Just a taste

The first day in Barbados was relatively uneventful.
I continued working on my computer, to write a really detailed and easy to follow daily sampling routine for the work at sea. I would like the base sampling to be as smooth as possible as to enable me to, if opportunities arise, think more freely on spontaneous sampling or experiments in case we encounter bloom densities of the DDAs.

Apart from work I met up with the two German scientists joining the cruise and we ended up going for food, drinks and swimming at the Boatyard (Brownes Beach), which was really nice. I also got to try the famous Rum Punch made on local rum.
The Boatyard is basically a beach bar with some water activities tied to it. I'm sure that it would have been a lot more lively if it wasn't for the fact that it's currently off-season. By 19.00 we were the only ones there...

Brownes Beach at the Boatyard.

So my limited experience of Barbados so far is that it's an amazingly friendly place. The people are in general very nice, polite, social and laid back, even to strangers, which is not something I'm used to being a Swede.
This behaviour even applies to traffic!
Walking down the street, people would greet you. Ordering food or drinks, the bartender would introduce himself/herself and engage in conversation. Their language is very polite, and honking your horn in traffic means 'thank you' or 'hello'. And they honk a lot!

Today I moved over to the research ship docked at the Bridgetown Cruise Pier and got settled in in my cabin, got all my stuff stashed away and had a short look around the ship.
After trying to WiFi with a phone call home (which worked ok, but had a few seconds delay) I went to the Boatyard again together with some of the ship crew. Most of the science party was already there, drinking local beer (very very light) and socializing, so it was nice to finally meet everybody.

The research vessel.

Tomorrow I will set up my equipment and practically prepare for departure on Sunday. Hopefully I'll get a good spot in the lab.

Safely arrived in Barbados

Leaving a cold, 7 degrees C, Sweden behind. Below you can the see Gothenburg archipelago and in the distance the city of Gothenburg.

I arrived in Bridgetown, Barbados, yesterday afternoon local time.
It took a while to get through customs and immigration, mainly because they ran out of forms for us to fill out beforehand on the airplane.
The immigration officer had a few questions about my stay, but nothing major and after getting my two checked bags I went through customs who wanted to take a peek inside my metal box (filled with research supplies). It was fairly brief really, and I was soon on my way to the hotel via a shuttle bus that I booked before leaving Sweden.

Panorama of the beach outside my hotel, which is the yellow building to the right. Panorama is nice, but my camera doesn't really do this scenery justice (poor exposure)

After arriving I sat down to go through my emails and final preparations before the cruise. The plan was for me to head out and get some supplies and something to eat, but when I was finally done with my computer work I was way too tired to even leave the room. Getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning with only 4 hours of sleep and then with a subsequent day of travels (extended by 6 hours due to flying west over multiple time zones) certainly takes its toll.
My plan was to not sleep anything on the airplane as not to be too jet-lagged once I arrived in Barbados (it certainly made that commitment a lot easier having a long list of new cinema releases at my hands on the airplane entertainment system).
In the end it worked fairly well, even though I was tired and still didn't sleep as heavy and long as I usually do (woke up at 5.30 local time).

One part of the Gap at 6.30 in the morning, so very empty and quiet in difference to the evenings and nights.

This morning I had a little stroll down the Gap (to a nearby supermarket), which is the street I'm staying on. It's basically a beach front street peppered with bars, restaurants and nightclubs. After that I had breakfast at my beach front hotel, all alone. It seems that it's off-season.
Anyway, so far it looks like an amazing place and I'm planning to at least have a walk along the western beaches when I'm done with my work today. They look really nice, with fine, white sand. There's some sea going on at the moment so the waters aren't as blue-turquoise as when I flew in, but the breeze is refreshing since humidity is fairly high and the temperature is around 30 degrees C in the shade.

I just have to make sure I put on proper sunblock, since I've already done that mistake one time too many in my days.

Caribbean research cruises

The day for me to share this is here.
My close friends and family have already known for a good while, even though the details have changed on a monthly basis since the very beginning of 2018.
To make a long story short: last year my lab (supervisor) was invited to two back-to-back research cruises in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, by two different research groups based in the US. A region well known for high abundances and blooms of the particular diatom-cyanobacteria symbiosis that I'm interested in.

My PhD student colleague, our lab's post-doc and one master student got the opportunity to go on the first cruise, going from Cape Verde to Puerto Rico aboard the legendary R/V Atlantis (the mother ship of the submersible Alvin). This cruise was completed late March after almost 6 weeks at sea, crossing the equator twice.

Map of the Caribbean and Central America. Barbados is located north of Guyana and Puerto Rico is located north of Venezuela. The Amazon River is located at the edge of the bottom right corner of the map (south of French Guiana).

Now, the second cruise is due the 6th of May until the 1st of June, and I've been scrambling these last few weeks to get organized and prepared for departure. I'm leaving, as the lone representative out of my lab (and Stockholm University), to participate in my third research cruise, which will go from Barbados, down to the Amazon River and back up to Puerto Rico, aboard the R/V Endeavor.
It is an extremely unique and exciting opportunity, but it is also important to remember that I will most likely work non-stop and collect crucial samples for my current and last project for my doctorate. Next year I'm supposed to defend my PhD thesis.

The R/V Endeavor sampling at open sea.

So as I'm writing this, I've packed the last of the equipment I need from the lab together with our lab group technician, I've fixed all the required paperwork, I've managed my visa's, I've taken my vaccines, I've put together a robust sampling plan together with my supervisor and now I'm sitting on a train back home to my family. I'm looking forward to a few days off before I fly out of Gothenburg next week.
This blog will once again be one of my channels of communication while I'm out at sea and I will try to update it regularly.
Stay tuned!