The time has finally come, we reached the first station. Yippiiieeeh... after a week of setting up the laboratories, trying to find one’s way on and below deck, fighting and winning against sea sickness and, above all, suspenseful waiting, we were quite surprised when we went on the work deck after breakfast. Like gnomes the crew has put our gear from the C deck onto the work deck with the help of cranes in the very early hours of the day.
So we just had to grab our screwdrivers, wrenches, hammers and other tools and start happily to assemble our gear. We have missed the hustle and bustle for days, and very noticeably the mood on the ship was slowly shifting to being on alert. I am scheduled for the box corer — a 50 x 50 x 50 cm box which is pushed into the sea floor to hopefully bring back a nice block of deep-sea sediment with organisms in it.
Today this gear has many advantages to it — it is relatively easily assembled so that we were done by lunchtime. However, it also has its disadvantages today. The first deployment was not scheduled until after midnight — while the first groups already have their first samples, busying themselves with sorting and fixing, I have to somehow make the time pass. As I mentioned, I am doing that since noon, and by now it is nearly half past nine. I am now running out of ideas as to how to stay awake. Sleeping is no option, I did that in the afternoon. The gym — I was there already. Taking photographs... good idea, but by now people are sort of irritated about the flashbulbs above their samples. Playing games, making small talk... not too bad really, but whoever is not working sleeps, so the hallways look completely deserted at times. Reading a book — very nice... tiring in the long run, though, and that is something I don`t find very helpful.
Yaaaawn... I am sitting on hot coals, when do we finally start?! Well, some way or another time will pass, and after that I will have enough work for weeks to come. And if I can’t think of anything at all to keep me awake, I’ll don my bright red polar clothes and clamber onto the uppermost deck. It is, after all, the night before St. Niklas’s day, and I am absolutely sure that at some point of the night, Saint Niklas will appear on Polarstern. He surely must need help with filling everybody’s shoes with goodies. I would be dressed appropriately anyway :)
M. Schüller, University of Bochum
Photos: M. Schüller