Leg 2 will start soon

OK, it's time to restart the blog. Leg 2 of Shatsky cruise will start on March 24th, 2012. This time R/V Marcus G. Langseth departs from Guam and arrives at Honolulu, Hawaii. I flew in Guam last night (very late, after 1AM). By the way, for those who are new to this blog, I'm Jun Korenaga, professor of geophysics at Yale, and the chief scientist of the upcoming cruise MGL1206.

I had never been to Guam, so this is my first time of being here. Actually, the original Shatsky cruise (Leg 1) was supposed to start from Guam, but because of several happenings which I'd like to forget and actually don't remember well any more, it was changed to depart from Honolulu (and end in Honolulu as well if you remember).

I found Guam kind of attractive. Not really crowded like Oahu, and quite calm. Maybe just because it's not a tourist season yet. Guam's economy is supported by tourism, which is composed mainly of visitors from Japan, and Japanese spring break won't start until next week. By the way, the photo above was taken from my hotel room. A cape-like feature in the middle is called Two Lovers Point. Sounds like a romantic place to visit, but I have a bunch of things to do before the cruise...

Until very recently, I thought Guam was part of the US. Well, it's a US territory, but I didn't realize that shipping to Guam from the mainland US was regarded as international. I was planning to ship a special kind of magnetometer to be used in this cruise, and asked the shipping department with a two-week notice. The magnetometer turned out to be a bit too expensive (as an international shipment), and a lot of paperwork was needed to 'export' it to Guam. To my greatest dismay, the shipping department couldn't ship it in time (darn!). What a hell, but this cruise is primarily a seismic cruise, so I can live with that.

Another, perhaps more critical problem is that my cell phone doesn't work in Guam, which I just found out last night. Doesn't AT&T have a coverage here? My plan is to meet the rest of the science party tomorrow morning and then leave for the naval base (where Langseth is located) together. I hope I'll see everybody then, so there will be no need to use a cell phone!