Turf in Antarctica?: Vessel Season!

Well it is vessel season down here! The US Coast Guard Ice Breaker Polar Star has been in the area for about a week and decided to come in on Sunday and tie up to give the crew some shore leave. The boat left again yesterday and just sat off the shore in the turning basin area of the sound over night and waited for the Nathaniel B. Palmer to show up and tie up. The Palmer is the National Science Foundations research vessel that spends most of its time in the Antarctic sailing around. As I am writing the the Palmer has just finished tying up to this seasons brand new ice pier. The large resupply vessel should be here either late Friday or sometime on Saturday and all the supplies that are needed for our station here, at the South Pole and field camps that we service will come in on it. So it will be a very busy time of year down here in a few days for about 10 days. Once the resupply vessel leaves the season will only have about a month left in it. It is hard to believe that I have been here almost 4 months now and will be home by mid-March, but I am looking forward to it. I have seen photos of my oldest niece going skiing for the first time and my youngest niece skiing as well and I can't wait to get back home to see them and spend some time on the slopes skiing with them. As for things down here, nothing new or exciting has happened recently. The weather has been nice but not to warm this year to cause many issues with soft snow for the aircraft to land on and our vehicles to drive on. It sounds like the we will get the C-17 back for flying everyone home at the end of the season which makes life a whole lot easier and more comfortable. The cooler temps have kept the ice thicker to this season so it is weird not seeing a lot of open water now that all the boats are showing up, but that can all change if we get a good wind storm again but I am hoping that it will come after the resupply vessels leave. It will make life a whole lot easier for us down here if that happens. I also participated in the 4th Annual Mustache Roulette and came away with a design called the "Monkey Tail". I have been a participant for all 4 times this event has occurred and have loved every minute of it. I am know for my first season participation getting my entire head shaved off including my eyebrows. This season we raised over $3000 that will be split between 3 different charities. It amazes me how this little community will come out and support an event like this that raises money for different charities around the world. Other than that not much else to talk about at this time. I hope you enjoy the photos in this post and till next time.

Tim

A young seal that we saw out on the snow road to the airfield one morning.

Same seal.

Same seal but with Scott Base in the background.

Same seal.

A group of friends hiked up Ob Hill on New Years Eve. It was a beautiful night to hike and celebrate the New Year.

I have mentioned before how small like can be down here, these two ladies work in my department with me and are both from Littleton. It has been fun talking about places and things from home with them.