Foundation I - Day Seven
Updated: Oct 8
Allowing the weather to calm we had a bit of a lazy morning, especially as the crew had been up late ensuring our return to safe and calm waters. Sometimes it takes more than just those on watch to facilitate action and this crew were always completely willing.
Ian gave us all a lovely talk and showed his videos about Barnacle Geese goslings and their intrepid bid for freedom from preying gulls, as they leapt off enormously high cliffs, bouncing off the shear faces in order to reach safety and rejoin their parents. Needless to say there were many unfortunate casualties - but a great talk!
Seas were now as calm as we'd experienced, as we finally turned the northwest corner of the islands and made our journey south. The talk was of picking up connectivity with civilisation and this was universally met with some sadness and subdued feelings of inevitability. It's strange how being completely cut off from communications, mobile phones, email, texts, etc. save for our emergency satellite links, can make living feel simpler and less stressed or pressured.
The evening was spent with Jamie giving us all a talk on him enduring the pandemic year of 2020 - very emotional, witty and amusing; a clever combination - great talk.
Those that know me will tell you that when it comes to training and expeditioning I like to do my homework! (Which is ironic because I never did it at school). And Foundation Expedition I and II was always about this. Finding out what it will take to make the combination of scientist, citizen scientist and crew to work together to achieve our exploratory aims.
An expedition on the ocean was always going to make me feel uncomfortable and out of my comfort zone - a fish out of water!
Firstly, (truth be told) I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to participant's safety and am used, therefore, to calling the shots; planning, altering and making up the programme as any training or expedition progresses.
Onboard a ship, where (quite rightly), the captain calls the shots and is ultimately and wholly in charge, means this is taken away from me and when people come up to me and ask what is the plan for today (people always like to know this) I can't tell them and they expect me to know (think I'm stupid).
So, what I quickly learnt was to keep your captain as close to you as possible, so you have a real idea of what he is thinking and feeling. Rasmus was entirely accommodating and by the end of the expeditions we were working together, brilliantly - at least I thought so........series to be continued in future blogs.