As we steam home to San Diego we are all thinking about parts of a land life that we have missed. Yet life on board the R/V Atlantis can continue for long periods of time without a return to port. Indeed, our return to San Diego will be the first time that the ship has been in the United States for over nine months. In the meantime, the fresh food has been restocked from the ship's various ports of call. However, some items are simply not available. For example, half and half is not available in Mexico and coffee is just not the same without it.

Between port stops, all the fresh water is made by removing that salt from sea water. Lucky for everyone, there is enough fresh water to have laundry facilities on board. In addition to fresh water, the sinks in the labs also have running salt water which is used for a variety of applications including filling tanks for animals kept alive in special tanks.

Scattered throughout the ship are computers for general use, printers, plotters and the like. There is a web site that is only accessible from the ship that contains information about the dive plans and other important pieces of information as well as some funny photographs of various scientists. Three times a day we contact "land" by way of a satellite phone to transfer mail messages on and off the ship. Occasionally people will get phone calls and faxes, but not as often as email since the charges add up quickly on the phone. The ship does receive Armed Forces Radio Network which is rebroadcast throughout the ship, but for the most part we live in a world that is limited to the confines of the ship.

There is a library and lounge that is well stocked with videos, but if you pick up a magazine you are just as likely to grab a Discover Magazine from 1997 as you are to get last month's Time. The day of the week is meaningless here, instead the question most people ask is "what's the dive number?" since Alvin dives have been tracked by number since dive number one.