Thanksgiving weekend
This Thanksgiving I gave thanks to having two days off in a row! I had a very eventful weekend filled with eating, drinking, running and jumping into 28 degree water. Since Sunday is our normal day off we celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday so that we could have a two day weekend. Saturday started off with the annual 5K Turkey Trot, a fun run that takes you from town out to the ice runway and back. Pre-Turkey Trot...
Dinner was served at 5pm. It was amazing what the kitchen put out for 1000 people. We had everything from greenbean casserole to homeade whipped cream for the pumpkin pies. However, it's the first Thanksgiving dinner I've ever eaten on a cafeteria lunch tray...
That night was the "block party." Brian, a fellow janitor, put together flyers about two weeks prior to Thanksgiving advertising this "block party" for our particular hallway. I think the whole station was there at one point or another...even the beakers (a.k.a. scientists) showed up. Here's Brian in front of the "wall o' panties" that happens to be one door down from my room. This fine collage started when a certain pair of "man panties" were tacked up on the wall after being kicked around the hallway for two weeks. The attached sign says "touch the man panties for good luck." I haven't tried my luck.
Here's Brian sitting in front of the wall o' panties getting warmed up for the block party...
The night ended with Jesse, another fellow janitor, getting "bisquik'ed."
* * * * * *
On Sunday I was lucky enough to hook up with a science group from Clemson University who have been diving for invertebrates. We left for the Cape Evans dive shack around 11am Sunday morning via two Pisten Bullies. After a bumpy hour and a half and two seal sightings later we arrived at the base of the Erebus Glacier where the dive shack is located.
This particular group is studying egg masses that are present on invertebrates such as sea slugs and sea spiders. There is more oxygen in colder water so their goal is to find out whether these organisms produce more eggs than simillar species in warmer waters.
We literally drove an hour and a half across the sea ice to get to this shack, which is also on the ice. The ice is about 5 feet deep at this point. Inside the hut, there is a hole about 3' in diameter drilled through the sea ice. The hut is heated in order to keep the water from freezing. Soon, the sea ice will be unsafe to drive on and will eventually break apart.
Here is the dive shack and the two Pisten Bullies we took out...
The hole...
There were 6 divers who dove in pairs. Each pair dove twice and were down for about 35 minutes each dive. Surprisingly, they say the only things that get cold are their hands and feet. With them they would take specimen containers and nets to keep samples of algae, sea spiders, snails, sea slugs, and tiny, tiny starfish. As I said, the dive shack sits at the base of the Erebus Glacier so while diving they have incredible views of the part of the glacier underwater.
John diving...
Afterwards, some of us decided to take the "polar plunge." You have to be careful when jumping into the hole because any forward momentum can be ugly...Erika and I both suffered from skinned knees. Luckily, I didn't notice because of the 28 degree water I was scrambling to get out of...
Bruce...
Me...
Yes, we're crazy!
Here is a pic of the Erebus Glacier, just outside of the dive shack...
We left the shack around 4pm and decided to go for a bit of a penguin hunt. Unfortunatly, we were unsuccessful. However, we did visit the Barn Glacier. Earlier in the season I posted pictures taken from Shackleton's hut with the Barn Glacier far in the distance. We drove the Pisten Bullies within a quarter mile of its end and walked the rest of the way. There was a colonly of about 15 seals at its base which we got within 20 feet of. This was the most amazing part of the day. The glacier didn't look real but instead like bluish white styrofoam towering 150 feet above us.
Walking up to the Barn Glacier with Erebus in the distance...
Looking back from the glacier with the Royal Society range in the background...
We saw a snow petrel which is VERY, VERY rare. One of the divers who was with us has seen about 10 of them within the past 28 years he has been coming to the ice...
That's about all of the photos I have to share right now. Temps topped out at 34 degrees earlier this week. I'd say it was about 25 today, windier and overcast. It doesn't matter where I am, even Antarctica, I can't seem to escape mud season. Not only do you have to jump over rivers of muddy water when walking through town, it makes it much harder to keep the buildings clean. Earlier this week I was feeling a bit over my job and somewhat frustrated. I think it had to do with all of the nice weather we've been having and not being able to enjoy it during the day. I gave myself a little attitude adjustment and today I was feeling much better. Sometimes I have to remind myself where I am.
