May 8th, 2009

I got up early again to call home, and afterwards went to the scientists’ meeting in the conference room.  We talked about safety and security.  On a ship there are lots of things that can hurt you.  There are places that a small bear like me is not allowed to go, because they don’t want me to get hurt.

 

We also learned that there are mean people who might want to hurt the ship, and what to do about it.  Kids, if you ever see someone who looks like they might hurt you, you need to tell mommy or daddy right away, and it is the same on the ship.  We also learned about trash on the ship.  We live in what is called the environment, and just like you need to keep your room clean, it is very important that we keep the environment clean.  If it isn’t clean, you can hurt the animals that live in the environment. 

 

The Resolution does its best to avoid making a mess in the environment.  The trash on the ship is sorted into several bins.  One bin is for recyclable materials such as plastic and metals.  These are collected and cleaned so that when we get to our next city, they can be turned into other things.  You should always recycle whenever you can.  Other trash is left over food, which the animals get to eat, and burnable trash, which is almost everything else.  The ship burns the trash in a special fireplace that is very safe and puts out very little smoke.  You should never burn trash by yourself or play with fire, only mommy and daddy can do it safely so you don’t get hurt.  

The next thing we talked about was the science that was done on the last cruise.  The previous cruise had brought up a lot of cores of mud, allowing us an opportunity to take an extra core later.  After we learned about the last cruise we got to eat lunch.  Lunch was very yummy.  We had breaded cod, and ribeye steak, along with spaghetti and meatballs.  We also had rice, steamed broccoli, and salad.  The cooks on the ship are very very good.  

After lunch, I went back on land.  First I went to Ala Moana, which is the world’s largest open air mall.  There were so many stores, I didn’t even know which one to go to!  After the mall I went to Ala Moana beach and sat underneath a palm tree to read a book.  Reading is fun no matter where you are, and sometimes it is even more fun to read in special places.  Do you have a special place you like to read?  After reading for a while I walked in the water along the beach before heading to bed.  

Tomorrow the ship is leaving port at 5 AM, and we will be on the ocean for the next 6 and a half weeks.  The scientists will be meeting after the boat leaves Hawaii, and after that I won’t be able to call home as easily anymore.