The Drake Passage

Or as I'll think of it from now on, the "Straits of Insanity". We had a really rough trip across the Drake, but we made it back to Puenta Arenas on Saturday, October 1st, after staying in the harbor in a holding pattern, unable to dock due to high winds. We finally got off the ship at 7:00 that evening after being checked through Chilean customs. After a night on the town, most of us got on planes the next day to go home to friends and loved ones. Below are a few notes I made during the voyage, but by day two of the trip I was too busy trying not to fall over to write much. No seasickness for me, but I'm still feeling "dock rock" after being off the ship for four days. Oh, and I got my finger fractured after being attacked by a 45 degree couch in the ship's lounge. I'm now back in California, enjoying some some rest and vacation, and looking forward to catching up with everyone.

24 September 2007-Aboard the LMG:

My fellow winter-overs and I left Palmer Station via Zodiac last night and spent the night aboard the LMG. This morning we all had breakfast, and then the ship went close to the Palmer pier so that our friends from the summer crew could do the traditional Polar Plunge as each boat leaves station. Lots of jumpers this time, including winter-over Station Manager Eric, who has to stay behind and help train the new Station Admin., Chris.

The forecast for our crossing of the Drake is bad. Definitely going to have a rough crossing, but since I’ve usually had easy crossings, I’m up for it. We may make a stop at Deception Island on the way home if we’re able to get to Neptune’s Bellows, (pictured left) the entrance to the harbor.

25 September 2007-Aboard the LMG

It’s going to be a really rough crossing. We’re not even to the Drake yet, and already the waves are above 5 meters. The weather forecaster for our voyage back in South Carolina says that it’s “definitely going to be a rough crossing”. Happily, we stopped at Deception Island for about an hour today. This island is actually an active volcano, or, a “restless caldera”. It’s the only volcano in the world that you can pilot a vessel into. The island has a long history of human activity since 1820 including exploration, sealing, whaling, aviation, and scientific research. The entrance to the caldera is a 500 meter wide channel called Neptune’s Bellows, and it can be treacherous to navigate. A cruise ship ran aground there last year. We made it through the Bellows into Whaler’s Bay, which contains numerous ruins of historical significance. The Norwegian whaling station Hektor was founded there in 1912 and abandoned in 1931. In 1928 the Australian Sir Hubert Wilkins and the Canadian Carl Ben Eileson undertook the first powered flight in the Antarctic, taking off from the flat beach at Whaler’s Bay. In addition there is a small cemetery used by the whalers, and most interesting, an airplane hangar built on the site by the British in WWII as part of a top secret operation known as “Operation Tabarin”, an effort to combat Nazi warships that were attacking and capturing Norwegian whaling vessels. As part of Operation Tabarin, the British established a permanent base in Whalers Bay, “Base B” in 1943. Operation Tabarin was terminated in 1945, and Base B was turned over to the organization that later became the British Antarctic Survey. The station was abandoned in 1970 when the volcano erupted and destroyed much of the site.

After the LMG got situated in Whaler’s Bay, we launched a Zodiac, and most of the people on board got taxied to the landing on the beach, and we all walked around the ruins for an hour or so as the weather began to deteriorate. In 1969-70, numerous eruptions occurred in the caldera, and the British base was abandoned, and some of the buildings were destroyed. It was amazing to walk around and see a bit of Antarctic history. Just as we arrived a small group of Gentoo penguins was arising out of the water as if to greet us. They walked up onto the shore about 100 meters or so to lie down for a break. We also sighted one emaciated looking fur seal sleeping under the hull of an abandoned whaling ship, and one indifferent immature elephant seal. We left just as the weather took a turn for the worse, and carried on into the Drake.

26 September 2007- on board the LMG

The weather forecaster was right. We are getting into some rough ocean. Today at lunch the captain of the LMG got up from the table and said, “well, lets go get our asses kicked” as he proceeded to the bridge. He wasn’t kidding. The waves are anywhere from 5-10 meters, making it difficult to walk around, or sit down, for that matter.

Goodbye Palmer Station

Hi All,

In about a half hour I'm getting on board the Gould and sailing home. I'll be out of email contact for the next 4-5 days. You can follow the boat's progress through the Drake Passage using the cool web utility from an earlier post. I can't wait to see all of my friends and family, and hope that you're all doing well. I have to go now and say goodbye to all of the great friends I've met here.

Take care,
David

Winter Comes to a Close

Hi All,

Well, the R/V Laurence M. Gould arrived at Palmer Station on 19 September, and it was a beautiful sight to see as it came around Bonaparte Point. However, while we were tying the ship up to the mooring pins during some heavy sea surge, not one, not two, but three mooring pins snapped off. As I was assisting with installing the gang plank, the stern pin (the pins are 4" diameter steel embedded into solid rock. It takes ALOT of force to snap one off) snapped off, and we quickly disconnected the gangplank and the bow lines and the LMG went back out to sea while we scrambled to rig up a spare stern pin. The LMG came back to the pier, and we repeated the docking procedure...then again, while we were installing the gang plank, the two bow pins snapped off simultaneously, and we again quickly disconnected the pier lines and the stern lines and the boat set out to sea again. This whole series of events was unheard of, and the bottom line was that the boat was unable to dock at the pier because we couldn't tie it up with only the pier pins.

