First, I apologize for being off the charts for the past few weeks. Recently, our ship stopped in Eemshavn, Netherlands for a crew change and we recently transitioned back out to sea. Though I decided not to take the seasickness patch this time (too much dry mouth), I have been extremely tired from the rough weather.
Eemshaven was a special town to say the least. I had the privilege of running for two days and it seemed like such a strange environment full of giant cranes and boxes, ships, and not much else.
So, by now you are probably wondering what I am doing for work. Our project is a treasure hunt… for unexploded ordinances, or buried underwater mines from WWI/II. An energy company is planning on building a windfarm and needs to verify that there are no bombs in the area. MMT is using a TSS, which sends out electromagnetic pulses, and Multibeam sonar to find these objects.
If these objects are found and it can’t be seen on the seabed, we have a dredge pump which will suck up sediment and deposit it somewhere else. Keep in mind that all of this–electromag, sonar, and the pump, is done with an ROV, or a remotely operated vehicle. At all times we have 2 pilots driving the ROV. One of the pilots described the ROV to me as “an awkward bus”. This picture is from another mission on MMT, since unfortunately we are not in the Arctic right now. 
Since there is some down time, I sometimes walk out onto the deck. I have seen incredible sunsets here. During the nights, the jellyfish illuminate the waters. However, there are very few stars, partially due to occasional clouds and humidity, but also due to the many lights on the North Sea. During the night, the tankers, jack-up rigs, windmills, and other platforms on the North Sea illuminate the horizon. They say that when you fly over the North Sea at night, it looks like a city. It is a lot more crowded here than I ever would have imagined.
