Made it to Kodiak

Got out of bed at 3 am friday, four flights and 18 hours later, I arrived
in Kodiak. we immediately checked into hotel, and went out drinking. By
the time I finally made it to bed, I had been up for almost 27 hours, and
had travelled over 5000 miles, and I did it all on 3 hours sleep.
Temperature in Kodiak was about 15, but it topped out above freezing, with
the sun shining all day and the wind howling. We walked around town and
explored a small park with some hiking trails. The people we saw were
pretty much what I expected. Hats, parkas, and heavy boots were the
uniform for pretty much everybody. I felt overdressed a little. The town
itself was beautiful, with the mountains coming right down to the little
harbor full of dormant fishing boats.

Saturday we left to civility of the hotel for the starkness of the ship.
I am bunking with two other scientists in a triple bunk stateroom. When I
roll over in bed, my elbow hits the bottom of the bunk above me. Pretty
tight. The coast guard crew has been extremely helpful, mostly by giving
directions to most everybody. The ship is just plain confusing, even by
coast guard standards. We lashed down all of our gear, as we expect to
encounter some rough seas before we hit the ice in a couple of days. they
estimate we will be rolling to about 35 or 40 degrees with the waves we
will be hitting.

Sunday morning we left at 8am, under sunny skies and light winds, with a
sea otter and two of her cubs alongside the boat. A few safety meetings,
emergency procedures, scientist meetings, and tech briefs, and we're left
to ourselves. For the next four days. Expect frequent updates.

Lovin' it so far,
Steve