Angela Bahamondes Dominguez – PhD student (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton)

07/12/2018
As a Chilean, I have heard many people telling stories about Magallanes waters and their isolated, harsh, yet amazing landscapes. Since my grandfather and my father that navigated these regions, I am today as an oceanographic modeller (observational oceanographer by heart) on my first cruise: DY096. I can say that the struggle is real: you will get seasick! If you are fortunate enough, you might just walk through the corridors of the ship with the hope you will not fall, as I have done a couple of times already.

Angela in calm waters (image courtesy Angela Bahamondes Dominguez)

I think that for a person that works with computers to understand the ocean, it is also relevant to understand that modelling can’t be done without observations and observations can’t give you complete answers without models. It is not an easy business, yet here we are after two storms, still standing and with high energies for the last days of the cruise before returning to Punta Arenas, expecting to collect more data.

In my first cruise, joining Discovery and its friendly crew on a quest into the Southern Ocean, I have learned not only about the science, but also about life at sea. I was promised adventure and I wasn’t disappointed!

Image courtesy Angela Bahamondes Dominguez