Pilot core day

Hello everyone, I’m Islam, from Algeria, and I will be the one writing my journey today. I graduated from a veterinary school in 2013, followed by an MBA (Master in Business Administration) in 2019. And here I am, pursuing a Master’s degree in Oceanography at the University of Liège. Today is the 10th of August…

Whales ahoy!

Hi everyone! My name is Ian and I am a 2nd master student at Ghent university in Belgium. Today is my turn to write about some of my experiences and funny moments on the RV Belgica. The goal of this expedition for me is to gain some experience and of course getting familiar with the…

Error 404: Boxcore not found!

Good morning landlubbers! My name is Tibe, I’m 21 and I’m a bachelor student from Ghent University. Today I will tell you what a day on the Belgica looks like for me. My day starts at 5h30; I get up, take a travel pill (because I get seasick easily) and take a shower. Then I…

Sailing towards success

Hi! I am Kimberly, a 2nd master student in Geology at Ghent University. I got the opportunity to join this survey and was immediately excited to see how research and life on board of the RV Belgica looks like. It is the perfect way to put the ‘Exploration Geophysics’ and ‘Integrated Offshore Exploration’ courses followed…

Trial and error

Hello! My name is Morgan, and today you’ll get the pleasure (hopefully) of seeing life at the Belgica through my eyes. I’m a PhD researcher at Ghent University and VLIZ since April 2022. Since I’ll be on a cruise with the RV Belgica for my own PhD in September and November, I was happy to…

It’s mapping time!

This is Despina, your storyteller for today. Since May 2022, I am a PhD Researcher at Ghent University and the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ). I am a marine geoscientist, with a special interest in marine geology and geophysical survey techniques. This cruise was the perfect opportunity for me to gain scientific and practical experience along…

Getting into the routine

Hi, I’m Coline a biologist with soon a master’s degree in Oceanography from the University of Liège. Being on a boat and doing some oceanographic campaigns is everything I have ever dreamt of and these few days onboard have been already absolutely delightful. I am now excited to know more about the geology campaigns we…

Lost and Found

3, 2, 1,… the activation code for the acoustic release is sent down 135 m of murky fjord water. Esperamos pero… nada. Nada, Noppes, Nothing. No surface buoy either. Ooooch. You might be wondering how we got here. Let us rewind a bit. Over the past 5 years, we – Seb’s Angels – have acquired…

How to: lake-hopping with a cataraft

After our first few days on Laacher See, we were already getting used to the survey life, which mainly consists of the following activities: Installing equipment such as seismic sources, receivers and transducers on the cataraft and the boat Managing and rolling up lots and lots of cables Solving GPS problems Checking the quality of…