Plan B was set into motion.

All of the cargo was to be sling loaded onto Zodiac boats and carried to station, then sling loaded onto station with a Skytrack. SO, I went to work with our Boating Coordinator, Ryan, and two Marine Technicians from the LMG. We spent two days loading and unloading vital cargo. Call it Dave's idea of a perfect end of winter day: running around in a Zodiac playing Fed Ex Antarctica. Serious "Only in Antarctica" style activities. Below are some pictures which tell a little bit about my experiences over the past 4 days, which ended tonight with a birthday party for our station doctor, Shawn, and me in the lap of an old friend, Chris Hush, who started in the Antarctic Program the same year I did: 1992. Time flies by. For the last four days I've been performing turnover with my summer counterpart, Phil Spindler, and hauling cargo around by Zodiac. I'm truly exhausted, as many a winter-over can appreciate, but exhilarated at the same time, and I still have to pack up all of my belongings and get ready to get on the boat tomorrow. We leave for Puenta Arenas on 24 September, if all goes according to plan. But the plan is subject to change, as the past four days attest. This may well be my last blog entry from Palmer Station, but I'll update this whole story later when I get back to the States. I hope to see all of my family and friends soon, but I'll miss this place and the new friends that I've made here.

A Big Orange Boat

Hi All,

Linked here is a cool web utility that we use to track where the R/V Laurence M. Gould is located. Right now they're about 90-110 km from Palmer, but they're sailing through the Gerlache Strait, and there may be some heavy sea ice built up around that area. At any rate the boat was due to arrive here today, but has been postponed till tomorrow morning. It's slow going for them, but they'll be here soon, and some happy but tired Palmer winter-over folks will be sailing home next week.

Oh. And here is a link to the Polartrec website. The teacher on board the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer for the SIMBA cruise, Ms. Sarah Anderson, interviewed me for her ongoing journal while the Palmer was here last week. It sounds like the SIMBA cruise will be able to carry on once the soot is removed and the damage repaired after the devastating fire the boat had.

A Warm Day

I know this is anecdotal, but it was so hot here today that after I turned the heat off in my bedroom, I still had to open up the window to get some relief. And there I was, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Granted, there were few clouds in the vicinity and the sun was shining directly onto my side of the building, but still...September is on average supposed to be the coldest month of the year. Global climate change, or just a warm day? Looking out my window directly across Arthur Harbor is a piece of land that was once called Norsel Point. It's now been renamed Amsler Island, as the Marrs Glacier has receded so much that its readily apparent that there's an island there. We're melting...

Countdown

Someone wrote this on the community whiteboard a couple of days ago, and ain't it funny and the truth. We're all ready to leave Antarctica and head north to warmer climes and see familiar (and perhaps unfamiliar) faces, perhaps spending some time lounging around on a warm beach or hiking through a forest somewhere. We're expecting the LMG to arrive here on the 18th or so, depending on the ice conditions, and then we'll have a week of turnover with the summer folks and then it's buh-bye.

Tonight we had our last Saturday dinner together, and as I do every Saturday evening I hosted "Science Happy Hour". The bar here at Palmer is self-serve, but on Saturday nights I get to play bartender and serve up some adult beverages in the galley, while our chef, Diane, makes some great appetizers. Usually I try to have a theme of some sort for the occasion, so tonight I decided to whip up some Pisco Sours, which is a traditional Chilean beverage consisting of Pisco, lemon juice, sugar, egg whites, and bitters. Since we'll be back in Chile in a couple of weeks, it seemed like a good idea, plus we made sushi tonight, and Piscos are a light beverage which went well with it. The sushi was incredibly tasty, and reminded me of my favorite sushi restaurant back in San Luis Obispo, Tsurugi's.
We also have a pool going, to see who can guess what time of day the LMG will call us when it gets close to arrival. Usually they call about an hour or two before arriving in here. I chose 11:00...

Penguin Extinction

Here is a link to an article I found on MSNBC earlier today. Bill Fraser, the Principal Investigator (PI) interviewed for this story, left Palmer shortly before I arrived in March, but it was his research I was supporting when I was weighing giant petrel chicks last April/May out on Humble Island. When I arrived here there were still some Gentoo and Adelie penguins to be seen, and occasionally they would even come onto station and hang around the pier. But as Dr. Fraser attests, the local penguin population is quickly dying out as a result of global climate change. The Adelie penguins at left, appearing to bow in homage to the skua, may be a thing of the past here at Palmer within eight years.