So sorry I haven’t posted for quite some time, have been super busy here. With my last post being from the end of April there has been a few things that have gone on here. Also If you check near the page title I have a new section called “Latest pictures”. I’ll be uploading the pictures from the past few months there, as there is just too many for the blog, and hopefully I can get back to a regular updating schedule.

Here is what’s gone down, as taken from my monthly contributions to the antarctic sun:

Probably the most talked about event on station this past month has had to have been Oprah. Palmer’s own research associate Neil Scheibe was chosen to participate on a segment entitled “Where the Skype are You” during a recent taping of the show. Because Skype is normally banned under the NSF entrob, a great deal of work was required by Palmer’s IT and Communications departments.

To ensure a successful Skype with Oprah, a special laptop was set up to have top priority on the network. A side benefit to this was that the laptop needed to be tested for usability with Skype and Palmer’s internet connection. To do this several station personnel were able to contact and talk with friends and family back home though a service not usually open to use.

In the short time that Skype was able to be used on the laptop beside to call into Oprah, science personnel were able to perform several outreach Skype sessions with schools back stateside. The use of Skype was a great benefit to all who where able to use it for the short time it was available. When it came down to the big day Palmer was lucky enough to have a clear day that enabled Oprah and her viewing audience a view of the glacier behind Palmer.

Appearing with Neil on Oprah was Dr. Bruce Sidell from the O’Brien science group. Both Neil and Bruce did a great job telling Oprah and her audience about Station life and the effects of global warming to the environment around Palmer. About two weeks after taping the show aired to a packed Palmer Lounge. While Skype enabled Neil and Dr. Sidell to talk to Oprah, a Slingbox enabled the station to watch the show.

For the past few months a group of “wasties” lead by Mark Furnish have been hard at work consolidating and getting ready for shipment all of the hazardous waste here on station. For the waste crew, just about every hour of the last months have been spent working outside in and among the mil-vans housing the haz waste, and moving it down to the Palmer pier to be loaded onto the LMG. Once loaded on the LMG, it will make its way northbound to the United States for disposal. All the long hours of work finally paid off with the Gould’s arrival just before mid-winter’s day. Even with the ship being slowed by sea ice and a side trip for some science related repairs, the waste crew along with help from Palmer Logistics managed to complete loading of the waste mil-vans on the pier and finally onto the ship.

On the days preceding the departure of the Gould word had made it’s way to station that the ship might have to leave a day earlier then was planned. It turns out that one of the Chilean stations, O’Higgins, had lost power and would need the Gould to bring them parts. To do this the Gould will need to travel to Frei Base to pick up some equipment that is being flown there from Punta Arenas, then loaded onto the Gould and brought to O’Higgins to unload it.

Before going to Frei base the Gould attempted a landing at Hugo Island to try and repair a gps unit, installed earlier this season. The gps is used to measure ice-sheet loading and the unloading of the the landmass. Unfortunately due to the ice and weather they were unable to land at Hugo for the repairs.

From Hugo the Gould made its way towards Frei Base, only to have to backtrack and take an alternative route due to ice. Eventually the mission would have to be canceled altogether because the pack ice at Maxwell Bay would prevent the Zodiac operations needed to get the replacement parts to the Gould. Because of this the Gould would now make its way to Punta Arenas some 72 hours behind its original schedule.

That’s what Sunday was, sadly I was working but still managed to take a few pictures. I did this with my Pentax K20D, with some tin foil plastic and electrical tape.

So I’ve decided, no more daily updates, I’m finding I just don’t have the time or energy to be doing it every day, plus there just isn’t that much going on. My new goal is once or twice a week just to keep things current.

Speaking of keeping things current, the Gould has been gone a good two weeks, there is no science here now so things we’ve been able to concentrate on doing work and getting trained in the rescue teams.

I’m on both Ocean search and rescue, and the SCBA fire team, so the past two weeks have been really busy for me, crazy busy. Plus I am also on the trauma team so that takes up a bit of my time, but I can now take X-rays so that is pretty cool.

I was also lucky enough to see a leopard seal catch a penguin which was beyond cool. So far the wildlife this year has been pretty good.

Today was fire team change over, got my gear and we had our drill/s. Not too bad was fun but damn was it hot. Both of the drills went good, and had fun doing them, but man did I sweat.

It was also the first trauma team meeting, and i got to learn how to xray and develop the xray, it was pretty cool and fun.

The leopard seals were out in force on the ice today sunning it up as the sun went down.

Had one of the best days today and was lucky enough to take my boating two class, sorry no pictures from that. But the highlights included practicing pulling people from the water and getting in myself to get pulled out. Oh did I mention that my suit leaked? Got a little damp but overall not too bad. Tomorrow is Fire team and Trauma team turn over gonna be a busy day.

So I just had my first day of work, went kinda slow but I’m sure it will pick up. I’m busy trying to figure out what is going on sense the guy I’m replacing wasn’t here so I’m trying to figure out what’s going on and the questions I need to ask him when I give him a call.

Also the LMG has left for a short cruise for a few days to do science.

Did I mention the sunsets are nice?

I have arrived and it feels good to be here.

