Hi, explorers! It's me, Sara, and this research expedition I'm joining is special because the whole thing is happening aboard a ship! Now that I'm aboard the JOIDES Resolution, I won't actually ever leave the ship for the entire two-month duration of the expedition. From my home in the U.S., I've taken several airplanes and buses just to get to the ship in Spain. This week, things really got underway when the ship itself left harbor underwater watchful eye of a smaller tugboat and we headed out into the open water of the Mediterranean Sea. From here on out, I'll be moving from place to place aboard the JOIDES Resolution.
When we are on the ship, we walk up and down a lot of stairs! I walk up three flights of stairs to get from my room to my office, and down another set of stairs to the galley where we eat our meals. One of the other scientists on the ship has a watch that told him he had climbed 86 flights of stairs yesterday alone! Before getting on board he was only averaging about 15 flights of stairs per day.
The ship depends on its engines to get around. The engines run off of marine diesel fuel, which is just slightly different than the fuel that big trucks use on land. We have twelve engines, called thrusters, that help us move around.
