December 2025 | Oceanography
December 2025 | Oceanography
Audio Narratives from the Scientific Ocean Drilling Community
ESSAY
This quote is from an online conversation I recorded with
Maya Pincus when she was about to join JOIDES Resolution
as the onboard outreach officer for International Ocean
Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 397T (Return to
the Walvis Ridge Hotspot, September 2022). I was com-
fortably sitting in my university office in Pennsylvania
(USA) with complete freedom to come and go, while
Maya was isolated in a hotel room in Cape Town, South
Africa, for a one-week mandatory quarantine period
before boarding the drilling vessel.
Why record a conversation on precautions and proce-
dures required before heading out to sea during an active
time of the COVID-19 pandemic? The motivation is sim-
ilar to that for recording the anxiety young scientists
may feel before joining their first research cruise, or how
someone handles the news of the loss of a family mem-
ber while miles offshore. Although the scientific research
conducted at sea is fully documented, where are the
stories collected about living and working at sea? As Maya
mentions, there are additional preparation, activities, and
emotions involved before, during, and even after expedi-
tions “so that we can make the important parts happen.”
I am a university professor with a background in
marine geology and geophysics. With part of my research
focused on geoscience education, like Maya, I was
attracted to the idea of sailing for two months as an
onboard outreach officer on the scientific ocean drilling
vessel JOIDES Resolution (JR). Taking responsibility for
By Laura Guertin
I think when someone goes on an [ocean] expedition…no one really
remembers the quarantine as what stands out. But it’s part of what we
did so that we could make the important parts happen.
— Maya Pincus, Tales from the Deep
Listen to the full interview recorded on September 8, 2022