Aug 23 - NextGen Diaries (crossing the Pacific)
Part 1 - the reason why my passport is full // back into quarantine…
Avid readers of my GUE blogs (although there may not be many ahah), will remember that I had to leave Sardinia 10 days early to make it to exciting visa interviews in London (see here). Now, I can tell you why! Way back in February, I was in talks on joining a Pacific expedition with new marine research organisation Inkfish, and the approval finally came through in April/May. However, in-between the mad rush of travelling across Europe and doing my Rec 2 and Scientific Diver courses (see here), it was discovered that I needed to get a proper B1/B2 USA visa for working on expedition vessels (as we would leave via American ports). ANDDD with the UK having a *slight visa delay (of which the earliest interview was in 100 days AFTER the expedition!!), I was doing several all-nighters in filling in forms, and submitting a claim for an expedited appointment. Amazingly this was granted, albeit on the 31st May. Hence, this was the reason for leaving Sardinia early, flying back home to Newcastle; having a 2-hour turn-around to dump all 70kg of luggage behind - AND hop onto an all-night bus BACK DOWN to London. No wonder we got ill later on!
The second issue I had was needing to get an updated covid vaccine as per the company policies back then (which incidentally would be my 7th vaccine of 4 different types - don’t ask, it is a LONG story). However, with myself being in Europe, with no nearby countries giving them out to 25-year-olds, I again had a problem on my hands! So, after the Scientific Diver course in April, I googled the nearest Netherlands covid walk-in centre (which was a 3-hour commute away from our little island in Zeeland). And despite Erik and everyone insisting that no non-Dutch citizen would be able to get one – I rocked up to a random testing centre with my passport, their own government guideline exceptions, and confidence to mask my desperation. And again, it worked – a few embassy calls later and I was officially vaccinated through the Dutch government! I admit, I was rather impressed that everything worked out (and it just goes to show – if you don’t try, you never know!). However, lets continue chronologically, and start in August – when I travelled to Hawaii, staying in a covid-safe quarantine house for a week; ready to board my first expedition vessel in a year.
Photos taken by myself. Photo of vessel - credit to Inkfish
Part 2 – some context; why the diving interlude? (save for my cracked rib see here)
I knew about the GUE scholarship years before the applications for 2022 officially opened. When applying, I was sitting on the helipad of a research vessel called OceanX, where I was an expedition scientist and logistics coordinator on a 5-month long mission. I helped drive submersibles, spotted dugongs from helicopters, sampled deep-sea corals, and conducted live broadcasts to school classrooms. I wasn’t employed by OceanX at the time, but rather working as a Field Research Technician in Saudi Arabia - but this was a pivotal moment that took me (briefly) away from coastal diving to deep sea operations. I then fell in love with expedition vessels. My new goal: becoming a Scientific Dive Instructor / aquanaut on expedition vessels and Neutral Buoyancy Labs - connecting the space and marine sectors via diving and exploration! So, although my main aims with the scholarship were to ascertain dive regency, complete another foundational course, and help with scientific projects - interwoven were my desire to fill in the gaps I needed to, to shape my future career: space sciences, social media, teaching experiences, and topside exploration opportunities. However, this meant networking, and asking if I can hop on an expedition. After talking to multiple companies with potential partnerships in the future (fingers crossed for the next few years eeek!) - I became an Intern / visiting scientist for Inkfish in August (see below!).
Photos by myself, Mario Tadinac, Taj Howe and Mike Kasic (OXR)
Part 3 - What I am doing // sampling the uncharted High Seas:
INKFISH – a newly established organisation which provides support and services to marine researchers globally (in terms of logistics, vessel time, shoreside operations, equipment, R&D, and media communications).
The Open Ocean Research Program – one of Inkfish’s programs that focuses on the exploration of deep-sea ecosystems.
When we think of the ocean, most of us think about the part that sunlight reaches, or where “typical oceanic life” is. In other words - the hard corals, sharks and reef fish from 0-200m below the surface. For myself, “deep” constitutes the mesopelagic zone of 200-1000m (beginning at the depth where 1% of light reaches, and ends when the water is devoid of light). Having been to around 700m in a submersible, and slowly traversing up to meet the sunlight at 300m – this to me felt like a full alien world at the time! However, the Open Ocean Research Program explores everything below 1000m, all the way to full ocean depth (11,000m) – using the Triton Submersible’s Hadal Exploration System: RV Dagon and submersible Bakunawa (whose previous names were DSSV Pressure Drop and DSV Limiting Factor; see here for more information).
The Trans-Pacific Transit Expeditions – Leg 4/6, from Hawaii-Mexico.
From June - December 2023, Inkfish are conducting 6 transit expeditions (Legs) between adjacent areas on the Pacific Rim and its interior, to map unnamed undersea features, conduct profiling of the water column, and survey life at ~5000m depths (also known as the abyssopelagic regions of the High Seas!). These 6 legs are staggered across the ocean to USA, Mexico, Hawaii, and Tahiti. I was in communication with a few individuals onboard beforehand, this was the perfect opportunity to expand my expedition vessel portfolio - from beyond coastal waters and 1000m depths!