We Are well on the way to Palmer we are supposed to dock at the pier around 7:30am tomorrow morning. The weather has calmed down a bit, Even saw a few whales, even took a few pictures of them, just wish that I was a bit closer. Over all it was a good day, and tomorrow I will be on station, can’t wait

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Due to some nasty weather that moved into the area we are leaving Deception Island without landing again, this is Antarctica after all and weather changes can be both quick and violent. The winds have picked up so much that we are waiting near the exit of the caldera for them to die down enough to permit safe travel to our next destination. But more of that tomorrow, as I’m not exactly sure what is going on.

Part of me doesn’t want to even get to station, I’d like to just chill on the boat, but I know when I get to station and settle in that I won’t want to get on the boat. I know it was hard to leave my friends last year, so I will be glad to see them in a few days, even if it is just for a week or so. If the first few weeks go smoothly I think I’m gonna see if I can stay for a year, I’d love to see all the wildlife in the summer, would really be awesome.

Also for some reason today, I feel like I’m stuck in a time warp, or at least that time stepped into some gum and is having a hard time moving forward. With all the stuff we’ve been doing the past few days it is no surprise that a day of chilling out is taking so long, to move on.

Seriously! So Deception Island is a Volcano that has an opening in it’s side, which lets the ocean in and gives us this awesome place to hang out. Today we’ve moved to a place further inside the caldera to a beach that once was home to a base that was destroyed during the last eruption and now is a pile of stone, wood, and steal. The rocks near here are really neat and range from tiny pebbles to rocks much the same as you see else where, but a good chunk of them are porous.

I spent a good part of the morning checking out the ruins and the rocks, along with the little bit of wildlife that was near by. After lunch was spend laying in a pool of water that was heated by thermal vents from the volcano, very nice. The location of these pools was such that you could stand up take a few steps and you’d be in the colder water. So I spent the afternoon going from the hot water to the cold water, while not as cold as at Palmer it was still decently cold and was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Wow where do I start, today was the best part of the trip so far. Around noon time we entered into Deception Island, Whaler’s Bay to be exact, or at least I think it was Whaler’s Bay... Anyways I gave my cool Friend Lilly a hand getting the Zodiac ready and helping people into it once it was in the water. As soon as we landed I knew it would be an awesome time, to one side of the landing zone was a group of penguins, to the other side a group of Fur Seals, and about in the middle a penguin carcass and some only Whaling Buildings.

On the way down here I read the book Whale Warriors which is about the Sea Shepherd group trying to stop the Japanese from whaling of the coast of Antarctica. Was a good book and I wish them the best of luck in stopping the whaling. But with the book fresh in my mind still Seeing and being able to walk around an area where whales have be processed was kinda erie. One of the First things you see when you land is some storage tanks with some out laying buildings closely near by. After the whalers abandoned the buildings around 1930ish I think, the British used it as a base until the late 60’s when the volcano on the island erupted. So all the buildings are in fairly rough shape if they are even standing still. After checking out a few of the buildings and the Fur Seals around them, I decided to make my way down the beach to check out an overlook into a cove on the outside of the island. On the way there I came across a few seals hiding in some old rusted out structures.

In the sand I stumbled across the skeleton of a a whale partially sticking out of the sand. In my mind I was reminded that this was something that happened in the past, until I realized that The Japanese and a few other groups still kill whales. I hope that at some point soon that just like the whaling station on Deception, that all whaling would be a thing of the past.

Yes, we are almost out of the Drake and will be at Deception Island tomorrow around 1pm. This be awesome, the Drake was not fun last night, we hit a few 30-40ft waves and everything not bolted down went all over everywhere. Walking on the ship today was a chore and a half, had to go with a wide stance and try and move with the ship. Couldn’t get more than about an hour of sleep at any one time, because of the rocking of the ship, kinda scary when you are on the top bunk and the beds are as tiny as they are, sometimes it feels like you’ll end up right on the floor.

The best thing to do in times like these are to get in the lounge and find your favorite spot, and watch movies or tv. I am now a fan of the show Weeds, one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while. The tv watching helps because you start to focus on that and not on the movement of the ship, though every now and again you get to feel the ship catching a decent wave, and feel like you will be catapulted right out of your spot, but it is still better than rolling around in your bunk trying not to fall out.

Tiny Bunks

I’m finding myself confined to my bunk, it is a self inflicted confinement, one that I’m sure most people would do themselves. I am now in the Drake, have a new patch and still feel off. I’m not sure if it is from the food or the effects of the ocean swells on the ship, that is mostly responsible for it, though I am sure it is a combination of the two. Either way I’m gonna just stay here as I feel better here than if I was to walk around, though I could use some fresh air, but I don’t know if I could make it there and back.

We are about two days from Deception island, maybe a little less at this point, I’m just hoping we will stop. At the point we get there it would be a much needed break from the trip over the Drake.

This is my least favorite part of going to Palmer, not once have I had a good trip across. The patch does stop me from getting sick but it doesn’t stop the feeling of wanting to be sick, but this is still better than being sick and wishing I was dead. Part of me wishes they’d just fly us in on some seaplanes or something, avoid the whole boat process. But I only truly feel that way when crossing the Drake.

