April 14th - Arriving in Montevideo

I arrived today in Montevideo. Uneventful 8h35 minutes flight from Miami to Buenos Aires (I slept the whole time) and then short flight of 50 minutes to Montevideo. On the same flights from Miami was Claudia Schmidt, oceanographer at AOML and chief scientist of the cruise. We took a cab from the airport to Cuidad Vieja, or the old downtown of Montevideo, where the R/V Ronald H. Brown, the ship of the cruise, is docked. The ride in the taxi cab was very interesting, I believe we drove along along the southeastern coast from the airport, passing resort style neighborhoods. The Atlantic Ocean was brown, almost red. I do not know yet if this is seasonal, alluvia from Rio de la Plata or other biochemistry phenomena. 

The docks are in a restricted area so that there is quite a bit of security to reach the boat; I am waiting to get an official pass to be able to circulate in and out of the port; it would be nice to get this very soon: it is 7:30 pm and I am starving and would like to be able to look for a restaurant! Indeed, food is not provided for the scientific crew until the day of departure! More blogging about science soon!