (red tuna). We had lots of fun talking to vendors and buying different things. Everyone is very friendly and we were frequently offered something to taste.

We came back and had our first breakfast on the boat (very yummy) and then learned all about dawn cleanup. Every morning the dawn watch post breakfast is in charge of cleaning the entire interior of the boat, brooms, mops, the whole shebang. Then we did some intense orientation to various departments of the ship. So we learned how to coil lines, sweat sheets, and tie and untie safely sheets under tension. We then learned how to do a boat walk. Every hour, the boat is walked for a safety check of everything and making sure things are going well and as expected. The students do this as do staff and then we log our information. So we learned what we should be looking out for and what we need to check in. It’s a pretty impressive list of things to remember. Luckily we get a check-sheet and if we do it every hour, well it soon becomes familiar. I have my first boat walk set for 5:30 – 6:45 am this coming morning when I am on watch! 

Then we learned how to deploy scientific instruments and how to work the winch. They deploy a LOT of things every couple of hours every day. It was a very busy morning and I took a quick nap in the afternoon while the students went to learn about typical Polynesian canoes. The afternoon was filled with more orientation about the engineering (very awesome engine room), science equipment, and steering! All in all a lot to hear about but I think we will all get the hang of it sooner rather than later just because of use.

Tonight we had some guests come over (local Polynesians) for dinner. Also Dominique made the main dish of poisson cru (raw tuna with a light dressing). Everyone loved the fresh fish. The cool thing was that Dominique bought the fish herself this morning and got the recipe for dinner last night from a local vendor that she talked with. It’s been a busy day and tomorrow we leave post lunch for Fakarava! I’ll try to post as often as possible. 

Our dining room (main salon) 
Library & computer room

Still part of the library 
Saycie in the galley cooking J
The doghouse, working on navigation 
Students relaxing on the quaterdeck
My bunk! I’ve got a shelf and a bed J and a FAN!
The main salon where we can eat and gather
My bunk with things drying out.





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