by Amelie Klein
After some small highlights like supposed explosives in Mareike’s notebook and an unexpected upgrade to Premium Economy for some of us, we arrived at St. John’s. Thanks to the early flight an the time shift we had enough time to discover the town of St. John’s after the check in in the hotel where we stayed during the first night.
First of all, we said hello at the Merian and went on a small (and quite windy) tour to Signal Hill, from which you have a great view over the harbor and which became popular as Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal here in 1901. In the evening we went to the city center and enjoyed dinner in a nice Canadian restaurant. The colorful houses and open-minded and witty people make up the great flair of St. John’s.
On Thursday we moved into our cabins at the Merian, which will be our home for the next weeks. After last preparations for the
Wiebke clothed in a survival suit
(Photograph by Johannes Karstensen)
cruise and refueling there was the official welcoming by the crew and the security instructions. In the afternoon the Maria S. Merian then left the harbor and after the successfully mastered security exercises during which the most of us entered a rescue boat for the first time, we were introduced to our tasks on the ship. In the evening the first CTD measurement was carried out.
The next day was transit to the next station an actually for most of us this day (Friday) can be summed up in two words: Sea sick or tired due to the anti-sickness pills.
Saturday morning most guys had recovered and after breakfast we spotted the first icebergs, becoming bigger and more the farther we traveled on.
The first icebergs (Photographs: Nora Fried)
The first icebergs (Photographs: Nora Fried)