Styrofoam

Today the crew did a REALLY cool thing! We had a super deep cast for
a CTD today at about 2780 meters. At this depth (probably any depth
over 1000m) the pressure of the water is so great that it pushes all
of the air out of anything that goes down. We drew with sharpies on
styrofoam cups and then sent them down attached to the CTD in a net
laundry bag. When they came back up they were about a third the
size! It's really neat. I am sure you could do this in any ocean at
a depth greater than a 1000m, but I think this is one of the coolest
fun discoveries we've had so far. When you are stuck on a boat being
serious 7 days a week for 12 hour shifts you have to find neat things
like this to de-stress and rejuvenate your mind.

A couple of nights ago the tip of an erasable marker fell off so we
glued it to my nose and drew on whiskers and cat ears to make me a
kitty. One of the MTs (Marine Technician) came in and started
cracking up. Everyone got a kick out of that. So we drew him a big
unibrow to make him a cave man because he has messy hair and a big
beard. My roommate, Steph who is gorgeous and blonde, got a mustache
and a "soul patch." We all laughed so hard we had to walk out of the
room to look at something other than each other. I was surprised at
what a great reaction we got from everyone, even the serious head
researcher types. Like I said, everyone needs a little break from
being serious all the time in order to appreciate what they have.