The times, they are a changin' . . .

Temperature 3 F Windchill -13 Wind speed 9 KPH Sunrise 10:40 AM Sunset 3:15 PM As you can see from today's statistics, the days are getting very short. Just last week sunset wasn't until almost 4:30PM. Not that we see much of the sun these days anyway. McTown is like Palmer Station in that they are both on the south shore of an island, backed up against mountains and glaciers to the north. Since the sun is riding in the northern sky more and more as winter comes on about the only time we see it is late afternoon until sunset. There have been some awesome sunsets, as you can see from the photo at the top. Aside from work, there is a lot going on down here. Bingo, Trivia nights, Spanish, folk dancing, and fencing lessons, yoga three or four nights a week, another regimen called zumba that combines dance and exercise, science lectures . . . I'm not sure if there are still organized indoor soccer and basketball games, but there is dodge ball every Friday night. There is a photo club, a writers group, a craft room several nights a week and any number of DJ's hosting shows on the local radio station. Those are just the normal weekly/monthly activities. Special events come along from time to time. On the 17th, the station store hosted a fashion show. They finally got all the new stuff that came down on the ship unpacked, tagged and displayed in the store. There are at least a dozen new sweatshirts, two dozen new hats and too many new design t-shirts. It was quite a production with a runway for the models to parade up and down and all sorts of lighting effects. I personally didn't make it to the show, I was probably busy doing laundry or something, so these photos are from the public computer files. That's Kelly, Jack and Melanie modeling some of the new shirts. I think Jack may have a new hat on; I haven't taken the time to do much shopping since the show.

I do wish I had been there for this. I'm guessing Keri was describing the hats Bob and Dave are modeling. I know nothing else Bob is displaying is available in the store, including the gangsta shirt, bandanna, shades or the bottle of tequila in his hand. Maybe the show was to show people the new wares; maybe it was just another opportunity for people to dress crazy and drink heavily. That's what a lot of the activities seem to be about.

Take this weekend. It was our monthly two-day weekend. One of the shops put on a Death and Taxes party Fri. evening. Didn't make that one either, but I had an excuse; I was at the foreman's meeting until 10PM. (The only thing that makes it the foreman's meeting is a bunch of foremen meet up most Fri. evenings at the Southern, our BYOB bar.)

Yesterday, once again the heavy shop gang held the monthly horseshoes tournament and barbecue. Somehow the soda ran out about half way through and there was beer leftover. A committee will be formed to investigate.

This morning, there were breakfast burritos, bloody marys and mimosas at Gallagher's bar - even though the bar wasn't open for business. The servers work for their tips, so everyone tries to make sure they earn it.

You may have heard a week or so ago about some activity on sun. Biggest eruption or something that's happened in fifteen years. That translates to auroras. Again, I'm borrowing from the public files; I have neither photographic equipment to go aurora chasing nor the inclination to stay up until 5 AM to catch shots like the one above. Actually, I'd be more inclined to get up to catch one at that hour than to stay up . . . .

Speaking of which, it's getting to be a little late again. See ya next time . . .

Winter and the Second Half

Sometime in the last 24 hours, I passed the half way point in this trip. It's been 209 days since I got here and there are 207 until the last day of my contract, Oct. 15. Not that I've been counting . . . there are computer programs that take care of such things. A lot has happened since I last wrote. The supply ship, the Arctic Tern, has come and gone. That's the Tern on the left. The Odin, a Swedish icebreaker that opened the channel, hung around to make sure it stayed open. Then it headed out for a scientific research project on the way back to Sweden.

A lot of extra folks were around to unload the Tern. There was some affiliation with the Navy because enlisted Naval personnel were in charge. With a large contingent of young people, working 12 hours on,12 hours off and nothing else to do, the store did not sell any alcohol and the bars were closed. It must work: I believe a record was set unloading the ship in less than three days.

Of course, the ship doesn't go home empty. All the trash and recyclables plus material and equipment that will be sold off back in the States had to be loaded. That went well also. But . . . flight schedules to get people off the Ice are made well in advance. So all those young folks had a day or two with REALLY nothing to do. The store opened for beer sales which lasted a couple hours before it sold out. I think the bars opened, too. I didn't hear of any catastrophes.

Looking back, it was positively balmy then. Temperatures were above freezing, although there were very windy days. The result was more open water than most people had seen in ten years. From time to time there were whales surfacing and spouting. I never saw any orca killer whales, but there were a number of Minkes.

