Lia Kim’s Daily Reflection Log Aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer: Beyond the Blue: Papahānaumokuākea Mapping 1 (EX2403): NOAA Ocean Exploration (2024)

It was a very different Monday being on the ship. Okeanos Explorer runs all hours of the day and all days of the week, meaning that Mondays work a little differently here! Today I assisted our cultural liaisons, Malia and Makoa, in filming short videos for a “Hawaiian Word of the Day” feature, which you can see on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X/Twitter. I noticed that more people were outside, exercising on the ship’s bikes that have a great view of the ocean and using the other gym equipment that lives on the deck.

After a delicious Thanksgiving dinner that our amazing stewards made, it was time for oli chant practice in preparation for next Sunday’s sunrise. Many of us gathered in the forward lounge including our cultural liaisons, Malia and Makoa, expedition coordinator, Thomas, and Captain Colin Little to practice the sunrise chant we learned a few days ago at our first Sunday sunrise.

Later, a few of us joined in the forward lounge for some Super Smash Bros. gaming. As we were gaming, the waves started to get really strong and we all decided to head out to stargaze on the boat deck. Since the ship was rocking a lot, we all came up with the best route to get outside which involved choosing the easiest door to work with amidst the “high” seas we were experiencing. It’s always important to have positive control of all the doors at all times for not only safety reasons, but also to ensure that everyone is getting enough sleep for their shifts! At first, it was extremely dark outside because the clouds were covering most of the stars. As soon as one cloud shifted, we started to see a ton of stars and others tried to identify constellations.

Thomas joined us outside and took us to the bow of the ship to try and spot bioluminescence in the water. We all leaned on the edge of the starboard (right) side of the boat and peered over the railing to see the glowing blue of the bioluminescence as the water crashed against the bottom of the boat! At this point, leaning against the edge of the ship felt more like an amusem*nt park ride as we got sprayed multiple times with salty water. Some more people joined us outside to see the bioluminescence before we all headed back inside and checked back in with the bridge to notify them that everyone was back inside and safe!

At around 5:40 in the morning, some of us gathered on the bow (front) of the ship to learn and perform a Hawaiian sunrise chant titled E Ala E, led by Malia and Makoa. Malia shared that the chant is started right before the sun peeks above the horizon and continued until the sun is fully above the horizon. If you chose the wrong time to start, you would be chanting for a long time! Unfortunately, the clouds were covering most of the sun, so we chanted until the sun started to peak over the clouds. The sunrise chant grounds us in the present and naturally connects us to the Earth, Sun, and water. As we were chanting, I was paying a lot of attention to the clouds and the sun hiding behind them. I was extra fixated on the bright outlining on the cloud bank that was created by the sunshine sneaking out. I was also noticing how my body was moving and swaying with the strong waves (partially so I wouldn’t fall during the chant). Can’t wait for next Sunday’s sunrise chant!

In the forward lounge, I sat in on a ukulele jam session with Malia and Makoa. They were playing some old Hawaiian songs and some newer ones like “Over the Rainbow” (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole’s version). Our media specialist, Nate, joined the session with his flamenco fingers and sick guitar skills on the forward lounge’s communal blue guitar.

Later, I joined expedition coordinator, Thomas, to check up on the U.S. Geological Survey bat detector that is mounted on the ship. We checked that everything was working, replaced the SD cards and batteries, and took pictures of each step to make an SOP (standard operating procedure) for those doing future maintenance. I then sat in on my first mapping watch shift with watch lead, Mia, and mapping intern, Anabel. I watched as they cleaned up the data by deleting outliers while they explained some of the basics of how to read the colorful data they were looking at. My sit-in ended with Anabel launching the XBT which is dropped into the water every six hours or so and measures water temperature.

Today was also Sundae Sunday at the mess deck! We celebrated the first Sundae Sunday of the Papahānaumokuākea Mapping 1 expedition by watching Moana in the forward lounge.

As NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer prepares to set sail on its deepwater mapping expedition in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, our cultural liaisons, Malia and Makoa, conducted Hawaiian cultural protocol with an oli pale (protection chant), a pī kai (purifying with salt water and ʻolena), and the placing of a lei lā’i on the bridge railing of the ship. The lei lā’ī are made of ti leaves which are a significant plant in Hawaiian culture and utilized for ceremonial purposes, among many uses. In wrapping the lei on the bridge railing, the ship is now protected and ready to embark on its three-week mapping expedition in the Pacific!

At about 11:45 am, the ship started to depart! It was a much slower process than we newbies (explorers-in-training) expected. As the giant cranes on the ship scooped up the walkway that connected the ship to the dock, it finally sank in that we were about to be out at sea for almost a month! When the ship started to move, we stood on the boat deck and watched as Pearl Harbor became smaller and smaller behind us.