Daily Routine

Although life on the E/V Nautilus is hectic, stressful, and tiring, there are times on the ship when I feel relaxed and well rested. This morning, as usual, I awoke at 3:30 AM to attend my 4 A.M. watch. This first thing done upon wake up is to take a shower, get in uniform, and get supplied with snacks and drinks for the upcoming four hour shift.

Once in the control van, the job begins. Everyone in the van is responsible for keeping an eye on the side-scan sonar. Another responsibility of being on watch is to "entertain" audience listening in on the live broadcast.  Conversations are to be pertinent to the scientific topic at hand (although deviations from this rule are very frequent!) .  Members of the watch are also responsible for answering any questions sent in via the Nautilus Live website.

After watch is over, I enjoy my egg, bacon, sausage, potato, and yogurt breakfast....with freshly squeezed orange juice. Usually I will take a quick nap (which is well deserved) and return to the lounge fully rested. Once in the lounge, it's time to blog, read, watch a movie, or compile pictures for the website. 

Lunch is from 11:30 to 12:30 and is usually beef or chicken with a pasta and veggies. After lunch, it's fun to relax and get to know the crew by playing card games, backgammon, and simply chilling and watching the waves on the deck. 

The second watch of the day is from 4:00 to 8:00 P.M. We do the same thing as the morning watch; 

however, we have a brief relief for dinner at 5:30. Dinner is usually the same type of foods at lunch, but there is more food. After dinner, everyone on my sleeping schedule is absolutely wiped out so we all pass out in our rooms as soon as our heads hit our pillows. 

The everyday routine is not written in stone, however. Almost everyday there is some sort of wrinkle to the schedule, whether it be a Herk launch or a transit to a different section of the Black Sea. If you want to survive on the Nautilus, you must learn to adapt to the situation and be flexible with anything that happens on board. Life on the Nautilus is hectic, but in the best way possible!