This morning was fairly emotional. We had a departure time of 10 AM, which left little time to complete things on Palmer Station. I headed over there after breakfast to send some last emails, which I ended up not being able to do because my account had been terminated (haha), oh well. But after a while everyone began to gather in the galley to say goodbye. I guess this is the official "turnover", where we say goodbye to everyone we brought down to Palmer on the LMG with us, and say hello to the ones we are taking back from their winter in Antarctica. It was sad to say goodbye to new friends, especially because I don't know when (or if) I'll be able to come back. But they all told me to start writing grants to get back...and so I guess I'll have to do that. :)
After we pulled away from Palmer Station, laughing about all the foolishness it took for those who did the "Palmer Plunge" in the wind, it got fairly somber on the ship. The winter-over crew that we were transporting back to Punta Arenas went back to their rooms after watching Palmer fade from view, and went to sleep. I can understand…it must be both relieving and overwhelming to leave a place you’ve called home for three months solid. I can’t imagine.
I spent some time cleaning up the lab a bit so I could be done with it, and hung out on the bow with Skye and watched the peninsular mountains come into view. We tried to figure out where we were going to enter the Neumeyer Strait, which you can’t really see from these pictures. Basically, the mountains in the background are on the Antarctic Peninsula, and the glacier just to the left is on Anvers Island (where Palmer Station is). But you can’t see a passage…even though it’s there.
At around noon we made it to Port Lockroy and suited up for departure. It was cold. So it took a lot of layers. And I mean a lot. From inside to outside, I was wearing: long underwear (top and bottom), regular socks, long-sleeved shirt, jeans, wool socks, waterproof overalls, thermal vest, fleece, glove liners, steel-toed waterproof boots, hat, work gloves, sunglasses. And to top it all off, I had to wear a "float coat" to get into the Zodiac. You can see Dan in one below in the Zodiac itself.
Before we could get into the boats, we had to "decontaminate" our shoes to prevent transfer of microbes to Antarctica. Basically, we step in a water bucket and scrub our shoes with toilet brushes, then into a bucket with iodine, and finally onto a mat that has detergents. Then we climbed down into the Zodiacs and set off toward Port Lockroy. Even from a distance, you could see the penguins. I had to ask "are all of those dots penguins?" - and yes...they were. Get excited Allie, because here they come.
This area is inhabited by a colony of Gentoo Penguins. They are a type of penguin that is moving ever slightly south due to the warming of this part of Antarctica. Normally you would see what's known as Adelie Penguins in Antarctica, but they are migrating farther and farther south each year. Anyways, the Gentoo's were fun to watch. Almost mesmerizing at times, because they're so awkward and clumsy on land. They walk funny, and they have personality. They'll stop and look at you like...what the heck are you doing here? But it's great fun. If you've ever been to the penguin exhibit at Sea World you know what I mean - and they put a moving sidewalk on that to keep people from lingering too long. :)
I have videos of these guys that are just hysterical. Too big to post on here, sadly. Anyways, the buildings here are part of the British Antarctic Survey. A lot of them were snowed in, but we had permission to go into the museum to see what the old whaling camp looked like (and where people who work for the BAS stay now). It was a neat place, but the coolest part was that there was no electricity, so we had to find our way around using the flash on our cameras (nobody brought a flashlight). And since it was mostly snowed in, we got fantastic lighting from the outside.
But let's be honest - the most exciting thing here is the penguins. Haha. We basically walked around and watched them for about an hour. It was great.
We did manage to find one lone Adelie amidst the Gentoo. He's the little guy down in front. We weren't really sure why he was here, but we hoped he wasn't really the only one. Otherwise he'd be pretty lonely once the penguins began pairing up and having babies. :( Someone speculated that he just by chance happened to be born here, as penguins are programmed to return to the spot they were born. I guess his parents were rebels and decided to hang with the Gentoos...who knows?
After leaving Port Lockroy, we spent some time boating to go find a sailboat that had apparently wintered-over nearby. The ship saw it on their navigation system, and Dan said they'd met the sailor when they passed through back in June. He was Portuguese, hired by some guy to take his sailboat here for the winter (I guess he wanted to hide it? ) and he was here with his wife and four-year old son. Strange. But I guess it works. It was really cold and really wet (because of the wind and waves), but it was kinda neat to see a sailboat in the middle of nowhere. And hey, it was more exciting than sitting on the ship!
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Our next stop, Neko Harbour, is very close by, so we're taking a leisurely trip over there, and spending the night nearby. I watched a movie with the rest of the gang on ship and did some more packing and cleaning...but that's about it. I'm excited about our stop tomorrow though - Neko Harbour is on the peninsula, so I'll actually get to step foot on the continent! Four down, three to go!
