The Aleutian Islands – It’s a Wrap, or rather a To-Go-Plate

The Aleutian Island diving-orca-otter-urchin-kelp-carbon dioxide-arthropod-fish count-cooking and eating extravaganza is officially over. I hope everyone enjoyed following along and learning a bit about what goes on, on the R/V Point Sur and the work of this cruise which was, overall, to study how the habitat in the Aleutian chain effects what lives here.

Here is a top ten list of facts your should know about our adventure, compiled by two of the most creative guys in the bunch, Renato Borras and Martin Schuster:

Numbers are approximated

Number 10: Total of dives performed: 360 (average of 45 per diver)
Number 9: Total of Islands visited: 17
Number 8: Total of Birds seen: 10,000
Number 7: Total of Urchins: 4,000,000,000
Number 6: Total of Killer whales: 2
Number 5: Total of Algae weighted (in grams): 38,000
Number 4: Number of Sodas used from the fridge: 850
Number 3: Number of Tanks diving: 200
Number 2: Number of times that we really wanted to punch Jason: 3,222
Number 1!!!!! tarataratarataratarataratatara ( the drums are saying your name haha), NUMBER OF HAIR THAT WE CUT OFF IN OUR NON-SENSE CONTEST!! the human being has about 1,000,000 hairs on the body. We estimated over 100,000 on the head. Since Jason and Cory where also with no hair but they remove the beard they count between both a total of 100,000, Martin, Nathan and Renato count for 250,000: 300,000 and 110,000, Terri was 80,000 and Brenda 20,000. and we must include the 90,000 of Barret, hehe. Total = 950,000.

We will miss you, cheers!!
Renato
Note from Tara: after cleaning the cabins again and continuing to find little hairs everywhere, we feel you underestimated!

Can you believe they all wanted to-go-plates before they departed??? My final thought: It really is all about the food.

Thank you to everyone involved in this cruise, science and crew, for making it a trip of a lifetime!

Tagged as: Aleutian Islands, kelp, R/V Point Sur