Tuesday PM (52^oS). There are still four days to go before we reach our first drilling location, but there is little down time here on the JR. We got to get orientated, organized, and practice our sampling plans so that everything runs as smoothly as possible when the first core comes.

We also have to be sure that we are safe. During our second day at sea we had our first life boat drill. The caption blew the horn 7 short times and once long , we all gathered our helmets and survival suits and brought them on deck. I’m assigned to lifeboat #1. Someone checked off my name when I arrived to make sure everyone got out of the JR safely. The survival suits are to ensure that we will stay warm if we have to stay in the boats for a long period of time. While they are safe, I would hardly call them fashionable – or easy to get in or out of. This is a picture of me in my suit with our project manager Adam Klaus. Shortly after this photo was taken Adam had to help peel me out of the suit.

Today we practiced with old sediment cores which had been saved for such an occasion. The picture above is of Peter Bijl who is using specialized sample scoops to dig out samples for multiple analyses, including samples for mircopaleobiologist – who look for diatoms. Today found out that one of autoclaves is broken (good thing we have a spare!) An autoclave is like a pressure cooker that I use to sterilize my tools and solutions. That way I do not contaminate any of my microbiology samples, and thus very important. But I got everything all figured out.