Half way through the night something was banging and i needed to use the loo ... or the Head as its called onboard ... so i slid down from my bunkbed ensuring i don't drop the 1m height and just round the corner ...conveniently ... is the bathroom. As i approached i could see that the medicine chest box door was open and banging as the boat rocked to and fro ... so i quickly figured out how to securely close and lock it in place not to break or even worse wake me up again. Having releaved myself i swithced off the lights and made way back to bed ... stopping by the kitched which is some 2m the other way, and got a small bottle of water to sip and keep by my bedside ... dont't remember anything else ... must have slept right away.
At around 6am i peeked out of the porthole but it was still dark and so i quickly turned around, tucked the sheet around me, and slept again ... only to wake up by some movement on deck an hour later. As i pierced my eyes to look at the now lightened up porthole i saw a small island as we went past it ... it was the size of il-Gebla tal-General ... not bigger ... but isolated ... so was very nice to see ...
I quickly jumped out of bed, shorts & t-shirt, flipflops and ran back to the stern deck to see what's happening. 'Bom Dia ... Bom Dia' ... we're approaching 'Angra' the first and most picturesque port of Terciera island ... looks like in a painting in an old fisherman's hut ... fantastic!
As i walked back to the bedroom i noticed that the chef had placed the breakfast stuff on the table, so i sat down to some apple juice, 2 pieces of toast with ham and cheese, and a glass of milk ... while the others were preparing coffee. We were approaching the jetty and the rising activity meant that we were going to berth there for some reason.
As we approached the jetty i could see 2 guys with some luggage and heavy boxes waiting ... ah there are the Lisbon guys ... they must have landed in Terciera directly and then we pick them up to proceed further. They boarded together with all their stuff and introduction were made. The younger of both, Rui, is the researcher from Lisbon doing the Geological study, while the older bearded guy is a Geology professor from Barcelona who is collaboration with Rui and brought all the equipment to perform the survey.
As soon as the stuff was sorted on deck we all returned to breakfast ... well i was just there to socialise as i was done with breakfast. From what i could gather the Spanish professor was here to help set up the equipment and ensure its functionable and then leave as his mother is in hospital, while myself, Markus, and Rui will continue with the Geological survey ... cool :) Another thing i gathered was that they were discussing sleeping arrangments and had decided that they too will occupy too beds from the bottom bedroom :) still alone in my portholed bedroom ... wicked! :)
Right after breakfast and accommodation sorting we started to unpack the geological surveying kit ... everybody lending a hand ... so it was a nice bonding exercise where we helped each other as a team ... these small activities are incredibly helpful and delightfully entertaining.
Plotter, PC, power supplies, cables, sort of sonar with side buoyancy tubes, more cables, electronic equipment and other geological stuff that must cost a fortune were skillfully removed from their rugged packing and placed either on deck or in an operating room close to the stern of the boat ... during this time we had left the port of Angra and was making way to the next port of Praia da Vitoria still in Terciera. This is a big and more commercial port, and as i stand next to the captain I check the different instruments being employed apart from the auto pilot. We berth easily and locals stop by to have a look at the new comers. Close by is a single building but crew members quickly make way to it ... and i follow suit :)
Its a fish selling place whre fisherman push in their catches and these are auctioned in a very high-tech way ... not as i used to see in Kelibia, Tunisia. An automated belt carries the different containers which are automatically weighed and displayed on a big screen together with the type of fish entered by an operator ... this picks up the current price and sets a base value to start betting. The audience have consoles that the fish market hands out and they privately place a bid ... the system chooses the highest bid and automatically issues a ticket with the highest bidder and dispatches it onto the box ... off to the next. What was interesting for me was to watch the variety of fish being tendered as well as the beauty of big catches even though i'd rather see them alive & fining.
Back to the boat and everyone is going round in circles ... so i quickly escape to my room and make an entry into the log while the crew are sorting out some technicalities.
Its lunchtime and the chef is calling all to the Galley ... stainless steel plates and plastic cups ... i guess they're used to rolling and stuff flying all over. So what's for lunch?
Nice soup ... like tal-Gharmla ... but so crowded ... then nice chunks of meat ... majjal i think ... with potatoes ... and guess what? Spaghetti! :) left boiling like 15mins extra beyond al dente ... :) Then some fruit salad made by the chef and a nice espresso ... even some grappa. It was good. During this same time i was trying to make conversation with the German guy in English, with Spanish guy in Italian and Spanish, with Lisbon guy in Spanish and English, and the crew members in broken English ... still we understood each other in some way ... i hope.
As soon as lunch was over the crowd spilled onto the stern deck where we watched some nice sized mulet chasing left over bread we were throwing over board. We also had some bamboo stick with a simple line and hook ... so we all had a go at some fishing. Amazingly i had 2 successes and quickly patted the fish on the head and threw it back in ... no way i'm going to kiss it.
Its after lunch and i cornered Rui to tell me what the plan was ... basically he needed some stuff from this place before going out at sea ... so at least we're having some action today. Then tomorrow the Spanish professor will be leaving while we continue much of the same. Since we'll be only 3 then we'll have a specific job to do ... and that makes a hell of a difference ... that at least we get some hands on.
Its seems to be siesta time ... much of the crew are retrieving to their bunk beads ... so i can get back to my blog.
Time to make a move and try out the equipment ... perfect example of Murphy's law ... took us 2 hrs to get something working ... the Spanish and the Potughese were in a pickle ... no idea what was going wrong ... the German and the Maltese are at their backs ... GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!!
We're just outside the port of Praia da Vitoria at shallow depths as 14m and the bottom scanner give 2D plot seems to be working ... but the Lisbon guy still hasn't sorted out the software he is using ... the GIS component seems to be in conflict ... Spain 1 Portugal 0 ... Malta and Germany are playing a friendly.
Not much has been achieved ... apparently the Spanish instrument is bust as well ... so its a draw ... not 1-1 but back to 0-0 if even possible ... crazy spending so much money on such expeditions and the equipment is not functioning as it should be ... and even worse they dont have a backup. The only option i guess is to sleep over it and figure out how to get around the problem tomorrow morning ... we're off back to the port ... captain has called it a day.
Time to relax and back to the cabin ... reading, blogging, listening to music ... and its time for lunch ... fish tonight.
The chef already proved himself at lunchtime ... but dinner was great ... water melon was sweet ... and coffee was much needed. Helped out to clear the table and distribute coffee together with Markus ... they appreciated ... i'd rather not being served all the time.
After lunch i decided to grab the iPod and go for a long walk by the harbour of Praia da Vitoria to digest the food ... enjoyed the walk and the music ... got back to the Arquipelago before it got dark ... watched the King's Speech on my laptop ... and prepared to go to sleep ... let's hope it's a productive day tomorrow.
Good night.
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