Long time between stories for sure. My apologies. The days have been very full and 18 hours seems to go in the blink of an eye. Come days end it is usually time for a snack then off to the bunk for a bit of sleep.
The days have been busy with science – We have been working on everything from camera surveys and multi-beam mapping of the ocean floor, to attempting to fly the helicopters over the mountains of the Palmer Peninsula. We’re still trying to get the scientists to their stations on the other side of those hills.
The photo surveys with the Yo Yo camera have been producing incredible pictures of what lives beneath the ice. We have also been studying the summer bloom. Tiny microscopic creatures that hatch out in the ocean like mosquitoes do in the arctic tundra. They are food for larger creatures from the giant swarms of tiny krill all the way up to the mighty whales.
We have traveled to many beautiful areas this trip. Bays and coves in the around the Gerlache Strait. Today we are working in a place called Andvord Bay, yesterday we were in Flandres Bay and the day before we were at Palmer Station on Anvers Island. The scenery is spectacular. The bays are more like a fjords. The mountains shoot straight out of the water and reach through the low lying clouds Unfortunately those clouds are what have been keeping our helicopters grounded, but they are part of what makes this place so amazing. On the other side of the peninsula the ice is still too thick to reach our destination by ship. With any luck the wind will continue blowing in the right direction and we will reach the Larsen Ice shelf in the next week or so.
Sea, snow, and mountain.
In the mean time we are not wasting any time. The zodiacs were launched last night to take the National Geographic photographers (Sarah and Maria) out to document some of the most spectacular scenes we have ever seen. We are surrounded by mountains that tower over us. More mountains covered in clouds above and ice and snow below. The ice glows an aqua-blue and the glaciers that look like they are about to calf at any moment make you want stay up, waiting and watching until they do.
Right now it’s 6:00am and the sun has been up for four hours. At 1:00am we launched the ROV for it’s first real mission of the cruise. We are running a 2.2 kilometer transect along the bottom. The current is strong, but we’re making our way at about half the speed we had originally hoped. That would be about 2 tenths of a knot (knot = nautical mile) per hour. We’re seeing some great stuff. There are strange long thin silver fish about 20 centimeters long. They look like a cross between a snipe eel and a dragon fish. They’re very curious and fearless swimming along with the ROV as if we were part of their school. There are other fish that look like ratfish, the name doesn’t do them justice. They really are quite nice looking fish. We have seen starfish, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, krill, squid, and so far about 20 tiny octopus that hunker down on the bottom as we fly over them. The glaciologists have been pointing out the rocks on the bottom have been dropped there by the icebergs that carry them offshore as they break away from the glaciers. Many of the rocks deposited on the seafloor now have sponges, tunicates and even a bit of soft coral growing on them. The bottom of the ocean in Antarctica is surprisingly as full of life as any other in the world… maybe even more!?
Life on the boat has begun to reach the most normal level as can be expected on board. It is fun for me to be back on board working with old friends from 12 years ago. Captain Joe and his crew are once again like family. It’s great to visit with them and reminisce about the old days while we experience new present day adventures. The meals on the boat are outstanding and very filling. We need to eat more than usual in the cold weather and working long hours which for a guy like me who likes to eat this is a great thing… bring on the hard work.
For now the hard work of the day is over. I’ve eaten plenty and I’m off for another Antarctic nap. I’ll write again as soon as I can. Please comment on the blog and I’ll do my best to answer quickly.
Monica thank you for your comments. Hello to Principal Knight.
Buzz