Photos by myself. Top left - credit Bhakti Patel
Part 4 – a day in the life of crossing the Pacific Ocean
LANDER OPERATIONS
Originally designed to provide a triangulation pinpoint for Bakunawa, RV Dagon’s 3 x deep-sea landers have been repurposed for hadal and abyssopelagic zone sampling. Landers are observational platforms, that sit on the seafloor and record observational and environmental data – along with traps to sample amphipods and other deep sea creatures! And with a changing crepuscular deployment / recovery schedule; the days before 6pm and after 6pm were the most productive and chaotic. It was all hands-on-deck for everyone to lift and carefully manoeuvre each lander out to sea, after the scientists have filled the traps with baits, and made sure that all the cameras were water-tight - for visual observations of the seabed! There were also other scientific instruments on the landers: for example CTDs (to ascertain surface-to-seafloor profiles of conductivity / temperature / depth), niskin bottles (for water samples), and lasers (for any potential fish measurements). Then, after 12 hours, it was time to collect! It was super fun to try and spot the landers from the bridge at sunrise, or to see the eerie light shine through the darkness as they rose up from the depths at night (all facilitated via acoustic releases). Once spotted, it was time to collect / tow the landers back to the boat via zodiac, and then crane them back on deck. This was one of my favourite parts of the entire operation - or should I say, specifically the time when I got to go on the boat as well!
The first time I sat at the edge of the zodiac - as we sped towards the GPS location of the first lander - I admit I was way too focused on the Milky Way to concentrate. It spanned the entire sky, hitting both sides of the Pacific Ocean like a rainbow, and illuminating our zodiac as the lights of the Dagon faded into pitch blackness. At these moments, one has to pinch yourself and think about how crazy your life is! On route to our first lander site, there was also a giant flash of green in the sky, and what can only be described as an upside-down firework amongst the stars. We all exclaimed the same thing: a meteorite that burned up in the atmosphere!! I then spontaneously asked to drive / navigate the boat, not imagining that I would actually be allowed to. It was tricky to get the hang of the steering at first (as one has to steer in the opposite direction to what you think you need to). However, aside for “one casual loop-the-loop” when I temporarily lost the ability to turn right with my short arms, I was super proud of myself!
Photos by myself / zodiac photos by Bhakti Patel
MAPPING, MUD, AND MORE
But for us scientists, the work had just begun when the landers came up! Between drops, there were multiple opportunities to work with those from the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Centre and the British Geological Survey. I got to see the daily results of our acoustic mapping capabilities as we discovered new and old topographies underneath the ocean, and how they measured the temperature of the water column using an XBT (eXpendable BathyThermograph) - which was super fun when I got to fire it, even though I pulled the pin out too early :). Personally, I spent a good few hours examining the camera footage from our landers for deep-fish ID’s and abundance measures. It was amazing to casually see the weird and wonderful fauna at 5000m, akin to a Blue Planet documentary - in particular the rattails and cusk eels! We also counted and preserved the different types of amphipods caught in our bait traps, ready to be shipped back to Australia for genetic analyses later on.
Photos by myself / Inkfish Expeditions
WORKOUTS, SHIP LIFE, AND TIME ZONES
And what day doesn’t start and end with a ex-marine-inspired high intensity workout? Egged on by my quarantine workout buddy Oggy (the aforementioned medic and MC!), we kept up a daily program of exercise throughout our time on board. In the end, we recruited a good group to join us - and it was so much fun to create our own gym on the deck between the zodiacs and cranes; sweating in the Pacific heat, and trying not to fall over as the ship was rocking so much! I also loved getting outside each day for movement - as walking the length of our vessel didn’t take long!
And there were plenty of other things to do as well! From partaking in a weekly program of remote first aid training (putting on tourniquets and learning about catastrophic bleeding measures), to tours of the engine rooms, to the occasional BBQ when the sun was out! Or even just endlessly getting distracted (in the best way) by all the amazing people in the science lab; the mixing of scientists, submersible technicians, geologists, crew and more made for the best ship family ever. Even the captains loved coming down and learning science from us all, via presentations that we put on to showcase our research / background. However, there was one individual, who was also serendipitously on this journey with me; one who I had actually followed for years on social media, and then only met in person at the start of August in quarantine! Zuzu Askin, previous NatGeo explorer, OWUSS Rolex Scholar, and recently-joined-contractor for Inkfish, was on the vessel with me (see here!). Zuzu was onboard to observe the deep sea research, and honestly when we met each other in real life - we hugged / cried for about 10 minutes. Social media really makes the world so small!
I just love ship life so much. It is simultaneously full on - yet so calming. I made sure to step out onto the deck every few hours – or climb up to our rooftop space for sundowners - feeling the warmth salty air of the Pacific. Knowing that we were literally in the middle of the High Seas was a juxtaposing feeling of exhilaration and peace that I will never get over. I even loved the pitching and rolling of the boat as it rocked you to sleep at night. The only strange thing about this month was the constant moving of time zones every week, as we traversed from west to east of the Pacific (which strangely, absolutely FLOORED me each time we moved a simple hour forward; causing me to sleep in 12 hour batches at a time hehe).
Photos by Bhakti Patel / Inkfish Expeditions
Part 5 - Thank you, and the next steps
I remember putting on my GUE application that I aspired to become an “ocean astronaut” and bridge the gap between scientific exploration, expedition vessels, and Neutral Buoyancy Labs. Trying to make a simultaneous career out of all these disciplines is not easy, however I am so much closer to achieving this than a year ago, thanks to the Scholarship, and the connections and wider spheres I have put myself in! In particular, I am very glad to have spent the month fulfilling my other passions (aka expedition vessel time!). Now, it is September; I am back home (on non-moving land!) after my expedition, and it is time for a final 2-month period of manic diving before my GUE scholarship ends (albeit in familiar places!)…