The day that was and the day that wasn’t
It’s Thursday evening as I write this. Tomorrow, Friday, will be the day that wasn’t. But first let’s talk about today. March 2nd is a good day to have a birthday. Dr. Seuss, Lou Reed and Rebel Wilson all have March 2nd birthdays. And so it came to pass the my birthday is also today. I woke up to find my research station bedazzled with art and crepe paper (thanks Jaqui, Jenn, Jace and Eunie!), and the students and faculty made me a nice card. After breakfast the ocean gave me a nice rainbow to celebrate, and the day went off without a hitch. Celestial navigation class went off smoothly - we correctly used the sextant to determine that we are somewhere in the Pacific ocean and a couple of teams got within 10 miles of our actual location. One of the boobies that has perched itself on the mast tried to dive bomb me with a white liquid but I managed to sidled out of the way without coming to harm. Pad Thai and a wonderfully decadent chocolate cake for dinner – what a nice day that was.
For us though, tomorrow is the day that time forgot. As we approach the international date line tonight we will switch time zones and move ahead twenty-three hours. Thus, Friday March 3rd will only occur for a fleeting period tonight while we are sleeping. Tomorrow when we get up it will be Saturday March 4th. For those of you in Seattle, we will jump from being three hours behind you to being twenty hours ahead of you.
We start scientific sampling tomorrow and will be running full steam for the next few days. This blog will get a lot more science-y as we move into this portion of our expedition. Stay tuned!
--Rick
