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Arrival...
March 8, 2000
@Sea correspondent/
photographer,
Tim Calver |
Atol das Rocas -- There was no loud horn blast. Nobody in a crow's nest pointed toward the horizon and yelled "Land Ahoy!" Our arrival came to my awareness very gently this morning...I was spreading peanut butter across my bread and a palm tree drifted quietly past the porthole. |
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| At anchor in sixty feet of water, the Research Vessel SEWARD JOHNSON waits while an inflatable pulls along side. |
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Sometime during today's early hours, the Research Vessel SEWARD JOHNSON (RVSJ) had reached Atol das Rocas and was now swinging gently at anchor. |
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Bent by a lifelong struggle with the open-ocean wind, one of Rocas' six palm trees claims the atoll's high ground.
Debbie Abercrombie applies reflective tape to our channel markers, ensuring that they will be visible day and night.
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I took a look at Rocas from the bridge of our ship, and the first things I noticed were the trees. There are only six of them on the entire island, and their leaves hang down as if exhausted by a constant battle with the wind out here in the middle of the ocean. This is a very lonely-looking place.
Compared to our rough crossing from the port at Natal, the comparitively calm seas that prevailed in the lee of Rocas felt great. The crew, no longer battling seasickness, busied themselves preparing gear for the upcoming shark research. There were long nets to evaluate and mend -- scales, transport boxes and data books to assemble -- large reflective floats to prepare.
The sharks that Dr. Gruber wishes to study live in a sheltered interior lagoon, past the barrier rim of the atoll. In order to accomplish our research, the science team must navigate small boats through large waves and into a narrow, twisting, rocky channel. At mid-tide, when the water is really moving between the lagoon and the sea, the channel becomes a wild, rushing river. The only way to ensure safe passage is to mark a safe route with a series of guiding markers -- large floats, painted either green or bright red. The ship's crew and science crew teamed up to get the job done, dragging chains and shackles, and struggling against the current. It was an exhausting effort...even the 'simple' parts of the operation had to be performed while holding our breath and kicking hard to say in one place. The Brazilian crew members saved us hours of labor. Ricado Garla, Bertran Feitosa and Andrey Castro have threaded this channel countless times, and knew exactly where to place our floats. By evening, we had marked a clear route that could be followed at any time of the day. |
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