What was: Day 26 - Worries and Adventures

I'm a bit worried about the lab and what will be expected of me. We are currently spending two weeks making the long trek from Quebec City up to our first sampling station around Pond Inlet. Until then, there's pretty much nothing to do. We've got a small gym (two stationary bikes, a treadmill and weights in a room about the size of a large couch) and other than that we spend our time eating, sleeping, and making preparations for science. Preparations in our case took about 1 day. Visiting the lab today I noticed that most things had already been set up, including most of the equipment and machinery, and including a list of instructions and safety procedures taped to the walls.


Everything is in French. Looking at these papers gives me no more of an idea of what I’m doing than I ever had. Either I will have to learn to memorize what I have to do, or I will have to sit down and have someone translate it for me as I type out a copy for myself. Hmm.

In more of the "crazy adventure" vien, I went out in the helicopter again! The helicopter was going out to a small island with our onboard mechanic to help another copter that broke down out there, so I got to go along for the ride.

The island (which I can't remember the name of, but it's famous for having too many deer):


Once we finished on the island, the pilot took me around the Amundsen for a few shots:


And:


Today was also our first ship drill:



Stunning.