A confused sun

Isa Rosso

Glorious sky on ice

Days pass by, all quite similar to each other. CTDs starting at 6AM, then deployment of the phytoplankton net, LADCP in the afternoon, etc. They caught some more creatures that looked like something coming straight from your deepest nightmares, or dreams, depending what you like.

All quite similar. Except...

Sun(set/rise?) behind an iceberg

In these last days we had about two hours of twilight, “which is the space between day and night, and confuses the daylights out of you” (cit. co-chief Anoop). Still not completely darkness then. A few days ago, the sun still looked a bit confused, not sure if it was ready to set or rise. So it did both, in just 30 minutes of time in between. I must say, the bright orange sky, with the shiny tired sun behind some solitary iceberg, is a view that put a smile on my face, and a sense of immensity in my heart. 

 photo: Rakesh Rao
Me jumping with Ingrid (my guitar)

Often we celebrated this moment with a series of “click click click” from our cameras, and few songs, played and sung at the sun.

My afternoons are pretty set. At 3PM I usually head down to the gym to keep up with my boxing training, and then I get an ice hydration lolly from the clinic (Zoelle, you are the best!!!). A few people got interested in my “not-usual” activity and started joining me for my routine. Same as teaching science makes me understand more about my subject, training someone else in boxing makes me a better athlete. It’s fantastic! We have a lot fun, and I especially enjoy seeing their enthusiasm… and their tired faces 😄  

While working on a new project today one of the scientists, a very clever and hilarious guy, first appreciated my work, and then he said something about me at the gym, or at the computer writing codes, or at the lounge knitting beanies and pompoms, or outside taking photos, and ended with, “Isa, you are well rounded.” 😂 hahahahaha!! I said: “Well, I know I got a bit of new fluffiness with all this delicious food, but thanks!” 😉

UGH!!! I almost forgot…

Baby fin whale

We had the privileged experience of being visited for a while by a curious baby fin whale (now, I’m not entirely sure it was a fin whale -- you judge)!!! Swimming slowly around the bow, it looked like sometimes it was looking at us, curious to understand what sort of creature we were. My heart was pounding fast on my chest (probably also because I kept running from port to starboard and back for 30 minutes). It was a beautiful experience. Then big mama probably called him/her from far, and they both swam away. Today other whales came swimming next to the ship: baby whale must have spread the word of some funny animals floating around...

I never get tired of this view