Astronauts in the Ocean
Location: Port Denarau, Fiji
This morning many of us woke up to watch the sunrise over the mountains of Fiji for the first time. It was not too challenging to wake everyone up since we are all still relatively jet-lagged from our long travel day yesterday. As we were all mentally preparing to eat breakfast, the Fijian Navy showed up early to give us our first round of COVID-19 tests. After we were all finally tested, we were able to sit down and eat breakfast. After breakfast, we had a policy meeting where we went over the student code of conduct again. After we did that, we had some downtime before lunch, where we were able to finish both the check-in process and unpacking. We then ate lunch and learned about some of the safety gear aboard the boat. As a part of the learning process, we all had a competition to see who could put on the red Gumby Suit (immersion suits) the fastest. Once we all successfully got out of the Gumby Suits, we then got more acquainted with Argo in a vessel walkthrough. We were separated into 4 groups and rotated through different stations aboard Argo. We learned about different parts of the boat and what can be expected of us in each location. One of my biggest takeaways is to not underestimate the water-tight doors, especially when we are underway. After the vessel walkthrough, we had an amazing burrito dinner, and since it is Cole's birthday today, we also had cake!
Pictured: Sunrise this morning; Ian putting on his Gumby suit; Megan and Caleigh putting on their Gumby suits; Pierce was a fierce contender for first place; all of us in our immersion suits!