quiet ship

not much happening around here on account of the weather, which has
foiled a mooring recovery, a mooring deployment, and several CTD
stations which we were looking to complete in the far northern Ross
Sea. we are now on our way back to near mcmurdo to start on a cross
section of the ocean in front of the Ross Ice Shelf. But we're
moving slowly because the 50 knot winds which we've been sailing
through for the past two days are coming directly at us from the
south. We have a TV station devoted to our progress which
automatically updates the distance and time to our next destination,
but it's been getting longer throughout the day. the winds were
worse yesterday but the waves are worse today. we are launching
right off the face of a wave and crashing into the next wave, sending
spray over the bow and up to the bridge (which is a great place to
watch from). liz and I were into a show on TLC last year called
deadliest catch, about crab fisherman in the Bering Sea. the view
out the window reminds me of the show -- ice covered surfaces,
horizontal snow, etc. also it's kind of similar because I'm sitting
around in my shorts watching it.

aside from the ups and downs, I'm totally comfortable -- eating good
food, getting some reading done, writing email. better than hauling
in traps for sure.