Oceanic transit

Today and possibly also tomorrow will be days of downtime. Even though it might seem comfortable having a couple of days off, it is far from it. I quickly get restless after a few hours no matter what I'm doing. There are always work related issues or tasks at hand, but writing or compiling data is only bearable for so long when the ship is rocking back and forth on its way to our next location.

I think I might actually grab a few DNA/RNA samples off the underway water pump once we are outside of the phytoplankton bloom. At least that will keep me occupied for a few hours each day.

Otherwise these kind of days (or any day really) are well suited for some serious gym time. It is a challenge in itself to work out properly when the room you're in is moving erratically in either direction. Since I'm almost exclusively using body-weights, something that I'm far from used to nowadays, I quickly push myself to a state of nausea. I'm not sure that's a good thing, but on the other hand my muscles begs me to stop, and that I know is a good thing.

I never even dreamed of getting any visible results out of this kind of exercise, and in just 6 weeks, but it seems I was wrong. If that is due to my body's inexperience with "low weights - many reps" workout or just the fact that the dietary supplement (Gainer) I bought consists of creatine, I'll never know. Either way I'm happy about it. By the way, I really hate pull-ups, but they sure are effective.

I previously wrote that I was contacted by a regional newspaper back home. So now I finally got my promised few days of fame (hell yeah), the rockstar-scientist-to-be influences one region at a time. Jokes aside (I think that title might already be claimed by Sam Dupont anyway), I'm happy with how the article turned out and hopefully I'll reach out to some and even inspire others.

I had a very enjoyable afternoon and evening in the hammock on front deck yesterday, even acquired a bit of a tan, and as usual when I have a bit of time to myself with an awesome and myseterious view in front of me, my thoughts start spinning. It is not necesarily a bad thing, most of the time I thoroughly enjoy it. Yesterday the result was a poem. I've been writing poetry before, but many years ago, and only in Swedish, but back then I had nowhere to share my writings. Now I do, and that's why it ended up on my blog.

I've been counting down the days until I'm home again. It's a comforting feeling. I also got a few nice photos from my fiancée which warmed in the already 30 degrees celsius climate.

I miss you so much, and soon it's only two short weeks left.