Welcome to my blog on life at sea onboard the research ship, the JOIDES Resolution (JR). After a cozy 16.5 hour long flight from Dallas, I arrived in Hong Kong, which is a further 13 hours ahead of the place I call home, Baton Rouge, LA.

We came on board Apr 10, just two days ago. I am one of the 6-7 scientists in the Physical Properties team, more on that later. There are a total of 60 scientists, staff and technicians in the IODP group, and also a large number of crew members. Our days so far have been filled with orientations and lots of opportunity to huddle and discuss what we will do, and even more anticipation about how we will do it. Our planned port departure is Friday AM. What are we doing here? The overall expedition objective is to drill into the Earth – to bravely go where no scientists have gone before, and oh yeah, to use the
information from cores and logging to improve our understanding about the formation of the South China Sea. But for the first few days at least, newbie scientists like me are just trying to figure out the basics, like the best way to not skydive
from the top bunk on the way to the restroom in the middle of the night.