Advanced Marine Firefighting at the Washington State Fire Training Academy. 

FOSTER Photos

The following are from my augmentation period aboard the R/V Nancy Foster. It is based out of Charleston and I was supposed to be on from a Key West to Miami leg, but got lucky and was able to stay on for the following leg, from Miami to Charleston, and then stay for the weekend.  It was AMAZING to get back home to Folly. It renewed me to see all of my loved ones there and hang out at all of my old haunts...and to surf!  I am afraid I did these out of order-sorry!-I am out of blogging practice. So they start with pulling into Charleston and end with Key West. Probably best-you may need to brace for the last photo!  LOVE-Lauren 

Coming Home

Jack, one of the scientists, gracing us with amazing music in the dry lab. 

Deploying the ADCP

Leaving Miami

They let me think I was actually driving the ship. Very sweet. 

Steel Beach on the Foster. Not bad. 

Most Fantasy Fest photos are not appropriate for me to post. Let me know if you want to see what most people were really dressed like.  I think this one sums the weekend up nicely though. It was wonderful to be back in Key West. I needed some fun in the sun. 

Going though the Ballard Locks 

Mount Pugh Hike

Jackson, Nick and I went for a hike in the Cascades on Saturday. We had a beautiful and challenging day hike picked out. But when we got there the trailhead road was closed due to a storm washout. So we quickly consulted our books and picked another nearby, Mount Pugh. I am not sure I knew what I was in for, though the ranger station rated it as "most difficult" and our book deemed it a 5 out of 5 for difficulty. It was an amazing hike with incredible views from the top. It took us 8 hours total, and was a 2.5 hour drive from Seattle...a wonderful day. And I am still sore! The peak is at 7224' and we had a total elevation gain of 5304' over an 11 mile roundtrip. The last hour plus was a class 2 scramble along a ridge, and most of the hike was pretty steep. however, the trail was beautiful and well maintained. I hope you enjoy the photos.

When I still had enough energy to smile...just kidding, wait till you see the top. I sure was smiling up there.

A beautiful glacier we passed

Me at the top-Jackson took this from down the ridge so I am the little spec, bent over stretching

The ridge we hiked to the peak

We had an amazing 360 view, here is a taste.

The start back down

A view of the summit, not from our start but another hour or so down farther and we were at the trailhead.

The Inside Passage

The view from the top of Mt. Roberts Trail. Sarah and I hiked it Friday evening-a vigorous but pretty fast hike (~1.5 hours). We were able to take the tram down, from which this picture is taken.  It is a great day when I can work a full day, hike, hang out at the top of the mountain and ride the tram down for amazing views, and then still have time to go out and have sushi and some wine and party with the crew. Everyone seemed to be pretty excited to be headed back to Seattle.  We had a great night, and a tired work day on Saturday!

The morning after we left Juneau we had to go through the Wrangell Narrows. A tight fit, and beautiful landscape.  Our navigation and deck people did a great job!

A sailboat run aground contacted the Rainier

Our deck crew to the rescue

A gorgeous sunset....

that only got better

Morning fog rolling from the east to the west of the passage

A whale tail in the morning

Transit to Homer Spit

Getting the anchor up for our short transit to Homer Spit from farther up in Kachemak Bay. We had been in Kasitsna Bay for a good while. It was great to have such a beautiful day. More than often it is cloudy, rainy, 55 or so. But still, beautiful. 

Lots of sailboats out for the holiday weekend during our transit.  

I think that is Grewinhgk Glacier is in the background. 

The view aft from the flying bridge while we were in transit.  

It was a beautiful day for the ride. 

We were able to take liberty boats in Friday night and I went out for some salad, wine, and soup with Russell at my favorite place in Homer, Finn's Pizza.  When I was waiting for my ride home, I saw an amazing moon rise over the mountains. It is finally rising early enough that I now see it before bed most nights. 

What-your commute doesn't look like this?

I was able to go to land yesterday (Mon) to level the tide station. This is Christie in the picture, when we are en route to Bear Cove for the tide work.  On the way I passed gorgeous mountains, glaciers, and several sea otters. Rush hour...

It was great to walk around for a few hours. The short of it is we make sure our tide gauge is reading the water level correctly so that when we apply tides to our multibeam depths, we are certain they are correct. There is a lot of cool measuring and calculating involved. For part of the day I leveled to the benchmarks, and the rest I sat in the skiff just off the beach and read our tide level every 6 minutes for almost three hours. Oh the excitement.  It really was a cool trip and a nice break from being on the ship or launch all day doing the multibeam work. 

The beach at Bear Cove, where we leveled the tide gauge. 

This photo and the one following are complements of Sarah Wolfskehl, visiting the boat from the Seattle office-I have become very lazy about having my camera out...my quarters are way down below and aft.  Takes a while to "run and get it".  Didn't want to miss the sunset! It just kept getting better and better this night.  This is Iliamna Volcano.