Since the weather was so nice, I hiked up to Castle Rock with Jeremiah, the project plumbing foreman. Up is the operative term. It's a fairly steep climb out of town. Then it's up hill for over a mile, into the wind the whole time. Before you even crest, Castle Rock comes in sight. Beyond was the volcano, Mount Erebus. All in all, it's about four miles round trip.

That was a nice day and we had a few more, but it didn't take long for temperatures to drop. This reading is from Feb. 5. The open water didn't last long either. You can see that in the panorama at the bottom of the page taken a week or two ago. About the time the ship left, so did the majority of the population. One week we were at over 1,100 people. A week later we were under 300. On Mar. 5, the an Airbus dropped off about 20 more souls for the winter and took 80-some folks out. Barring an emergency, that's the last flight until the end of August. I'm here with 197 of my closest friends. Once a month, we get a two-day weekend. Some calculation or Antarctic voodoo incantation determined it would be the weekend following the third full week. That would be this weekend and It's been busy. Friday night, the Carp(enter) shop and Team Heat Trace (that would be us) threw a BYOB party in the Carp shop. Over the years, many festivities have been held there. A stage is set up for live music (two bands this season). An elevated dance floor covers a large table saw. Seems to be the norm here that all parties must have a barbecue and this was no exception. The Carp shop does work setting up the field camps for the scientists. Scientists, field camps at least, get a better grade of meat than folks in town. The Carps get the season's leftovers. We had fillets and even a little venison. I made it until about 11PM. One of the band members said he got home at 3AM. Yesterday the Vehicle Maintenance Facility, aka Heavy Shop, held a horseshoe tournament. BYOB, again. 64 people showed up to participate with a few more just coming for the entertainment. There was plenty. Horseshoes bouncing off concrete, careening out of a metal enclosure or just tossed errantly kept everyone on their toes - literally. No injuries. It started at 1 PM and ran until about 8 - or so I'm told. Partners were by blind draw and it was double elimination. I didn't mind the first loss to a couple guys who outscored us about 2 -1. However,in the second game, a young lady claimed she only played once before. She scored one point in her first match. Against my partner and I, she scored over 10 points, including two ringers and a leaner that took out a closest-to-the-pin of mine. Yeah, only once before . . . Last night there was a St. Patrick's Day Party at Gallagher's bar. Didn't make that one. This morning, Gallagher's was a burrito bar with bloody Marys and mimosas. Had brunch there. Those bloody Marys would have been great with oysters . . . but that will wait for another time. Actually, there have been quite a few after-work activities. We've had one bingo night and one trivia night. Volleyball and basketball in the gym are on a regular weekly basis. Someone seems to be leading yoga almost nightly. Busy place around here. That should make time go quickly for the next 207 days. Speaking of time, it's about time I finished this up and got ready for tomorrow. I can hear the wind howling outside. Unfortunately for Team Heat Trace, there is next to no indoor work. Until next month - maybe . . .

R & R

Rest and relaxation . . . rest and recreation . . . I'm not sure exactly what R and R stands for, but for me, it was relaxation and recreation which was very restful. Raytheon started - or continued - a program allowing people who winterover to take as much as a week in New Zealand. Actually, they flew us to and from Christchurch. We could go wherever we pleased. One fellow spent all his time and a lot of money flying to his home in the States for 4 days. As far as I know, most stayed in New Zealand, many not even leaving Christchurch. I stayed in town for about half my time. As is my habit, I made several trips to the Botanic Gardens, particularly the rose garden. There are almost no smells in Antarctica, so grass and flowers, even freshly turned dirt, is a welcome fragrance. I went to the garden, then to lunch at Dux de Lux, the award winning brew pub, from the garden to The Bog Irish pub, to the park for a few holes of golf, to The Bard on Avon English pub, shopping for winter necessities, to The Tap House, purveyors of Monteith's beers and stone grilled dinners. The venison was excellent as were all the different drafts, especially after months of bottled and canned beer. And all the months of bottles and cans to come.

The whole time I was there, an international busker fest was in progress. There were street performers at several set venues and impromptu performances all over. There were performances specifically for children near the entrance to the Gardens and adult stand up comedy routines in the evenings at the Art Centre. Performers came primarily from New Zealand and the USA, but there were also acts from Israel, Britain and all over eastern Europe.

