Remember, you are departing on a nine-day voyage on the bay, so it is time to pack your traveling bag. The ship has laundry facilities and your meals are provided three times a day in the ship's galley. Snacks are also available between meals, however, you will need to bring several layers of warm clothes, sturdy shoes with rubber soles for working on the deck of the ship, personal hygiene items, and plenty of paperback books, CDs, DVDs, and your MP3 player to occupy your time when you are not working (My iPod is already on the ship).

The ship is at the dock, so grab your bag and let’s head on board!

Here is our home for the next ten days, the R/V MacArthur, which is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA (“no-ah”). NOAA was formed in 1970 under the Department of Commerce and contains many government agencies that extend back to the 1800’s, such as the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau, and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries (all of these reside under different names at the present time). The map to the right shows the location of the dock at Pier 32 along the Embarcadero in San Francisco where we will be boarding the ship.