“Sing me another song of the sea, it’s the only thing left that comforts me.”-Dylan Summers, My Life in Black and White
Here we are. I couldn’t avoid it any longer. The day had finally come for us to fly back to Maryland. Just as quickly as we arrived, we were now departing the ship that carried us across the Bering Sea and back again. I was thankful that we had already done all our packing and cleaning because it wouldn’t have been too much fun with the headache I had from the fun of the previous night. As we loaded our luggage into one of the pickups, I thought about all of the incredible people that I had met on the trip. I knew it would be difficult to leave, but it’s all part of the game with scientific field work. In order to keep my sanity, I kept thinking about the warm summer weather and regular sleep we would be returning to. As we waited for the plane I fell asleep leaning against my back pack. Once again Rachel saved my butt by staying awake and letting me know that it was time to board.
As the plane started up to take off, I remembered the wild feeling I had when we arrived. Leaving civilization and going to sea was almost like traveling to another dimension. The world may be getting smaller in the sense that we can connect and share information from anywhere around the globe. But, the more we explore the natural world, the more doors we open for further exploration. Until humans can absolutely describe every natural process on Earth, the knowledge of the planet will always be getting larger. Looking out the window we can see mountains of the Aleutian Island Chain. Huge Glaciers can be seen slowly making their way down the face of the mountain. There may be discoveries within an Aleutian volcanoes down the road that provide new insight on the formation of the continents or the history of life. So long as we don’t loose our curiosity, the world can be as big as we want it to be.Landing in Anchorage the air is an inviting 80 degrees. At last I finally feel like summer has arrived. This is also a good transition to the 90+ degree high humidity weather in Maryland. Normally we would be able to pick up our bags and head to
the next flight, but waiting for luggage from a PenAir flight is always an adventure. We were hopeful that the cooler would make it on our flight because it was only half full. It could be a big problem if it took any extra time to get the valuable samples back to the freezers at the lab. After all of the available luggage had been unloaded, our cooler and none of our suitcases made it on the plane. In my frustration I thought back to Pop Star Aaliyah’s tragic death from a plane crash in an overloaded jet, so I guess it is not so bad to have strict weight limits. Rachel in all her wisdom gave us a five hour window between flights so we have time to wait for the freight airplane to bring our luggage. Thankfully it was only an hour or so until the next freight flight and all our luggage arrived safely. I don’t remember much from the next flight back to the lower 48 states. Only that I fell asleep in a couple minutes and had no interest in watching the in flight movie.Our final leg from Minneapolis to DCA was one of the most anxious flights I had been on since I was a youngster. I was not quite tired enough to fall asleep, inspired by all of my new experiences, sad to be
leaving such an amazing place, and excited to get home and start looking at all the samples we had collected. Our cooler was intact after the long travel period and Rachel and I breathed a collective sigh of relief. Our lab mate Jessica Faux picked us up at the airport in one of the lab’s state vehicles. While loading our bags into the van I had never so thoroughly enjoyed the DC summer humidity. I could feel my blood temperature rise back to normal. First thing returning to the lab was stashing the sample cooler into one of the walk in freezers. Amazing to think about the time and effort put into collecting these samples. Considering the amount of money that goes into a research cruise, I don’t want to think about how much money they are worth, otherwise I might be too nervous to ever look at them. Rodger welcomed us back, and I was finally clear to sleep for a couple days.Several months before our cruise the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences received its new research vessel for studying the Chesap
eake Bay and Surrounding Atlantic Coast. The ship was given the name “Rachel Carson” after the famous author who changed the world and started the contemporary environmental movement with her ground breaking book “Silent Spring.” Carson worked a great deal around the Chesapeake Bay during her career as a marine biologist, and wrote regular articles for the Baltimore Sun. Her other books include “The Sea Around Us”, “The edge of the Sea”, and “Under the Sea Wind.” During the cruise I proudly wore my R/V Rachel Carson t-shirt around the Knorr for which I received many comments. “Great name” people would say. The amazing success of Carson’s work, which has stood up against intense scrutiny by polluting entities, and witnessing natural miracles like the survival of the short tailed albatross show us that despite the rapidly growing force of civilization, we can hold onto the natural world, as long as we are not afraid to work for it.“For all at last returns to the sea – to Oceanus, the ocean river, like the everflowing stream of time, the beginning and the end.
-Rachel Carson
“There’s no control in life. Wherever you go, wherever you hide, there’s risk… Safety is the greatest risk of all, because safety leaves no room for miracles, and miracles are the only sure thing in life.”
-James Mcbride
-Eli