A good example of a Drake Zombie.

So the rumor going around is that instead of waiting it out some more tomorrow we are gonna go ahead and try and slip between two storms systems, which means that we will be leaving for the Drake just after break fast tomorrow. I hope my medicine lasts long enough for this, or I will need to get more.

In other news we’ve found one of those atari joysticks with atari games on it, and hooked it up to the tv. There is something very odd about playing Pong on a 64in tv screen. We also learned that atari games suck ass, sorry to all you retro gamers out there but they are crap. I managed to score a 3 in pong, I used to be decent at it when I had the wheel controller but with the regular joystick and the pink backround I was doomed.

Missile Command

As I write this we should be in the Drake but we are not, thanks to a weather system that would be moving through while we would be in there, something about not wanting to go through 30-40ft swells with high winds. Kinda glad they decided not to go through, I just hope it doesn’t impact our side trip to Deception island I’d really like to see it and land if I get the chance. So we are just gonna sit here and wait it out for a few days see what happens, and because my room mate has taken the desk for his I write this in my bunk no big deal

Chilling in my bunk
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I didn’t wake up as early as i hoped to, but still managed to get out and take some pictures of the dogs, and get a nice hoody sweater for like $20 it’s a nice one too. I’m gonna have to look into calibrating the focus on the 16-45mm I have 90% of the pictures with it are out of focus... Could be me but I’ll have to look into it and see what is the problem. Just weird that they are all out of focus and I took my time to take some of the shots, hm...

Other wise it was a good day, walked around for a bit until the square was filled with all the tourists from the cruse ships. At this point the LMG is out of the straights and making it’s way along the coast to start crossing the drake tomorrow at some point.

I’ve moved on the LMG today, after walking around Punta Arenas for a bit and getting my gear. Punta Arenas was much busier today than I’ve seen it my past two visits, I plan to buy a few suveniers tomorrow before the ship heads out. Maybe a hat or sweater just need to try and figure out how to bargain in my horrible spanish. Right now most of the people are off the ship for one last drink, and to hang out, but I’m on the ship thinking about heading off to sleep in an hour or two maybe 3. I’m just not feeling like heading out tonight, mostly because my knee is a bit sore same with my feet, maybe today was a bad day to start breaking in my hiking boots.

Plus I don’t want to be out all night, I’d like to be able to get up somewhat early and maybe try and take some pictures of the dogs that wander around Punta Arenas. One of the things I find pretty interesting in Punta Arenas is all the dog that wonder around town, some are strays but some have collars and are people’s pets. Last time I was on my way to Palmer I noticed that before the stalls of stuff for sale get set up in the square that there are quite a few dogs that are hanging around sleeping, and just being dogs.

Was a long day, and long night. I had difficulties trying to sleep, mainly due to having a hard time finding the right way to sleep, and some stomach issues that are finally catching up with me... I’ve also been writing in my moleskine thanks to a certain someone, using it as a journal and not book. Some of the entries are kinda insightful so starting, uh, soonish I’ll include snippets from it, at least the parts that can appear in public.

I was feeling pretty smelly by the time I arrived in Santiago, wishing I could just shower somewhere in the airport, but that was gonna have to wait until Punta Arenas. The flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas wasn’t too bad, watched part of 4 christmases or something. Though the gas had been building and after one of my trips to expel some gases, the woman next to me asked if I spoke spanish, which I speak enough to say no. The she asks english, which I know so we began to talk for quite a bit. I told her how I was going to work at Palmer for six months and about just about wanting to travel more, and about wanting to see Peru and Machu Picu. She told me a bit about herself and her friend that spoke about as much english as I did spanish, and how they were going to see penguins and a glacier near Calafante. She tested me on my spanish that I did know, basicly just “Mi llamo es Sean”, and I am sure I spelled that wrong. Greg was asking me if I got her number, when the plane landed, besides the fact that I have a girlfriend I highly doubt that it was more than anything friendly.

Then it was on to the hotel with the Agunsa people, and damn what a hotel room it is. I have an entrance/waiting area, a large bed/room, a walking closet/hallway, and a massive bathroom. The bathroom is the biggest one I’ve ever had in a hotel, It has a toilet, boudie, a double sink, and a double whirlpool/shower/bathtub, it is awesome.

So here I sit in the Dallas airport, arrived with a few minutes to spare before boarding starts so this is just a quick post.

Almost time to board.

I’m in Denver for training on St. Paddy’s day, not that I drink or even like corned beef, but am wearing a green “Hulk” shirt and listening to The Pogues, have to be good enough. Tomorrow is my last day of training and then I fly off to South America, with the final destination there being Punta Arenas, then Palmer Station. Glad there is only one day of training left, I can’t say this is the most exciting part of the trip. With that I doubt I’ll be able to post for almost 2 weeks, or until I get to station unless the hotel in PA has internet.

But so I begin my 365 photo project, I present you with “Hulk Smash!”

Not all of my 365 photos will be of me so if you came here for that, looking at Strayfarce, sorry that’s not gonna happen