Good morning. Or something.

I feel like I'm in a time warp. We are getting ready for the second shift of the overnight seal survey, so I just slept from 7pm-10pm, then got up so I would be totally awake for the survey, which starts at midnight. Apparently I'm the only one with this idea, because the house is completely empty. I assume everyone else is asleep, although I suppose I can only be sure of Christine, who is my roommate. Anyway, it's kind of eerie, and it feels like 4 or 5 am, not 10 pm. Whatever.

So first of all, here's a link to a picture (that I clearly didn't take) of the half-seal. Let me know if you can't see it. Also, be warned that it's kind of graphic. It is, after all, half a seal.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1576246&id=681720545

(Okay mom just told me that this picture is also on the SAMPLA website, and you can also read Justin's account of the attack and also what we're doing at the aquarium, which I worked on yesterday: http://samplablog.blogspot.com/)

Ryan's girlfriend was taking pictures on the boat for National Geographic, which were pretty much all of Ryan (I got asked to move when I ended up in one). But I did make it into this one, which sort of gives you an idea of the boat and stuff:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1576248&id=681720545

Okay. So... I haven't written, not because it hasn't been interesting, but because it's kind of been more of the same. I did a really pleasant seal survey yesterday; just listened to my ipod and watched the sun come up. I'm not really supposed to upload pictures (we have limited internet) but as I haven't sent any, I figured I could get away with one if I made it small enough. Therefore, I apologize for the low resolution.


That is the view of Mossel Bay from the hotel where we do the seal watches. Our house is pretty much all the way at the end of that point. While I'm at it, here's a chumming picture.


Notice that my feet are in a bucket of fish soup. The process was described to me as making wine, but with dead fish instead of grapes. One person pretty much spends the day mixing up the fish in sea water with their feet, then uses a bucket to pour out small amounts of the concoction to attract the sharks, then gets more water and starts again. It was a little uncomfortable to have a hang over hit me (we went out Thursday night, it wasn't a bad hang over, but I could feel it) as I'm half-way up to my knees in dead fish and anchored downwind of Seal Island, which is home to like 4000 seals and seriously smells like the worst zoo I've ever smelled times three. Not to mention, being on a boat hung over is not that pleasant. Luckily, it was not that bad, and a really nice day out there.

PS for the seal survey tonight, we will also be right by Seal Island. The smell is weird, you don't notice it 80% of the time, then it hits you like a wall as the boat moves or the wind changes. We'll see how it goes. So we're supposed to have sleeping shifts, which will be inside what is pretty much a large cabinet on the boat. (Ryan got all offended when I said I was used to working on bigger boats. I told him his boat was perfectly adequate.) I tend to have no problem sleeping on boats, so hopefully it won't be a bad night. I intend to wear every article of clothing I own, including the hat I just finished and high socks and gloves (I know, Mom) that I bought today. I think other than the cold, it should be pretty low-key. As far as I know, we're basically just using night-vision goggles to watch for seals coming to or leaving from the island. Shouldn't be hard, especially since you can hear them splashing as well. And I'll be crossing my fingers for some predation.

So what else? Had fun chumming today, I was on bait rope, which basically means playing keep-away with big sharks. We have a ball of fish heads and small sharks on a rope, which I have to watch all day in case a shark comes up, and use it to get the shark into position to take pictures of it's dorsal fin. But we try not to feed the sharks, for both ecological and economic reasons, so there's sort of an art to it. No sharks got my bait, but they also didn't try very hard.

I guess I can write about life in Mossel Bay, since everyone is still asleep or on the boat. It's pretty nice here, they definitely treat the interns very well, unlike some other companies for which I have been an intern (*cough cough* Broadreach). This week apparently has been much busier than most, but I still have a decent amount of free time, although it is usually at weird times of day. Like today, when I worked from 7am-noon, then was free until midnight. But it's not bad. We have all of our food provided, a woman cooks us dinner, and then we have sandwich stuff and things like that around the house for breakfast and lunch. She also cleans and makes our beds, which I think is sort of a waste of time, but nice I guess. We send out all our laundry once a week, which we pay for, but it's pretty cheap. Everything around here is actually pretty cheap-- I was amazed when a round of five beers and a mixed drink cost like 60 rand, which is less than 10 dollars (it's about 7.5 rand to a dollar at the moment). The town is pretty small, but there are some fun bars, and a decent grocery store and stuff. A few of us belong to the gym in town, which is pretty nice, and something to do during our off hours. I've also been running, which is tough because the town is very hilly, but it is also mostly very pretty. What else... everyone gets along very well, sometimes the house is full of people and loud and fun, sometimes it is dead quiet, just depending on what's going on. But there's usually at least someone around to go to the gym with or into town.

Okay I think this is getting boring now. Amy is up now, anyway, and Ryan and James will probably get here in a few minutes. Time to start layering up!