An average temperature of 15 °C, 82 % humidity, overcast skies, light showers here and there, and a vague rainbow are the conditions of today. But this day is not just any day; it’s the marking of the end of the voyage’s 48 hr station!!!! This CTD was a bit time consuming then usual as the echo sounder was moving up and down due to high waves in the vicinity, so we had to stop the process for few minutes.  Without any further delays the CTD was recovered at approximately 12:30 pm, and of course by this time everybody was ready to take their samples for processing. The 48h station work really provided a platform for us (students) in terms of instrument operations, and also enhanced our abilities to interpret data. At first it seemed impossible to finish the station work to some of us partaking in a cruise for the first time; nonetheless, we seem to have managed just fine . We still, however, do have a few more underway sampling to take care of and a drifter to retrieve. It would appear that we are not the only ones interested in the drifter; three whales (possibly the whales identified yesterday?) were spotted lurking around the drifter.
As expected, students are recouping with their partners and team leaders (scientists) to analyze the data. Everybody is eager to find out the “whats?”, “whys?” and “hows?” of the southern Indian Ocean odyssey.

by Eric Kamwi & Zoleka Filander