1 July 2008

I went down to the National Oceanographic Centre, where the James Cook is berthed. the dock-side and ship were a hive of activity with scientists unpacking equipment from crates, and stores being loaded for the duration of the cruise.

The observation boxes we had constructed were already on the foredeck and ready to be moved into their final position. These will hopefully provide reasonable shelter for us when out watching seabirds in all weathers. There are deflectors at the front which should keep the worst of the wind off us. There are nice doors on the side to allow us easy access - except someone put a fixing strap across them. So one of our jobs will to move those and tightend the bolts that hold the construction together.

The James Cook is a vast ship, just two years old

and very well equipped. It will be easily the most comfortable ship I've ever worked on, with individual cabins, high-speed internet access and a gym among many other facitilities. There will be three seabird and cetacean observers on board as part of a multi-disciplinary team to collect information on the physical and biological features of the Jones Bank in the Celtic Sea. The bank lies about 50 miles to the west of the Isles of Scilly and is known to have interesting tidal currents over it. We will be looking to see how these tidal currents bring nutrients to the surface and potentially enhance productivity and food supply for seabirds, whales and dolphins and other "top predators". Take a look at Clare Embling's blog for more detail.

Mark and I spent most of the morning helping with the box-lugging and familiarising ourselves with the ship. In the aftenoon we got remaining things we need for the cruise. In the evening we went for an excellent curry. I always have at the back of my mind "this could be my last ever curry so it better be a good one" before going to sea. Utterly ridiculous of course.