I took to my bed mid-afternoon yesterday in hope of shedding my jetlag and getting onto my midnight-to-noon shift in one fell swoop. It ALMOST worked – I was up in time for my midnight watch, but my body insisted I should be in bed, making me rapidly cross-eyed as I tried to compile and examine chemical data for boninites to use as a reference frame for examining what we’ll drill.

Considering the symptoms, I guess this could also be a mild form of seasickness – the gentle rock of the boat as it rolls over what is right now small swell (fortunately!) makes me want to curl up in my chair and take a nap. Caffeine had no impact on it, and neither did cookies (the ship’s baker is big on cookies!), so I gave up for a bit and stepped out on deck….

…and I got to see Venus rise! The night sky was very clear, and in the utter pitch darkness of the oceanic night I readily made out Orion, Gemini and Taurus. Of course, it was then impossible not to hang out through the climax of dawn, and watch the sun rise over the Pacific. The prism-ing effects of the atmosphere were very evident, as the sky’s coloration moved from purple to blue to green and yellow and red, all reflected off the dark chop of the ocean. Not a bad first morning on the water, especially given the typhoon to our WSW (there are a couple posts about this from other bloggers).

[Hopefully starting tomorrow (lucidity permitting) I’ll throw up a first “geek blog” post for the science lovers, about why it makes sense for a volcanoes-and-mountains geologist like me to be on this ship and team. These will be clearly identified, so that others may stay away of they desire.]