Jugglers, acrobats, acrobatic jugglers, water balloon battlers, a strong lady, magicians . . . apparently a lot of the acts regularly perform in venues like Las Vegas. We got to watch them as we wandered about town, all for the price of a small donation . . . which each and every act spent the last 10 minutes of their performance reminding the audience about. As one obviously American act put it, "Obama wants change but we prefer bills."

After a couple days, I took a shuttle about 50 miles south to Akaroa, a small resort town set on a harbor on the Banks Peninsula. It was originally settled by French colonists in 1840. Unfortunately for them, by the time they made the trip and arrived, New Zealand was a British territory. None the less, they settled and created a town. It predates Christchurch.

The town isn't very large. My motel was at the center of town and a leisurely 10 minute walk in either direction took me to the edge of town. The above view across the beach inlet shows the more commercial end of town. There were bakeries and bars and boutique bread and breakfasts, shops selling a lot of expensive things we all could live without. There was also a general store and it really was - general. Hardware, food, alcohol, souvenirs, sporting goods, all crammed into a space not much bigger than some of the larger 7-11's back home. I think it dated back to the days before Akaroa became a resort. All in all, I would have to say it was an upscale resort; way more boutique shops than t-shirt shops - I'm not sure there were any of the latter. Still, meals weren't particularly expensive. A take-away (take out) fish and chips shop provided a butcher-paper-wrapped bundle of fresh caught blue cod and fries, about a pound of each, for $10 New Zealand. That's about $7 and change American. It was two lunches for me.

This looks like the original French colonial architecture, but it was built a few years ago. There are many holiday homes in Akaroa, one supposedly the second most expensive in New Zealand at $7 million. There is also a home owned by an Oregon senator. Interesting.

Besides having fresh pastries and flat white coffee at the bakery in the morning, cold beers on the beach or on my balcony in the afternoon and fresh fish, cod, flounder and monk fish for dinner in the evenings, I managed to squeeze in a couple of walks in the hills and an afternoon ride on a sailboat to see dolphins and penguins and seals.

This is Daly's Pier, the original pier for the town. The small building is the bell tower of a former school. It was right out front from my room, the place I boarded the sailboat, a great place to hang out and a wonderful photo subject. After a few days I was totally relaxed.

Then I had to leave.

I got back to Christchurch on a Thursday, caught up with some other R&R folk on Friday and flew back to the Ice on Saturday.

That was two weeks ago. Since then there have been hundreds and hundreds of people in and out of McMurdo. About 100 were here to unload the cargo ship. That ended last Saturday and those folks left. Most people that were in field camps have left. People who aren't wintering at South Pole are passing through. As of this morning there were still over 800 souls on station. About 120 left today. The over next two days many more go. Thursday and next Saturday will see all but a few more leaving. There are still some winterovers coming as well.

The last flight is scheduled for March 5. I think all the winterovers will be glad to see people go so we can settle in and get on with our season.

I'll write more when things have settled down. . . .

Around town . . .

