Day 8 - Senior Cruise 2013
I feel extremely fortunate to be a part of this expedition
Watch 2 – Charlie Parker
Well now that my time on the Thompson is coming to an end, I must say that I am going to miss this ship. Everything about this trip has been truly incredible. Starting in Tahiti we had a great time with the locals. Then once the cruise got started I was immediately having a great time. It really is amazing to have a program like this in school. I feel extremely fortunate to be a part of this expedition. So yesterday we made port in Samoa and had a great time on the island. A group of thirteen of us headed up into the mountains to find some lakes to take some sampling. Now this was an expedition. First off driving up into the mountain from the coast was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on. The vegetation was so beautiful and having the view of the coast wasn’t so bad either. On the way to the trail to get to the lake our van got struck in the mud. Fortunately it happened to be right outside a local’s house. A woman in the house very kindly volunteered her brother to help guide us to the lake, which was very nice because I highly doubt we ever would have found. It was an amazing trail about 2.5 km long through the rain soaked jungle. We were in mud up to our shins and climbing up and down the mountain while it was pouring rain. After about an hour I started to doubt if we would get there but sure enough in another half hour we would find the lake. At first we were trying to find a place for our cloths not to get, only to very shortly realize it wouldn’t matter it was raining so hard. So once we started swimming it didn’t take long before we found the first one…a leech. To say the least it was a little frightening at first but soon we realized they were fairly harmless. After we were done swimming and got our samples we went back to the car. Once we got there the boys helped get it out of the mud. After we got back and rinsed off we headed into town for a great food and drink. Only in oceanography would I have an opportunity to travel the world like this. I have greatly enjoyed my trip and can’t wait for the next one.
Watch 3 – Rhys Lloyd
Today many of my fellow students and four professors went on a hike to a remote mountain lake in Samoa. The drive itself showed just how stunning the island was from a botanical standpoint. There were so many cool trees and just so much verdant green. During our drive when we got off the main roadways, the road was so bad that we had to park and walk about an extra kilometer to the actual trail head. Once on the trail, it became apparent that the trail was rudimentary at best and that all of our shoes were going to get very muddy and very, very wet. The whole trail was about 2.5 kilometers and most of that was this bright red mud. There were also parts of the trail that were submerged and we had to walk through water that was up to the bottom of our calves to get to the dry spot. When we reached the lake it was then time to swim, it was much cooler than I was expecting, easily colder than the ocean. After the swim and the hike back; we fed some cows and then headed back to the ship. On the ship we tried to wash the mud off of our shoes and legs. This was the most persistent mud that I have ever encountered; it just did not want to come off anything. It took over 20 minutes just to clean the mud out of our shoes and socks. After getting cleaned up, the group went out on the town and had a great time being immersed into the culture.