Cheers
Dinner was served at 5pm. It was amazing what the kitchen put out for 1000 people. We had everything from greenbean casserole to homeade whipped cream for the pumpkin pies. However, it's the first Thanksgiving dinner I've ever eaten on a cafeteria lunch tray...
That night was the "block party." Brian, a fellow janitor, put together flyers about two weeks prior to Thanksgiving advertising this "block party" for our particular hallway. I think the whole station was there at one point or another...even the beakers (a.k.a. scientists) showed up. Here's Brian in front of the "wall o' panties" that happens to be one door down from my room. This fine collage started when a certain pair of "man panties" were tacked up on the wall after being kicked around the hallway for two weeks. The attached sign says "touch the man panties for good luck." I haven't tried my luck.
Here's Brian sitting in front of the wall o' panties getting warmed up for the block party...
The night ended with Jesse, another fellow janitor, getting "bisquik'ed."
* * * * * *
On Sunday I was lucky enough to hook up with a science group from Clemson University who have been diving for invertebrates. We left for the Cape Evans dive shack around 11am Sunday morning via two Pisten Bullies. After a bumpy hour and a half and two seal sightings later we arrived at the base of the Erebus Glacier where the dive shack is located.
This particular group is studying egg masses that are present on invertebrates such as sea slugs and sea spiders. There is more oxygen in colder water so their goal is to find out whether these organisms produce more eggs than simillar species in warmer waters.
We literally drove an hour and a half across the sea ice to get to this shack, which is also on the ice. The ice is about 5 feet deep at this point. Inside the hut, there is a hole about 3' in diameter drilled through the sea ice. The hut is heated in order to keep the water from freezing. Soon, the sea ice will be unsafe to drive on and will eventually break apart.
Here is the dive shack and the two Pisten Bullies we took out...
The hole...
There were 6 divers who dove in pairs. Each pair dove twice and were down for about 35 minutes each dive. Surprisingly, they say the only things that get cold are their hands and feet. With them they would take specimen containers and nets to keep samples of algae, sea spiders, snails, sea slugs, and tiny, tiny starfish. As I said, the dive shack sits at the base of the Erebus Glacier so while diving they have incredible views of the part of the glacier underwater.
John diving...
Afterwards, some of us decided to take the "polar plunge." You have to be careful when jumping into the hole because any forward momentum can be ugly...Erika and I both suffered from skinned knees. Luckily, I didn't notice because of the 28 degree water I was scrambling to get out of...
Bruce...
Me...
Yes, we're crazy!
Here is a pic of the Erebus Glacier, just outside of the dive shack...
We left the shack around 4pm and decided to go for a bit of a penguin hunt. Unfortunatly, we were unsuccessful. However, we did visit the Barn Glacier. Earlier in the season I posted pictures taken from Shackleton's hut with the Barn Glacier far in the distance. We drove the Pisten Bullies within a quarter mile of its end and walked the rest of the way. There was a colonly of about 15 seals at its base which we got within 20 feet of. This was the most amazing part of the day. The glacier didn't look real but instead like bluish white styrofoam towering 150 feet above us.
Walking up to the Barn Glacier with Erebus in the distance...
Looking back from the glacier with the Royal Society range in the background...
We saw a snow petrel which is VERY, VERY rare. One of the divers who was with us has seen about 10 of them within the past 28 years he has been coming to the ice...
That's about all of the photos I have to share right now. Temps topped out at 34 degrees earlier this week. I'd say it was about 25 today, windier and overcast. It doesn't matter where I am, even Antarctica, I can't seem to escape mud season. Not only do you have to jump over rivers of muddy water when walking through town, it makes it much harder to keep the buildings clean. Earlier this week I was feeling a bit over my job and somewhat frustrated. I think it had to do with all of the nice weather we've been having and not being able to enjoy it during the day. I gave myself a little attitude adjustment and today I was feeling much better. Sometimes I have to remind myself where I am.
Cheers
posted by PolarSweep at 8:53 PM
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