December 22, 2016, second day at sea

Hello,

Happy birthday to my friend Leshka, who almost forgave me for missing his birthday this year. I did have to use my circumantarctic journey as an excuse. Leshka, I hope you celebrated your birthday in style, even though I am not making crepes (bliny) for the party this year. Coincidentally we had crepes with cottage cheese for tea tonight. I guess the kitchen wanted me to celebrate your birthday the usual way :).

It has been going great. We are still rocking quite heavily, the swell today reached up to 16 m according to the ship’s sensors. I am happy to report that I am feeling great and apart from occasionally having to catch flying objects I do not notice the leaning of the boat much. What a difference between how I felt yesterday and how I feel today.

Since the swell was that high we did not do a CTD cast today - the main deck is rather high from the freeboard and the swell makes it impossible to safely lower the rosette into the water and take it out. We did, however, launched a radiosonde at about 4pm ship time (1pm UTC). We used the newly loaned balloon launcher station from Academik Fedorov and we were still figuring it out. The wind was quite high too. But I am happy to report it was a successful launch. Amazing how many people gathered to watch us launching the radiosonde - I guess it is always exciting to watch other people work. Plus looking at a balloon disappearing in the sky is rather exciting as well.

Members of ACE expedition enjoying warm weather on the deck. The swell just makes it more fun.

Other than that I kept myself busy solving minor and major issues different science teams have. I met most of senior crew members already and my people’s skills come very handy. I decided I will not be shy about it either, so I am telling it like it is. 

***

Coming back to my grandfather’s journals I wanted to say how far we have come with technology. I am able to write this blog and although I do not get any feedback from it, I am happy to at least know that my friends and family can read about my adventures in near-real time. At the same time I noticed how similar my feelings are to my grandfather’s. Here’s a quote from his journal:

18 ноября

Спать не хочется, я и так ночью плохо сплю, отоспался в первые дни рейса. Все лежу, вспоминаю дом, ребят, Москву. Как-то сейчас там? Помнят ли меня, или заботы совсем заслонили…

Радиограммами решил не допекать, думаю, что пока будет достаточно раз в пять – шесть дней. А то радиоузлу слишком большая нагрузка, да и отвечать мне хлопотно и накладно. Почему-то уверен, что все будет благополучно и дома и, Бог даст, у меня. Главное, чтобы они там не волновались и не обращались бы в разные бесполезные органы. 

and another one:

3 декабря:

Сильно я был раздосадован тем, что из дома не было телеграммы. Я отлично знаю, что волнение неуместно и напрасно, но уж как-то настроился раз в неделю давать знать о себе домой и получать сведения оттуда. Ведь это теперь довольно далеко!

Четыре дня я не находил себе места на этом корабле, на третий (это было 2 декабря) дал телеграммы домой и Саше и лишь сегодня получил сразу два ответа. Конечно дома все в порядке.

I called several people yesterday from the Iridium phone our expedition has available. Iridium actually decided to sponsor this expedition (big thanks to them) and hence we have the phone available for us to call our loved ones. It is usually busy during the day, but at night one can use it easily. So I called a few people and nobody picked up. I ended up leaving a few rather disappointed messages. “I am calling from the middle of nowhere and you are not picking up!” kinda messages. Anyhow. I am so lucky to have internet, my “blog helpers” and everything come together. I shouldn’t complain ;)

Thanks for reading,

Masha