by Laura de Steur
OSNAP 9: R/V Pelagia (EAST Leg 2)
As we are nearing the end of our cruise the last CTD station was finalized late last night, and as the weather is still as calm as we would never have expected it to be in the Irminger Sea, I take some time to reflect on our journey. It is always strangely discomforting to come close to the end of a period spent so intensely working with all folks on board and that one has got to know over the course of the trip. I wonder why that is. We can look back at a very successful cruise with all and even more done than was initially planned.. The OSNAP East mooring array in the Irminger Sea has been serviced, 51 CTD stations were taken and 34 floats were released in this part of the subpolar gyre. Everyone was working so well together and the high pressure over the Irminger Sea kept intense low pressures swirling well away from us such that it some times looked like.. the Mediterranean? I appreciate life on board as we can focus on work, and do not need to worry about other usual daily business or errands. In addition though the unexpected events make it certainly more fun, like an occasional Tuesday evening that turns into a fun party or a big group of killer whales passing by, or the surprising clear view of Greenland being still 60 nm away. I feel like by now we are well into the routine of working together, data handling, and organization that it feels odd to abandon all that now.. and that it suddenly comes to an end. I do realize most people are ready to get off the ship, particularly our dear colleagues from SAMS who had already been working on RV Pelagia for 3 weeks during leg 1. And surely the students who perhaps spend their first weeks ever at sea and probably are happy to go home and have a bit of summer holiday in a warmer place. Luckily due to the good weather we were ahead of schedule and could take some time to do a little bit of fishing on our way back in to port.. resulting in not too bad catches either.. Apart from being grateful to our science team, students and technicians, my big thanks for making this cruise successful go to all the hard working deck crew, engineers, captain and officers. It has been a real pleasure sailing with ya all.
