soon to be seal food: December 2007

An Early Christmas Gift

Christmas came early last week. Three humpbacks showed up in Arthur Harbor two days later. We were able to get out in the zodiacs to get a closer (but not too close) look. The whales caught site of us and decided to do some people watching. They were friendly and inquisitive. It's amazing to see such huge and beautiful creatures up close in the wild.

Checking us out.

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Checking out the boat.

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Size perspective.

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Big tail.

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Right before they left, one swam under the boat and turned its belly up to us. Then it rolled back and forth with its fins waving in the water.

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A wave goodbye.

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"L" is for I Love Whales.

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Thank you to Rebecca Shoop and Stacie Murray for use of their photos.

Hot Naked Chicks

I believe I will be getting more hits on internet searches now.

But really, we have warm naked chicks trying to keep warm around Palmer these days. Penguin chicks recently hatched and I went out to Torgersen Island with some friends to catch some of the action.

Adelie parent requrgitates some lunch for its chick.

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A skua waits for its chance to snatch a chick for its own lunch.

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Photos courtesy of Rebecca Shoop

Carleton College Connections

At McMurdo, I had two random run-ins with people I knew from Carleton College. I had my third random meeting with Carleton alumni in Antarctica at the beginning of December.

David Barbeau is leading a team of geologists piecing together the history between South America's peninsula and Antarctica's- SCOTIA. The project is real interesting and worth taking the time to read up on. The team is working from the Laurence M Gould (another famous figure in Carleton history), and we met during the port call at Palmer. Funny how those things happen.

Tenting out

Gentoos next to my tent in the backyard. The glacier is across the harbor.

A few weeks ago, I finally got my tent set up. It's been snowing much more this year than last, and just to get down to hard ground, I dug a four-foot deep pit into the snow. I let that melt more for another week or so before setting up the tent. But when I finally did, it was a beautiful evening.

It's peaceful out in the backyard. The hum-drum of the station can't be heard and all I hear is nature around me. A ten minute walk and I'm out in the cool fresh air. The waves crash on the rocks below, penguins make their calls all around my tent, and the glacier booms once in a while as it calves across the harbor.

Waking up to go to work is much nicer when I start my morning in the brisk air of the backyard.

The Joubin Islands

Small Gentoo colony on one of the islands in the Joubin group.
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Since I arrived to Palmer this year, it has been a whirlwind of duties. Always busy, sometimes working nine days in a row without a day off depending on the Gould's schedule. After work, it doesn't seem to calm down because of community duties, organized functions, or just having to do one thing or another- not necessarily by choice. So sometimes it feels like TRUE personal time is harder to find here than my days at McMurdo. Most times, the work days are filled with day-to-day regular tasks, nothing special or out of an ordinary supervisory position. Just when my energy stores were on empty, another job had to be done.

Our regular zodiac boating limit around station is 2 miles. The birding group makes regular trips to the islands in the area in almost any weather, studying penguin colonies, giant petrels, skuas, and other birds. There is a set of islands to the west, over 100 in all, with propeller-eating shoals and exposed to the open sea, called the Joubin Islands. There are some penguin colonies and petrel nests there that the birding group also keeps tabs on. As one may guess, travel to these islands is guided by backup measures and careful planning. Okay, sign me up!

Only when a USAP chartered vessel is operating in the area AND the weather is cooperative, two zodiacs are permitted to travel to the Joubins for birder work. The vessel is in case ferocious weather pops up and blows the group out to the open seas. One zodiac is the immediate backup boat for any other trouble that may arise. Both boats bring along dry bags of extra clothes, survival gear, and enough food for 4-5 days for every person (there's plenty of clean snow for fresh water right now). Last Friday, the two birders set out for the Joubins with the Boating Coordinator and I operating the backup boat for the day.

The view back towards station.

It was amazing to travel out and get a real good look around. As we departed, Mount Francais, typically hidden as viewed from around station, came into full view. It was a wonderful feeling to be getting out into wild Antarctica- few people ever go to the Joubins, yachties and science groups alike.

A calm cove to park the boats. We heard seals singing underwater here.

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Though I've seen Gentoo and Chinstrap penguins before, I had not seen nesting colonies of them- only Adelies.

Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins.

Trips like this punctuate my deployments to Antarctica and remind me why I love to come back here... at times. These moments, experiences of beauty, break up the monotonous weeks that blend together and disappear too quickly, leaving me wondering where my twenties are going. Aside from trips like these, there are other times when my job's duties let me know I am truly a part of the science research (sometimes my work entails tasks that feel like I am a cog in a corporate machine, making me ask, "how does this benefit the program and the research groups?"), or greeting tourships and their guests to this amazing area... these times also draw my attention back to the good times I am having here.