Preparations, preparations and more preparations!

So the cruise preparations are still in full swing. This has been going on since before Christmas but has seriously intensified during the last few weeks.
Last week we finally shipped all our equipment to Noumea, New Caledonia, and then it felt rather final. I was wrong.

Since we are going to work at a very remote location at the other side of the globe it is extremely important that everything work the way it should, and now I'm not only speaking about methods and instruments but also about plans and experimental designs.
In the middle of this, my understanding of the experimental setup/design and sampling is crucial, and since a lot of it is fairly new, it has been taking up much of my time.
Thankfully my supervisor has been very supportive, even though I'm hoping I won't need as much support in future setups, but hey, it's only my first few months of PhD anyway.

Planning this whole thing can't be easy either, but confusing answers or unanswered questions by the cruise organizers doesn't really help my current situation. Again, I thank my supervisor for looking out for me. I'm convinced that flexibility will be the key here.

There will be almost 60 people on board this research vessel (R/V L'Atalante), mostly scientists and a majority of them being oceanographers. So there will be a lot of stuff going on and much of it will probably be outside of my field, me being one of the few biologists on board.
So in part due to that, as well as a set and pressed schedule (including budgeted sampling water) it is important that I stay on top of the game. Oh, and I'm also (together with my PhD colleague in crime) responsible for the on board identification and quantification of target microbes, which will decide the sampling stations for the whole crew. No pressure.

So one week before the cruise (and probably up the the final day before departure) I'm still preparing, for my first ever scientific cruise.