Christmas aboard the Meteor: for many, it is a first, and yet it is the last time that the FS METEOR will experience Christmas as a research vessel. Next year, the ship will cease research operations, and so the mood is even more festive than usual. In recent days, in addition to the work on the ship and the research activities, the team on board has already enjoyed moments of togetherness, during which the otherwise busy daily routine slowed down briefly and a noticeable pre-Christmas atmosphere arose.
One example was the ‘Christmas market’ held on deck instead of dinner, where there was lots of talking, laughing and playing Ditschen, accompanied by fantastic fried mushrooms, grilled delicacies and the best waffle stand on the whole ship. (Ditschen is a game in which a coin or ring is thrown so that it lands as close as possible to a wall. You can tell who has been playing it since childhood – practice definitely makes perfect here, and a lack of practice causes general merriment).
Things really get going on 23 December: some members of the team keep disappearing briefly and discreetly for secret planning meetings with Santa Claus, who is rumoured to have been seen on board. Meanwhile, a Christmas tree is being decorated in the mess hall, where everyone eats together. The Christmas decorations come in all shapes and sizes and are made of rope that has been knotted by members of the crew over the years.
Finally, on 24 December, we celebrate Christmas Eve (much to the surprise of the Greek team members, who would normally wait until 25 December to wish each other a Merry Christmas). By late afternoon, the equipment tests on board have been successfully completed and the bathymetry measurements are continuing, providing important information about the seabed structure, while the system conveniently rarely requires more than one person at a time to operate it. By dividing up the shifts on board, those responsible on the bridge and on deck also change so that sooner or later everyone gets to celebrate Christmas. We exchange gifts, including a fashionable purple T-shirt commemorating the criuse, and enjoy a fantastic Christmas dinner prepared for us by the ship’s cooks, Mike and Peter.
We end Christmas Eve in a relaxed atmosphere with good conversation and cosy get-togethers, enjoying the delicious sweets provided by the Briese ship operator company, which everyone on board received. Over the next few days, the FS METEOR and the research operation will continue to pick up speed: perhaps the Christmas season will bring us extra luck in our research! We wish all our readers a relaxing rest of the holidays and will be in touch again soon from the Aegean Sea.
Merry Christmas!
The M215 (MMC – 3) team