I Don't Love the Ocean, I love the Coast (Part 3)

Leaving Paradise?

6 March 2009, 0530 hrs
I slept on Mitch's spare bed at the hotel rather than try to get an expensive cab back to the ship after the party and after our visit to the Irish Rose. The company probably would have reimbursed me for the cab since I was attending an IODP function, but this was easier anyway. There is no time for the $4 breakfast this morning, so I ask Mitch if we can hit a 7-11 or something on the way to the port. I have to get at least a diet coke in me, if I'm gonna be any account today at all. The coke fountain on the ship is not working yet.

We set Mitch's GPS to the nearest convenience store, which looks like it's a block away, but it seems to direct us over much of the island before leading us to a 7-11 just outside of Honolulu's China Town. China town is full of small shops and neighborhood restaurants. I can see fresh flowers in many of the windows and most have fresh leis for sale. I wish I had more time so I could visit this area.

We arrive back at the ship and I'm on board a little late for my shift, but before my boss arrives so I guess it's OK. We spend most of the day crossing over. He shows me the new layout of the ship, which is quite confusing if you've been on previous expeditions. The JR has been in the ship yard for about two years undergoing a refit. The bridge and what we call the hotel structure (quarters, galley, etc) plus the lab stack, have been removed and replaced with new facilities. The ship yard built these structures on land, then lifted the whole section onto the hull with giant cranes. The drilling derrick was removed and refurbished before being being re-installed on the ship as well. The drill floor aft is familiar, but forward I get lost. I think it would be easier finding my way around, had I never been on the JR before.

My primary purpose for being on this expedition is introducing new downhole temperature tools that our engineering group has developed during our hiatus from drilling. We send these dataloggers to the bottom of the hole and a little deeper to get an insitu temperature measurement. Our most common form of coring is APC (Advanced Piston Coring) which is like a 9 meter deep cookie cutter (or a pipe with a sharp end) that is shot into the mud and retrieved. One of temperature tools, the APCT3, is built cylindrically so that it fits into the wall of the APC cutting shoe. This way we get temperature measurement, plus a core on the same core line run. These can take up to an hour depending on water depth and on our expedition we have water depths near 5,000 meters. When the sediments get to hard for APC coring, we use a small drill bit to get core. In these cases we use a temperature tool called the SET (Sediment Temperature). The SET looks like a giant pencil or a spear with a temperature probe build into the tip. This tool is pushed into the bottom of the hole about 1 meter,but it requires a complete trip down the drill string without getting a core.

During the crossover, I am informed that I will also be working on our Rig Instrumentation System (RIS). We have had a similar RIS in the past, but this is a new installation, with mostly new sensors and and completely new data acquisition system. The RIS, monitors and records such information as weight of the drill string, torque and speed of the top drive (giant motor that turns the drill string), pressure of the pumps that push drilling mud down the drill string to firm up the hole we drill, depth of the bit and depth of the coring tools. My responsibility for this system is news to me.

10 March 2009, 1100 hrs
The last 5 days I have been working on RIS problems and general crossover duties. The ship has been loading supplies and tools while various vendors work on equipment such as the elevator and the coke fountain. Coring operations absolutely require an elevator under the new ship layout, because the core samples must be moved from level to level during processing ending up several floors down in the ships hold in a refrigeration unit. Up until now the elevator has had many problems. There is a sign on one of the doors that warns to verify the presence of the elevator before entering. My concern is with the coke machine. Two months without a coke would cause me great distress. At one point the Coast Guard shuts down our loading operation because we have gas cylinders, which are not allowed to be loaded at this dock. Some of these gas cylinders is the CO2 bottles for the coke fountain. I'm not leaving port without them. After an hour of discussions, we are allowed to procede loading gas bottle with a waiver for 24 hours. One of the vendors conspicuously missing from this port call is the RIS contractor. I am becoming painfully aware of the fact that this system is not operational as advertised.

Now, I am at the Salvation army store just across the street from Target. I have been to Target almost every day of the port call, buying last minute items like clothes, chocolate, potato chips, coffee, usb drives, batteries, extra pillow, sheet and blanket. The only cover supplied in my cabin is a thick comforter that looks more like a Japanese futon mattress than a cover. I am either hot or cold with that thing, so I bought my own. We have plenty of food on board , but not snack food, so the chips and chocolate. I realize after all this, that I don't have enough t-shirts or a single long sleeves shirt to work in, so that's why I'm at Salvation Army. There are racks and racks of Aloha shirts for about $4 each. These are the flowerdy Hawaiian shirts. I can pick some of them up on the way back home, but right now I need t-shirts. I pickup several for $2 each, one says "FBI Hawaii" two are Harley shirts and the fourth is a Hawaii Community Church shirt. The clerk is an older gentleman about 60, who seems to be annoyed that I am shopping there. Next door is the Salvation Army shelter, so there are many homeless people roaming around outside. There is liquor sold in every convenience store, grocery store, etc., but not at the Target across the street. I am told that it is because of the street people near by.

