The last two days I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in a training on a research vessel called the Celtic Voyager.  The Celtic Voyager is 103ft long and has wet and dry chemical laboratories.  It was commissioned in 1997 and can support 6-8 scientists with a maximum endurance of 14 days.

It was an intensive two day course on how to collect data for characterizing the Cork Harbor, the second largest natural harbor in the world.  For example, this data might be used in an environmental impact assessment, for a project involving laying an electrical cable or pipe in the harbor.  It didn’t have any direct connection to my research but it is great to learn about this aspect of the industry and to get out on a boat for a couple of days! Here is the area we were working.

We had some pretty good weather and some spectacular views going in and out of the harbor

This guy in a kayak was racing us for a while.

The city of Cobh looks quite nice from the harbor.

There are also quite a few factories and industrial buildings along the harbor.

We learned several different ways to collect sediment samples and do preliminary analysis on them.

We deployed a CTD which collects samples and measures salinity and temperature at different locations in the water column.

We deployed a remotely operated underwater vehicle. (ROV)

and a side sonar instrument to get high resolution data for mapping the sea floor.

Overall it was a great learning experience and fun as well.

Then Emily and I went to our second Cork City Football game.