Life Beyond the Beaker

We have finally set sail. After a much longer time in port than expected due to one crews could test being delayed and then an engine failure we finally set sail almost a week later than planned. However, when I say a week the cruise is already 3 months behind because of COVID so 1 week does not seem so bad. "What even is mobilisation of a research ship?" I explain in the second blog of cruise #DY120 on #RRSDiscovery to turnaround CLASS and @uk_osnap moorings https://t.co/GH8rQ5VVIY https://t.co/OLPFTcS7IQ Last week after we had set up the instruments,sensors and processing files ready for the mooring recovery and deployments we set to work on some personal development. It was great to have time to do this and it's been rather a full on week of learning for me. Readjusting to life after the first lock down is tough going after only had Al to interact with for 5 months and being furloughed, being on a ship with 22 people is a bit of a shock to the s...

I will be honest, after 5 months of being on furlough, I am finding work hard. Mostly the big drive twice a day from Glencoe to Oban, I feel too tired to exercise and I've been waking up early to send emails before going into the lab because I working from home when not on a boat or in the lab. Very weird times, but hopefully I will settle back into it in the next few weeks. Seol mara the wee SAMS vessel took 2 months to fix, finally, we headed out to do some science. John, Norman and myself who make up the vessels team headed to our local site near SAMS and deployed a mooring! I was crewing and at the same time learning from John about how to prepare and deploy a moulding safely. What is science without correct labelling of samples and calibration of instruments?! My first proper week in the building of SAMS and I have been packing for my next cruise which I leave for in 4 weeks. 2 years ago we dropped off some deep-sea moorings with...

I have been pretty quiet on this blog for the past year! The reason for this is at the end of 2019 I had a few medical issues which resulted in a pretty scary surgery. However, I am now fully fixed, back smiling and hopefully when COVID allows I will get my full ENG1 (seafarers medical) and HSE diving medical back in full. I have been restricted to the UK for the past year!  This last year, I have had a happy time learning how to drive Seol Mara!! https://www.sams.ac.uk/facilities/vessels/   Although I missed out on a few cruises and travels I think it has been really good for me to connect with Scotland properly, as since living here last year was my first summer here! And, being locked down in Scotland this summer during COVID has resulted in lots of networking, learning and an epic amount of Citizen Science interaction! So all things happen for a reason, right? Which brings me onto my second reason for being quiet, whilst also going through my medical issues my boss Prof Da...