Saturday, July 05, 2008

Out in the Open...


Living in a confined space once in a while can be an interesting experience, as long as the view is not confined. The 10m x 50m 'training' vessel is big enough to weather rough sea but small enough to induce sea-sickness in such weather condition in some of the expedition team members. During that 4D3N that he was with them, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on what argument is used, he was spared that experience. The sea was as calm and flat as football field.
Away from the Internet and unreachable by hand phone he has all the view to see - wide expanse of blue sea, as far as the eye can see. Watching the sun rise and set is some of the events to look forward to everyday. Another is reaching the next sampling station, anchoring, and performing the sampling itself. While the vessel sails from a station to another most of the samples collected have been treated or pre-processed before analysis at land-based laboratory. All the while, the steady roar of the engine as the vessel sails the sea provides assurance that all is well and on the move.
The vessel made a call at the newest segment of Kuantan port Saturday 21 June. He disembarked there after joining them using a boat from a public jetty at Redang 4 days ago. He noted that the port is about 10-12 m deep. At the outside of the port the depth is about 20 m, compared to 5-60 m or more that they have sailed the previous days. The vessel anchored just outside the port by the night before making the call in the morning.
The success of any endeavor depends on good teamwork, respect of the role of individual team members, and realize that everyone has to contribute to ensure successful completion of the endeavor. He noted those spirit thrived in the expedition.

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