Shore leave ends at 1400 hrs today and the ship is scheduled to depart at 1500 hrs. I meet up with the other Target shoppers from our crew and we head towards the port, but with a major stop along the way. Sam Choy's Breakfast Lunch and Crab is our last point of civilization, last meal off the ship and last beer for a long while. We sit in what looks like a fishing boat mock up and I'm on the transom with no back rest. Just where I want to be, on a boat , before I have to be on a boat. I have the "Da Lava Burger", crabcake, one half pound certified angus beef and cheese for $14.95 and it's not that great. Add in two, brewed on site, Kakaako Cream Ale pints to make it a $25 lunch, but like I said it's the last for a long time.

A group of us were in Sam Choy's bar last night and the night before. It's hidden in a small room to the far left of the restaurant and I much prefer it over the fishing boat. This is a brew pub and facing away from the bar you can see the big copper brewing pots. The brewery named the Big Aloha Brewing Company, sells five handcrafted beers brewed on premises:Kakaako Cream Ale,Ehu Ale,Hefe-Weizen, Kiawe Honey Porter and James Cook Indian Pale Ale. Both nights I purchased a sampler platter with 5 ounces of each beer for about $8. All were excellent beers ranging from light to very dark. Tuesday night, the last night in port, we added a few tropical drinks to our tab. I figured, you can't come to Hawaii without having a MaiTai. I guess I started something again, cause the girls had to have one. Then someone ordered a Mango Mojito and it looked so refreshing with the mint leaves sticking out the top, that I was compelled to try one myself. Luckily, Sam Choy's closes at 10:00 pm so we were on our way back to the ship before any real damage was done. The only injuries I am aware of are a few small skin punctures from a tiny plastic drink sword fight that broke out somewhere between the guard shack and the JR.

10 March 2009, 1330 hrs
Me and my shopping expedition are back on the ship, with time to spare. Preparations for departure are underway and I'm starting to get butterflies in my stomach. Last minute discussions take place with those people who are not sailing, some of them will be crossing over with us at the next port call, others are only here for this port call. Someone says, "See you on the other side." I wonder if they mean the other side of this expedition or the after life. The butterflies are stirring more. The announcement comes, "All ashore that's going ashore." I think for a while about going ashore and calling it quits. But then I think of the bills piling up and somehow, my will power kicks in just enough and I change my focus to other things.

10 March 2009, 1420 hrs
Most of the scientist and technicians have gathered on the top of the bridge awaiting our departure. Pictures are taken of the mountains behind Waikiki and pictures are taken of the people waiting down on the dock to wave goodbye and of the line handlers and of the tug boats that are approaching to haul us away. The captain is walking around in front of and on the wings of the bridge with a hand held radio, giving commands to the ships crew. Crew busy themselves near the spring lines. Nervous excitement abounds among the scientist. They act as if they are going off to summer camp. You can see that many have made new friends and a few seem to be already on the path to new romantic relationships, if only for the two months. The crane engine starts up and shortly later begins to raise it's boom. The cable is lowered to the gangway. The crew attach the cables and are busy with the pins that attach the gangway to the JR. The cable is pulled taught and all are aboard. The crane engine races a bit, the pins are pulled and the gangway jumps free. As it is raised to it's stowage place on deck, I feel a sickness in my stomach. There is no turning back now, lest I jump. The tug boat engines rev a bit pushing the JR closer to the dock. Line handlers throw the lines into the water as ships crew pull them in.

10 March 2009, 1500 hrs
Last lines are off. The tugs are pulling us away from the dock. As we get further into the harbor, we can see Diamond Head through two building, which the locals call the twin paper clips. Just outside the harbor we can see the resorts and beaches and water front restaurants. The tugs are still guiding us along as we clear the channel markers into open water. The JR drops the tug lines and we are on our own. A few miles off shore and maybe four mile south of Honolulu Harbor, we turn into the wind and slow the screws until we are at a dead stop. We are waiting for a boat, which looks like a converted amphibious landing craft, to come along side. Mitch is on board this craft directing the transfer of our radioactive sources that we use in some of the downhole logging tools. Because of the dock we used, we were not allowed to load radioactive material there. This is the best alternative. The crane lowers a basket called a Billy Pugh to the smaller boat. The cargo is placed inside and lifted aboard. The landing craft turns toward Honolulu as Mitch waves goodbye. We start forward again and turn to the southwest. Many pictures are taken. Some folks ask if I will take their picture with Diamond Head in the background. I take a series of photos that I will stitch together into a panorama of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head.

The overall mood is jovial. My mood is restrained. Honolulu looks much prettier from out here than it does amongst the tall buildings. I am told Kauai is the island to visit; no tall building. In a few hours there will be no land in sight. I am discussing twitter with our education outreach person. She is trying to use a lot of internet resources to get the message out. We still have cell phone coverage so I show her that you can send twitter update via text message. She asks me to make sure I include the JR in my tweet. I only want to get my thoughts out there so maybe they don't eat me up from inside. I pull out my cell phone and text to 40404.

"As diamond head shrinks in the distance, the swell rises beneath the JOIDES Resolution, my long journey begins."