Again, the amazing sunset from a few nights ago. The full moon was rising on the other side of the ship over the mountains and glacier. AMAZING. 

Barley stuffed cabbage smothered with veggie red sauce=my favorite meal on the ship thus far!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Toni, I sure wish I were there to celebrate with you T.

HI everyone. I have posted a LOT of new photos so be sure to scroll down to Older Posts. I have had a great two days off and have mainly tried to be outside as much as possible. It has been sunny and I have walked a ton, around the spit and downtown Homer, and we biked into Cafe Cups last night, 12 miles round trip. I realized no amount of the Elliptical in the ship's 'gym' can simulate a real workout.  It was great to find a bookstore, healthfood store, and cute cafes for reading. It has been a very nice break and we are back to work tomorrow.  Survey until the 9th and then get underway for Seattle.  Arrive around the 16th and my honey comes in the 17th!  I am SO excited!!!  Lots of love! -Lauren 

What the inside of a launch looks like, where we spend most of our days running the sonar collecting data.

Where boats go to die...the Homer boat graveyard. 

So Alaska....

The cute Homer Spit shops. Lots of great locally made gifts. Lots of fishing places and an awesome pizza place...local and organic! Headed there tonight for my last meal out for a while. 

Cafe Cups...my first real meal out off the boat.  Pretty good-Hummus, local Halibut and Salmon, and a glass of red wine.  It's the little things! 

Iliamna Volcano.  We have been able to see it on most clear days. We are also near Mt. Augustine, which has been letting off a little steam!

One of the many glaciers of the Harding Icefield. 

Russell, in the Stern of a survey launch, during a hot beverage break. 

The Time Bandit, for you Deadliest Catch lovers. 

Me, about to put the CTD in the water. Knowing the changes in the speed of sound through the water column is key to determining exact depths. 

The cutest otter I have EVER seen. I am so in love with these animals now. This one hung out by our launch for a long time last week.  Photo courtesy of Daniel 'House' Hauerland, my coxswain that day. 

Sister Ships

This is the Rainier (back) and the Fairweather. The FA is our sister ship, meaning it is the same design and also is a hydro ship-so they do all seafloor mapping as well.  They are also mapping in Alaska, until November.  Right now we are in the midst of "Hyrdopalooza", which is when we meet up and survey in the same area.  Not kidding-it is an event with a name.  There is a funny rivalry between the two boats, Rainier thinks they are superior (do more work, work harder, take it more seriously).  And, they are :)  

THINGS I MISS

= (in no particular order): wine; surfing; sushi; healthy food; wireless; yoga space and classes; the beach; alone time; cooking; riding my bike

However, there are incredible new things about my job: Very cool fun people; seeing the coast of Alaska from a boat; living on a boat; not putting on any makeup, drying my hair, caring in general about that stuff...you get the idea; the soy hot chocolate concoction Russell just made me on the espresso machine (seriously); working hard and learning awesome things. 

I really do like NOAA so far (OK, not HR). It is nice to think I can do this for a while and then perhaps move around within the organization. I am trying to work my way back to a Charleston vessel (we have 2 there). I have asked this fall or spring to be on the Thomas Jefferson if possible, it is based out of Norfolk.  Close to the beloved fam and many of you!  The Rainier, which I am on, goes into the drydock for about 16 months starting Oct and so they may farm us out all over. 

I wanted to get on and write about how I am in remedial knot tying class but that has been outdone by my launch driving skills.  I drove the boat a few days ago in figure eights, no problem.  Trying to keep it on a survey line-forget about it!  The survey track looked like a snake slither.  The coxswain was laughing at me, but he was sweet and helped me get a bit better. 

I did yoga on the flying bridge tonight. I have done it on the stern by myself but tonight two guys wanted a little class after their workout. Teaching guys on the boat is a whole different world.  Case in point, when they were in one pose and I was telling them to breathe through the pose and I look up and one guy was giving the other the finger (for making him do yoga with him).  It was hilarious and fun, I hope they thought so too! It was nice to teach and keep that skill up. 

I love you all! Thanks for staying in touch.  

Hi everyone. I thought you all might like to see some photos of the work I do out here.  We have 6 launches, though a sonar fell off of one yesterday. Not good! Everyday most of them go out and survey the seafloor. With launches we can get in shallower water than with the Rainier.  This is one being lowered.  I have to learn the lines, how to drive the launches, all kinds of stuff.  I drove yesterday for a bit.  We have lots of safety training and drills frequently.  But the main goal for me right now is learning to survey.  Getting a good return signal from the bottom takes some manipulation.  I will load more photos of Homer and boat life soon, but they really take a LONG time on the ol' ethernet.  Life is pretty good, we have time off the 28th and 29th-I am so excited.  We are now surveying in Kachemak Bay outside of Homer but are at anchor.  So at least I can see land, which is nice.  Hope you enjoy the photos, I would love to hear from you!  Lots of love-Lauren 

Here (above) is a launch being lowered from its cradle.

...and she's in the water and ready for a day of work.