August 1, 2012
Spa night!
There is not much to do on a research vessel. Things can get old pretty quick. So we try to change things up every now and then. The other night was one of those nights. Some of the scientists dressed up in bench coat (stuff we put down on our lab benches to soak up spills) outfits and setup different spa stations. In the picture above we can see one such station. This was the mud facial station and this mud is very unique. It is from 4500 meters deep in the ocean!!! One group out here is collecting sediment cores and they had some left over mud for us to use. There are a lot of little shells and tests in it so it can help exfoliate our tired faces and since it is from mud that is under really deep water it has very little to no organic material in it so it’s not smelly at all. So after you get your mud you can move to the next station where you can get a massage. Once all that tension is gone there is a nail painting station and on this cruise even the guys took part in it. This was because we crossed the equator and as part of the ritual we had to paint our nails (at least one on our hands and one on our toe). More about this later. I probably would have done it anyway just because its fun to take part in everything. There is music and dancing going on as well. Something to take our mind off of science for a while. Finally you can get some ink from a fellow cruiser at the tattoo station. I got a squid.
I attached few pictures to give you an idea of what went down. Now that I am off the boat I have real internet and can do that now.
All pictures were courtesy of Lance.