By David Schlaphorst
Part 1: Morning
First of all, I should say that I shouldn’t be here. A research vessel like the Mário Ruívo is no place for a child. The whole ship is build as a workplace and the crew is really working 24 hours every day in different shifts. And sometimes it can actually be dangerous. There are many places to trip or bump your head or – in the worst case – fall into the water. But let’s assume that I’m on the ship now, travelling along with all the different people on board.
Safety on board of the Mário Ruívo.
I wake up in my cabin on the third floor before the sun rises, early in the morning. It was not my alarm that woke me up but a bottle that fell off the table because of a large wave that rocked the boat. I should have remembered not to put anything on the table during these nights with large waves. We normally put everything on the floor – our water bottle, our books, our computer – the floor of the cabin is crowded with stuff. Sometimes, we even take our mattress off the bed and put it on the floor. That way we can sleep in the direction of the boat movement, so that the waves rock us from side to side and not from head to toe.
I look out of my window and see the horizon glowing in faint red. Another twenty minutes, then the sun will be climbing above the horizon line. From here, without any buildings, trees or hills in the way, the horizon is always more than 30km away in any direction. But on days with bad weather and rain the horizon line is blurred and not as sharp as on clear days. And when we have many clouds like today, we will not see the sun.
Horizon sharp on a clear and blurred on a rainy day.
Large waves roll under the boat and some of them are high enough to splash onto the deck. Sometimes we leave the doors on the first floor to the outside deck open over night – there is nobody in the middle of the ocean, who could come in. We also always have the captain or the chief mate on the bridge keeping watch. But today, all those doors are shut to keep the inside dry. These are heavy doors with multiple handles to keep them in place even in strongest winds
The heavy doors to the outside deck have six large door handles to keep it safely shut in bad weather.
It doesn’t matter that I am awake already, because breakfast starts really early on the ship. At first on our cruise we were going to the west, from Portugal to the Azores, which are in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, half way between Europe and America. But on the ship, we do not change the clocks, we keep them on Lisbon time. The further we go to the west, the later the sun rises for us. In Lisbon it was around 6:30 in the morning, west of the Azores we only get it after 8.
The canteen is in the ship’s “cellar”, so I have to go down many staircases. The stairs are not like in normal houses, they are way steeper and almost closer to ladders. And if that wasn’t enough, the boat is rocking from side to side. Always keep at least one hand on the railing, better even two. I reach the canteen, which is so low on the ship that it would be mostly underwater if the walls and windows weren’t waterproof. While sitting and eating I can see the water splashing against the small bull’s eye windows and covering them completely. For a second you think you are sitting in a submarine.
The steep stairs of the ship are closer to ladders – and be careful with your head! The bull’s eye windows of the canteen turning to submarine windows.
Once I finish my breakfast, I will go to the “wet lab” the place where the different parts that make an OBS are tested. But I will tell that story next time.
