DynOPO Cruise 2017 : Postlude with a briefing to Princeton colleagues

This post is from 27 May 2017.

I arrived to Newark early morning on 10 May. I was able to reach my Princeton home prior to Francisco and Adi (my son and wife) heading off to school and work. It was incredibly sweet to see them after such distance in space and time.

I went to the May Faire at Francisco's school on 13 May. It was then that I realized just how surreal it felt to be on dry land. Life on a ship in the Southern Ocean is so very different to life on land. I also found the absence of time to hang out with people to be rather odd. Everyone seemed to be in such a rush, or at least that is how I saw it.

After a bit more than two weeks at home, I am presumably immersed again in Princeton life. However, elements of the cruise remain. When responding to the frequent query: "How do you feel about the cruise?", my favorite answer, which came without much thought, is "I saw a piece of my soul out there". The cruise exposed something within me that was seemingly dormant or forgotten. It is as if my DNA slapped me in the face and insisted that I wake up. Whether the slap succeeded is another question...

This is my final posting to the blog. I sincerely thank all who encouraged me to continue posting throughout the cruise. Your feedback offered fresh energy and ideas. It was truly a joy to share these experiences in words and photos.

A presentation to GFDL colleagues

Sonya and I were warmly welcomed back to GFDL on 11 May. We were encouraged to share some of our experiences to the lab, particularly before the freshness washed away. So on 18 May we each gave a short presentation. The following slides are an edited version of my presentation. Some slides show photos from previous blog posts, and some offer new words and images.