"Happy Birthday America!"
--message just received here at Palmer via radio from Base Commander Victor at Vernadsky Station.
We're celebrating our country's birth today with a BBQ in the garage. We don't have any fireworks here, but who needs them when we've got a fire in the sky this morning. Maybe I'll try to force Eric, our Station Manager, to give a speech. Hope everyone is enjoying the day. I'll post some pictures later of our festivities. Oh, and I've added our newly fixed Palmer Station webcam to the links list. Check it out.
Mid-Winter has come and gone, as has the LMG, which left Palmer on 18 June, taking with it a lot of really good folks who are going to be missed here. The mid-winter greetings which get sent from every station are filling up my email Inbox, and I want to collect them all and post them on to Picasa soon. The photo at left is the one we sent out to all the other Antarctic winter-over folks, and I believe it's one of the best I've seen so far, though I may be a bit biased. Tonight we had our Mid-winter Dinner, and celebrated in style.
...and I've been workin' on my blog. Long days/nights with little time for updating the blog, and lots has happened since the Vernadsky trip. The science season is winding down as the days get shorter, and my last science group, B-022, leaves station on Monday, 18 June. Last Saturday I helped dive tend for them on their last dive of the season. We went out to the wreck of the Bahia Paraiso, an Argentinian resupply vessel which sank near Palmer Station in 1989, releasing approximately 170,000 gallons of 
fuel into Arthur Harbor. The port side of its hull actually sticks out of the water a bit during sea surges (see above), and the divers wanted to make a last dive to collect one species of finger sponge which, amazingly, grows on the Bahia and creates a natural product which has shown great promise in treating certain forms of cancer. This is a little strange when you consider that the picture directly above is of a sheen of fuel on the water (with snowflakes falling) which still leaches out of the Bahia. Members of B-022 (a link to their website is at right) are from the University of Alabama and the University of Southern Florida. They specialize in natural product chemistry and chemical ecology, and some members have been doing research at Palmer for over 25 years. They've been a great bunch to work with and going dive tending is one of my favorite things to do here. I'll miss them when they leave.
Yesterday the Laurence M. Gould arrived for a week long visit. It brought down the last three of our winter-over staff, and will take everyone else back to Puenta Arenas when it leaves. Our station population will be going down to sixteen until September, when the next boat arrives. Between now and then I've got plenty to do in preparation for the next summer science season. Meantime, I've got a couple of old friends here on station who I haven't seen in years, so it's been great catching up with them before they leave next week.
Lastly, on 6 June I had a teleconference w
ith a 2nd grade class at the school where my partner, Gwen, teaches. Clifford School is a Marine Science magnet school in Redwood City, and coincidentally, I supervise the Mary Alice McWhinnie Marine Science Laboratory here at Palmer, so one of the science teachers, Ms. Cleeves, was very interested in having me talk to the students about Antarctica. They asked very good questions about pinnipeds, global climate change, the number of penguins I've seen, and of course, "how cold is it there?" Here they are pictured at left, with a picture board in the background that Gwen made for the class depicting some of the sights that I've seen since I've been here.
Hi All,
I'm just back from playing Group Leader on a two day trip to Vernadsky Station, located south of Palmer. Over the past five years or so, a group of Palmer residents get to go once a year to Vernadsky aboard the LMG on a goodwill tour. We bring them freshies, liquor, smokes, and various Palmer related souvenirs like Palmer patches, Palmer pint glasses, Palmer medals, etc., and in exchange they give us Vernadsky patches, Vernadsky commemorative coins, Vernadsky vodka, etc. Point is, all of the gift giving in the world can't compare to the gift of seeing new faces, especially here on the Ice. And especially if you're working at a Ukrainian base.
Last year, there were some awkward USAP moments during the visit, or so I've heard. This year, the only awkward moment was telling Base Commander Victor that we had to leave, after only 1.5 hours on station. Long story, but the short story is Palmer Station residents will most likely be doing another goodwill visit next year...
As anyone who knows me well can attest, I love to fish. Usually I use a fly or spin rod, but in this case I used an icebreaker, trawl nets, and fish pots while assisting Dr. Sidell's group in their attempt to catch several different species of icefish for their research. We worked on 12-hour shifts, and I was placed on nights, when the catch is usually better. We mainly stayed in an area north of Palmer Station called Dallman Bay, about 8 hours away from station. Using a 15 meter trawl net, we let the net drop down to the bottom (about 150-200 meters), and then trawled for about a half hour. Then the net was hauled on deck and the contents were released. We quickly sorted through all of the starfish, octopi, krill, seaweed, and other bycatch (pictured above), searching for the elusive icefish that are the subject of Bruce's work. We didn't catch as many fish as we had hoped for, but we caught enough to make the trip worthwhile. There was beautiful scenery for the entire trip, especially an amazing rock formation called the Needle of the Astrolabe.
This formation is approximately 100 meters in height, and immediately catches your eye from a distance of about 3K. At first I thought it was some sort of illusion, like a Fata Morgana, but it's the real deal.
We had good weather for most of the trip, but one night there were winds up to about 30 knots, and high seas. I'm glad that I don't easily get seasick.
On this trip I caught six octopi, one gigantic sea spider, and a
very beautiful purple/pink sea star, all of which are currently living in the tourist aquarium here at Palmer Station. Pictured at port are the starfish and octopi in a five gallon bucket onboard the LMG.
Today I am leaving Palmer Station aboard the Laurence M. Gould for a three day fishing cruise with Dr. Bruce Sidell and his group. We'll be about 8 hours away from Palmer using trawl nets and pots to catch a species of fish which does not use hemoglobin to carry oxygen. This is a unique evolutionary adaptation that Bruce and his group are experimenting with. More on this when I return. I've been really busy here, and haven't had much time to write over the past couple of weeks, but all is well.
Check out this link to an Esquire interview with our station doctor, Shawn. He's so mis-quoted here. Hilarious:
http://www.esquire.com/the-side/opinion/antarctica051707
