The new cruise SO235 finally started on 23.07.2014 with a 6 hour delay leaving Port Louis/ Mauritius. All instruments were set up, waiting to be operated. With 24 scientific crew members on-board we feel well equipped for the upcoming tasks. Today, we had ship introductions and work group meetings to get prepared for the upcoming journey. A few hours later RV Sonne started to pitch due to the increasing SE wind speeds. We finished the first night with a welcoming ceremony and the obligatory table tennis tournament in the “Kegelbahn”. Now, one day later (on 24.07.2014) we fully reached stormy conditions with south-easterly winds heading towards our first CTD station in Mauritius territory. The CTD station went well with shallow ocean profiles measuring physical, chemical and biological parameters. At night (21:00 LT) I helped launching the radiosonde with a weather balloon from the back of RV SONNE, which felt like a Rodeo event. While writing this blog the waves start reaching my cabin window, I better go to bed now. Be back to the Oceanblogs tomorrow with updates from OASIS SONNE during stormy Indian Ocean conditions.

 by Kirstin Krüger