House of the rising sun

Arriving Pascagoula, September 10th.

After 20 days at sea we eventually arrived to port in Pascagoula. My sense of time is not behaving on board (some say it never does...), 20 days pass in the blink of an eye when you look back but feels like an ocean of time when you are in the middle of it. The last few days were quite hectic as we were wrapping up the work and prepared for reality on shore. The scientists from UNH did magic with the data visualizing the gas seeps that we had found, and I think there will be valuable discussions and conclusions to be made of how the results can be used to further investigate the Gulf of Mexico and beyond in the future.

Were are we?! Very confusing as there were no sauna to be seen anywhere

Although I was still coming down from the experiences from the cruise, and saying goodbye to all new friends made, I only really had one thing in mind as we hit port- Anna arriving at New Orleans. Time was of virtue as Annas never ending mountain at work at Johns Hopkins only allowed her to come for 2 days. Fortunately we had Bill Shed and his wife Gail taking care of us, showing us around and letting us stay in their beautiful home and neighborhood, making the most of our short time together.

Celebrating Anna with Bills colorful friends at the Seafood festival down town New Orleans. My "brunch" consisted of alligator sausage (still not sure if it counts as seafood...), crab cake, oysters, crawfish pie, grilled shrimp and a mango mix. 

We have just leaved port a few hours ago and have started our next cruise, EX1106. Looking back I can humbly sum up my experience of New Orleans as a friendly, funky and beautiful city with fantastic (sea)food and locals that are professionals at enjoying themselves and others. I let the pictures below, and the little movie clip recorded last night when Gail was dragging me out to an old bar in her neighborhood to dance up the very last of my nonexistent energy reserve, tell the rest of the story.

Live music with Rebirth Brass Band at Maple Leafs Bar, September 14th.

Getting close to a 3m (10 feet) alligator at Jean Lafitte National Park, 20 minutes by car outside New Orleans. The wetlands outside the city have been hit hard by development and the oil mining in its midst, but they are still theming with life and most plants and species in there where new to me. Next time(?) it would be nice to go for a paddle.

Wetland undergrowth with enough water for lurking predators to hide

The mighty Mississippi, an old steamer and a proud owner of a salty captains hat.

The ancient city street car gave us an "interesting" night ride home with continuos blackouts, sparks flying and exploding from a little green box above the driver, and the steering looked challenging to say the least.

Kell, Coleen, Mike and Bill watching Gail feed the rays at the New Orleans Aquarium were Gail volunteers once a week. Among other things there was a nice amazon exhibit and also a big tank with sharks and all the fish from the Caribbean that I didn't catch in Key West.

This picture doesn't give the architecture in New Orleans any justice, but shows a cross with numbers that was put onto to every house as the military was counting dead and wounded from the Hurricane Katrina disaster, a memory that seemed still very vibrant for people we met. It's hard to imagine that many streets we walked was covered with up to 6 meters of water. Most areas we visited had recovered well although signs from the disaster are still visible all over town.

Another great seafood place that Bill and Gail took me to, this oyster bar was covered with signed pictures from celebrity from all over the world that had eaten here. Delicious! Though the best food we had was the home cooked seafood at Bills and Gails house serving local crabs and grilled fresh gulf prawns.

I think I have filled my cup of good food, parties and music for some time to come. I feel quite happy to get into the ship routine, hopefully involving more then sporadic exercise in the boats gym, and it will be good to get to know the new people on board and our mission (leaving a cliffhanger here...)