The End

Success!

The end of the cruise finally came.  It was quite surreal finding oneself looking at land after staring at open waters for so long.  The day we arrived in Rio was gray and raining, though it is doubtful that it was noticed by many on board.

This was our first sighting of land way off in the distance it almost looks like dark clouds, right around 7:00 in the morning Rio time:

Molly and Alison organized a 'last hurrah' of sorts for the science party and crew the night of the 31st.  It was a way for everyone to say good bye and enjoy their first night back on terra firma.  It was quite a time, and one that few will forget if they still remember.

We finally made it even after everything that happened, and for a cruise lovingly (sometimes) renamed Murphy's Cruise for the frequency of almost catastrophe that followed us, it was an extremely successful cruise.  We were able to complete 120 stations out of the originally projected 124.  Over 2,800 Niskin bottles were fired and sampled from.  10 drifters from the World Drifter Program were released and 15 Argo floats were deployed.  Throughout the voyage 14 different types of samples were drawn to profile the waters in the Southern Atlantic.

There were rough days both physically and metaphorically.  We battled mechanical failures, loss of science party and crew due to time constraints, bad weather, more mechanical failures, homesickness, real sickness, yet more mechanical failures, and the untimely demise of the treadmill.  Yet, we still persevered.  The transect was completed, our sanity remained fairly intact and we all came out of it with a stock of sea tales worthy of any table.

A great thanks goes out to the entire crew of the Ronald Brown.  They kept us fairly lighthearted through most of the adversity we faced and were responsible for getting us up and running.  Without them we would still be sitting in Cape Town.  Thank you guys so much and a big hope that the next time we sail it will be under better winds.

Thanks for reading!
-Elizabeth

Since we have scattered if you want to know anyone's current location send them an e-mail.

Below are a few parting photos: a) A last sunrise, b) Rio,  c) Our grey entrance into Brazil