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26 June 2004
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GEARING UP and SCIENCE MISSION
 Lost on the ship AGAIN!!! All of us newcomers are having a hard time finding our way around the ship. The “science labstack” is in the middle of the ship. It is seven floors high. (I definitely won’t need to use the Stairmaster in the gym) The living quarters and the operations, co-chiefs, and chief scientist offices and the hospital make up another section of the ship. I am not exaggerating when I say I have been lost more than ten times so far.
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 Cozy Cabin… The reason you can’t see much of the cabin is that it is pretty small. We have four people in this room, which is about twice the size of what you can see in this photo. The red bags, life jacket and bag are our emergency gear that we will use for boat drills. The red bag contains a full body life suit. I will have to try it on one day. The beds are very comfortable and each has a curtain and its own light. There is a small bathroom attached to the room. It has a shower and toilet. We are lucky because we don’t have to share; most of the other cabins share their bathroom with another four-person cabin.
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 Rogerio Cornelio of Portugal is one of the Catermar hotel staff who clean our rooms each day. Good luck Portugal in the European Soccer Cup!!!
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 Survival Gear… Experienced travelers warned me that I needed to be prepared. Eight weeks at sea is a long time to go without certain “essentials.” They have coffee on board, but the rumor is that it would be good to buy some fresh beans. A couple of us went to the local Fred Meyer store to do some last minute shopping. The candy isn’t for me (okay, so maybe some is); I heard that about 5-6 weeks into the cruise people get really tired of being cooped up on the ship and that small treats would help. Some of the candy is for the drilling floor workers who do a lot for my mentor, Gerardo (Gerry) Iturrino.
A good Vermonter like me should be prepared for the cool summer ocean winds of the northern Pacific. I froze during my first afternoon on the dock so I bought this fleece.
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 Here is the JOIDES Resolution’s crane loading equipment prior to the expedition. This is the new Schlumberger drilling building that was actually loaded on June 19, 2004.
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 This is one of four “CORKs” that will be installed on the flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge during IODP Expedition 301. HUGE AMOUNTS OF WATER flow through the sea floor along the flanks of Earth’s oceanic ridges. According to IODP Expedition 301 Co-Chief Scientist Andy Fisher, while the volume of water flow through the mid-ocean ridge flanks is believed to be on the same order of magnitude as the volume of water entering the oceans from all of the world’s rivers, virtually nothing is known about the chemicals and bacteria that are in it—or how this “ground water system” really works. The CORK that will be deployed on this expedition will begin to unravel these mysteries.
The CORKs are designed to monitor temperature and pressure and sample hydrothermal water and bacteria from several levels within the wells. Scientists plan to study: 1) how hot water flows through the basement rock and sediments on ridge flanks; 2) how the hydrothermal water controls the alteration of the rock and sediment; and 3) how the hydrothermal water affects the bacteria growing there. Two of the CORKs will be replacing similar units that were placed on a previous Ocean Drilling Program leg (Leg 168). The other two CORKs will be installed in new holes that will be drilled during this expedition.
The fat end of the CORK (foreground) is the top, which will be exposed at the bottom of the ocean so that a submersible vehicle can come by at a later date and collect data from the unit. The other end will be attached to casing that contains tubes in an “umbilical cord” that will carry water and bacteria from several depths within the well.
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 The CORKs have valves on them that can be operated by a submersible vehicle on a later expedition several years from now. When the valves are opened the submersible can collect hydrothermal water samples and bacterial samples from the well.
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 The dock closes at 5:00 this afternoon and the CORKs have to be loaded by then, but they are not completely assembled yet. Inorganic geochemist Sam Hulme (USA) is attaching a water pump unit to one of the units. The scientists were able to meet the deadline.
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