NAAMES-II Expedition: May 22, 2016

Ups and Downs

Life on the ship.
Up at midnight,
Half awake in the dark,
My feet feel for the
Steps of the ladder down my bunk,

And my hands for the clothes piled up from last night.
Up one deck to main lab,
And another to the galley,
For a well needed cup of coffee.

Down to main lab, while
Down into the ocean goes the CTD

And up back onto the deck.
Up goes the new experiment,
And down goes yesterday’s,
As the sun appears over the horizon.

Down and down and down goes the water through the filters.
Ah, will breakfast ever come?
Down and down and down goes the water through the filters.
Did the plankton go up?
Or did predators take it down?
That’s what we’re up all night trying to understand.
Bottles, samples, numbers, numbers, write it all down…

Up to the library for the science meet,
To hear what’s up for the next few days.
Wind has picked up.
Up and down the waves we’ll go.

It’s in the forecast, but it will calm down.

Down time for food,
Energy’s down…
I may climb back up into my bunk
And just lie down.

Instead, up I crank the FlowCAM
And watch the images of plankton
Down from the sea, up onto my screen.
I perk up from their beauty.

In a makeshift dark cabin,
Up and down the numbers on the fluorometer go,
Measuring chlorophyll, one tube at a time.
Numbers, numbers, write it all down!

Up to the galley for a last cup of tea, and
Back up in my bunk, at last.
Up and down the waves we go.
Life on the ship.

Written by Françoise Morison