Day 38 Weekly Update: Stuck between a rock and a hard place

On occasion I've use the phrase before, but never had I had a real sense of the meaning till our present situation.

This is now my 38th day out at sea. We have had an amazing trip so far. We’re now returning home from Dakar, Senegal back to good’ol Rhode Island. The journey has been great in so many ways, fantastic in others, and just insane at a few moments.

Our journey is now in the home stretch. We are finally going home, but now we find ourselves confronted by yet another surprise; not one, not two, but three hurricanes of varying magnitudes! One to the west (Danielle), another to the south-west (Earl), and the last is directly south of our location. The last hasn’t been named yet, but for the purposes of this blog, I will call her Fahvoom.

Going north is not an option from where we are; there is a massive low pressure system, and plus, were not going that route anyways. In so many words, we're boxed-in like Foreman had Ali in Kinshasa, if you see what I’m saying.

We need to go west to get home, and in our path are three hurricanes which no-one here wants to fight with. I think these old-time sailors have lost their ways personally. They’re all crying-n-moaning about our fortunes; I say sail onwards straight through, Rrrrrrrr.

Who cares about getting bounced around a “little” anyways?

These storms are kind of like boxing matches. A brawl here-n-there won’t kill anyone. SO WHAT if were inside a tin can potentially getting our faces smashed into the walls. We’ll fill our stomachs with boiled potatoes and strap ourselves in at night to sleep.

Big deal; if the Titanic can sail across the Atlantic, so can we!The opponent in this match isn’t wearing gloves! But hey, it’s just a little wind; and when did a little wind hurt anyone last? If Dorothy can handle an Oklahoma City tornado and make it to OZ; I certainly think we can do the same!

Side Note: Excerpt from a conversation I had earlier on in the week. Bruce the 2nd Mate says to me “Boats like the Endeavor can handle un-imaginable sea conditions. It’s usually the people in them that can’t handle it. They just can’t hold it together yah cee. They wind-up jumping ship thinking that all is lost. After these boats have been abandoned, they’re usually found right-side-up in great condition!

Stay cool Endeavor, stay cool, ice cold.

In the last 48 hours, a number of different strategies (rumors) have been proposed and several tacks have already been made to avoid the rougher conditions to the north and west. We've slowed from 12 to 9 knots (nautical mile per hour), changed course from a northerly 310 degrees (R.I) to a westerly 270 degrees (V.A), attempting to split in between the two storm systems. Can you imagine that? See picture up above: Grey dot is the R/V Endeavor.


In so many words we're playing cat and mouse with three hurricanes. Danielle is a cat, Earl is cat and the third is just getting stronger as I write. You guessed it, we’re the mouse in this picture folks. We’re trying to cross from Danielle’s eastern front and continue going westward towards Rhode Island. I could have never imagined this kind of scenario playing out; were trying to avoid Danielle while simultaneously trying to dodge Earl who’s leading edge is just south of us. Fahvoom (nameless tropical depression) is immediately behind hurricane Earl and the more we stall, the more Fahvoom closes in on us. The more we avoid Danielle the worst things can potentially get.

On another note; work has continued, but is now much slower than past weeks. I do my rounds on the ship. I monitor the science equipment, the refrigeration units, flow through water system, and the data that we continue to collect (i.e. depth, ADCP, and Meteorological).

The science work has now shifted to other, more passive projects. We continue to filter water in the wet-lab. A second device, we continue to tow behind the ship while we transit. It's called a tow-fish and it looks like a mini torpedo. It's weighs in at about 80 lbs and it's used to stabilize a sampling device which rides along side it.

Our journey back takes us through the Sargasso Sea. This area of the Atlantic is known because of its uniqueness and central location between the continents. In simplistic terms, it’s like a vortex and there isn't much life around. I’m told that all the plastic bottles which we use and throw away, wind up funneling into this area. I’ve had an eye out, but I still haven’t seen any Coca Cola bottles yet.

We’re tasked to collect some of this water for further analysis at MIT. We will also deploy another solo float, which I’ve mentioned in earlier post.

Ship/Cruise Track: http://techserv.gso.uri.edu/EndeavorNow.asp