The Ship

The BRP Hydrographer Presbiterio.

The big excitement for the day: the moving of the ROV's 6-ton winch.

27 Sept 2007
day 2

I woke up twice during the night, but manage to make it back to sleep. I woke up around 6AM (3PM PST), an hour before my alarm, and couldn't go back to sleep. I did some email because it was my last chance - setting an "out of office" message, unsubscribing from as many listserves as I could.

I finally gave up on entertaining myself and headed to the breakfast buffet around 7:30AM, about half an hour before our agreed up on breakfast meeting time. Naturally, others who could not sleep were already there. The breakfast buffet was just as eclectic as the day before with many of the same things, but with chow mein type noodles instead of glass, and a white sweet tender fruit with tiny black seeds scattered throughout. It looks like it has the texture of watermelon, but it is softer and smoother. The fruit was good and I think I've had it before, but don't know what it was called.

Everyone (except for a couple of people who went to the dock early) was gathered by 8AM for breakfast. After a little chit chat, we all packed up our lives back into our bags and met in the lobby at 9AM. When checking out, all we had to do is tell them that Mr. Kristoff was going to settle the bill. That was fun. It reminds me when Miwa bought me ice cream with the excuse that 'it always tastes better when someone else pays'.

We piled in the van and headed to the dock with some uneasy anticipation in our stomachs. Was our equipment being approved and unloaded by customs? There was some joking about not seeing any mushroom clouds in the direction of the ship's dock, which would indicate an infuriated Emory with a lost temper.

A 15 minute car ride later, through an astronomical number of cars and intense, haphazard driving, we arrived at the harbor. To our delight, the first thing we saw was Erich and Larry standing at one of the shipping containers with doors wide open and a forklift moving gear from the container to the ship's dock. The second welcome sight, about 2 football field lengths away, was the ship. We promptly loaded our densely packed suitcases onto the ship and found that our names were posted on the door of our sleeping quarters. Talina, Caron DeMars (US to the Philippines in Manila), Hildie (one of the Filipina scientists), and I were to be living in "Sick Bay".

As the loading proceeded, we were told that we were over the weight limit for the dock, so we formed a 'bucket brigade' and started handing lift-able items onto the ship, while more things from the two containers continued to arrive at the dock. Much of the equipment went straight into the lab.

Our first meal on the ship was at noon for lunch - rice, beef and broccoli, and chicken. We also had lanzones, which are very nice tasting, sort of citrus-like fruit. They are white inside and are divided into maybe 6 slices inside, some slices containing a seed of varying sizes. They are smaller than golf balls, like loquats in shape and size, with a thin brown and cream color skin. To open, you pull off a small section around where it was attached to the plant and then squeeze - the skin comes apart and the slices are separated by thin septa for very easy eating!

We had visitors today from two Philippino Science schools. They watched a video presentation on NAMRIA (National Mapping and Resource Information Authority) and saw a powerpoint presentation about our research trip to the Celebes Sea. They learned about some of the equipment we'll use and what kinds of things we might see and capture in a presentation by Larry.

The air conditioning on the ship works well, which was a relief since we had heard that one of the two compressors wasn't working yesterday.

The mess hall is small, so we'll probably have to eat in shifts. Probably crew first, then scientists. I wonder how the feeding schedule and the scientist work schedule will coordinate. Within the mess hall, one corner has couches and a television and stereo system.

Around 5:30PM today, a swall came through. It rained pretty hard and everything got pretty wet. A large crane anchored on a barge is now docked around the corner of the pier, perpendicular to us.

It was quite the scene to watch the 12,000 pound (6 ton) winch be lifted by the very large floating crane and then dangle high in the sky as it came over the rear A frame of the BRP Hydrographer Presbiterio. The winch finally made it aboard, but not without the winch tilting the arm of the crane and the barge precariously to one side. Near the beginning of the operation, Erich was worried about the boat tipping over and called up to those of us on the upper deck trying to get good photos. He explained his worry about the ship being tilted over by the winch and that if he started yelling "run", that we should really run fast and far. At this point, I just got off the ship and took photos from the dock. I think I got some nice pics of the barge that I would not have if I stayed on the ship anyway.

When it was finally accomplished, everything on the dock then needed to be brought onboard because of the weight limit of the dock. We scrambled to move things that were already on the boat, so the very large ROV supply crates could be moved aboard.

Shortly after, Bill and Peggy treated Talina and myself to dinner at the Manila Hotel. It was a very posh hotel with live music in the lobby and two large banquets being held concurrently. We went to the buffet which was large, beautiful, and extravagant. Sushi, whole fish, chicken, variously prepared beef, hot pot soups, crepes, salad, sweet and sour chicken, potato leek soup, and about 15 different types of desserts. We were so full when we were done that we were glad to have the walk back to the ship.

We were exhausted around 10PM, but didn't really get to bed until about 10:30PM. We're still trying to adjust to Manila time.