It's been a while, I know, but it's been busy around here. My last post was before Christmas. As celebrations go in Antarctica, Christmas wasn't much around here. There was a well attended station party with dresses and a few suits but very quiet and low key. Holidays are celebrated on Saturdays - usually. We celebrated Christmas on Friday the 25th and Saturday, worked Sunday and on through Friday the 1st, then celebrated the 2nd and 3rd. Go figure. Anyway, maybe everyone was saving up for the second weekend. New Years had some celebrants in the bars, but no big party. Icestock was on the 2nd. It was your basic outdoor concert with crafts for sale. Some custom made t-shirts and hats that were shipped in and a lot of locally assembled jewelery. The food, chili and brats, were free, but there were tip jars for the cooks. As you can see, the weather cooperated with warm, 30-something temperatures, calm winds and clear skies. There are medical clinics set up at a lot of festivals but how many ever offer free H1N1 vaccinations? There was dancing in the streets and hula hoopsters. Apparently some folk had deprived childhoods and never learned how. But then, what do you expect from a beaker? (Science folk, to any that didn't know that already.) I could hear most of the bands and musicians from my room. As I said, it was warm enough to have the window open. This is the view from the end of the hall. Practically front row seating. Since then, a lot of people have been coming through town. Most are heading back from field camps where they were doing research. It's been getting warmer - sometimes - and the sea ice is beginning to melt. The penguins and seals are showing up quite a bit. The seals aren't much fun. As I mentioned before, they are known as sea slugs around these parts. The little adelie penguins are another story. There are dozens around, although not usually right in town. They can be seen pretty regularly around the holes off of Hut Point. One day on our way home from work we spotted a few down by the pump house on the edge of town. Photo op. About six of us had our photos taken like this. You'd have thought we'd never seen penguins before. The adelies were a lot closer than this when we first got there, but they took off toward Hut Point. Ye Olde Swimming Hole ? I've been told there are four emperor penguins about 10 miles out on the road to the airfield. About the same time the adelies and other critters showed up, we saw the Swedish icebreaker, the Oden, breaking a channel in to McTown. It's been here busting out a large turning basin just off shore and clearing a path to the ice pier. Our 'pier' is a large chunk of ice that is tied to the shore and connected by a removable bridge. Anyway, the Oden will be around for a while. It continues to break up the ice, which is allowing it to melt and clear out quicker. It will also escort the ships in to the pier. First the fuel tanker will come in and offload something like 6,000,000 gallons or more of fuel. That's for McTown and the South Pole and all the field camps. The schedule is for the tanker to leave Feb. 1 and the Arctic Tern, the container supply ship, to dock the following day. For 10 to 14 days, operations will run 24 hours a day. Supplies will be unloaded and then an awful lot of trash and any material being returned will be loaded. It goes back to California and Washington. I don't know why Washington. Maybe some trash can't be dropped off in California. People are already beginning to leave and many, many more will be going out after the ships leave. With few exceptions, everyone but the winter over crew will be gone by Feb. 20. I'll try to remember to write before then. And thanks to all of you that understood the problem with receiving large emails down here. . . gets very frustrating trying to get email downloaded when the pipe is plugged.

What's a pirate's favorite movie? Any one rated "ARRGH!"

ARRGH! Not because I'm feeling particularly buccaneerish . . . I've been battling the McTown Crud, Part III . . . recently H1N1 shots were made available. Everyone should get one, they said. . . even if you aren't feeling well, they said . . . it won't make you sicker, they said . . . they lied, I said . . . ARRGH! . . . after several days of sleep, sweat and chills, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. So I'll 'blog'.

Luckily I took some sightseeing trips the last two weekends. Two weeks ago, I rode 5 or 6 miles towards Cape Evans in a Delta. It took about an hour, one way.

Deltas are the workhorse around here. With the wide balloon tires, they can travel the lightly groomed snow roads on the ice shelf and sea ice. Different configurations allow them to carry passengers or cargo. They just aren't very fast . . . which is a good thing, since they also don't have much for suspensions. . .

The ice caves are located in the side of the ice tongue that sticks into the sea from the glacier down from Mt. Erebus. Waves and glacial movement create openings in the sides, caves. Crystals form on the walls and ceiling.

We couldn't go very far once inside. There are small openings into other areas, but it's best to stay out and just look in. Glaciers sometimes wag their tongues.

Light filters through different layers. I guess this is ice blue. Only about 4-5 of us were allowed in at a time. Once I came out, it turned out some of the locals had shown up.

The policy is, if the wildlife reacts to us in any way, we are to back off. What were we to do when two Adelie penguins decided to join us - run away? We actually watched them come from a couple hundred yards away, making a bee line directly towards us.

I have no idea what was up with this guy. Once he saw the penguins, he pulled off his cold weather gear to reveal the tux. He had the hat in his knapsack. Apparently it was some sort of photo op; there was another person there shooting a lot. The penguins actually started to move away from him. I would have too.

By this time, I was kneeling, taking photos from just a few yards away. These two acted if they were trying to figure out what we were. They were about 18" tall, 24" at the most.

As they kept approaching, I decided to flop onto my stomach for an eye-to-eye shot. This one stopped jsut several feet away and kept watching me. Wish I knew what was going through it's head. Maybe it was wondering what was going through the head of the big red critter lying on it's stomach . . .

Eventually they satisfied their curiousity or whatever and wandered off. We later saw a flock of about 15 off in the distance. These two were probably with that group.

Last weekend's trip was just a short ride over to Scott Base, the New Zealand station. From right out front we could wander onto the ice to check out the pressure ridges. The photos along the side are from that trip.