McMurdo is a busy place these days. We have more people than ever on station and we’re seeing the effects. Lines are long at the galley and supplies are short. A few days were even devoted to housing scares when we all received notes that we’d get a third roommate! It turned worse when rumors of child size bunk beds started circulating. Luckily neither bunks nor roommates have been delivered to our rooms and we’re off to hook for now. Keep your fingers crossed as it would be a tight squeeze for us all.
Kamille arrived on that plane!
On a much brighter note, Kamille has arrived and is ready for work!!! (See - http://iceaged2010.mlml.calstate.edu/people/#Kamille) What took me over 4 months took Kamille less than two weeks. Once we found out that John could not return, a call was placed to Kamille, “We need you!” Hesitating for only a second until her coworker agreed to take her dog Pete, Kamille then got busy. Since she was here last year, she knew what to do. She had her physical the next day, received her dental paperwork, and was PQed a week later. Ten days after the initial call, she was on a plane headed to the Ice. The weather delayed her flight a bit but then, last Tuesday, she arrived. She flew through the training just as fast and is now ready to head out to New Harbor with me Monday morning.
More WATER DROPS have arrived from Ballico Cressley 4H, Green Valley Christian Preschool, Fremont Charter School, Mr. Eccles' Marine Biology Class, and Westside 4-H in Gustine.
These last few days have been quiet and calm here in the SCINI lab at Crary. With most of the team gone, it’s just been Kamille and me in our big lab. We have enjoyed our time with Gretchen and their group as we watched them breed their urchins. From 20 females and 1 male they'll get about 3,000,000 urchin larvae!
Gretchen, Lydia and her team bred their urchins. One of the females got named after me - Bettina! She has 260,000 babies!
One day, coming home from dinner, I stopped in my tracks. A brown speck was moving. Upon closer inspection, I saw my first bird in Antarctica - this Skua. After a month of only seals and seafloor critters it was nice to see another animal!
While Kamille was busy getting her training done, I went researching, had tours of several of the facilities and places of interest in and around McMurdo, and talked with all sorts of people. Stay tuned for a journal about our firefighters and what they do. Check back in later this week and learn about how we get fresh, clean water and how we get rid of our waste water. Lastly, any ideas on what happens out on the ice in places with names like Ice Town or Big Balloon City? You’ll read about those in the upcoming week as well.
I saw my first penguin this week in a most fascinating placed I'm calling Big Balloon City.
Last night we had a holiday craft fair in McMurdo. Creative, ingenious individuals of McMurdo sold scarves, hats, wallets, pictures, and jewelry that they had made down here.
While you enjoy those stories, Kamille and I will hop on a helicopter to replace Kevin and Julie at field camp. We hear they’ve been very successful with SCINI and we’re both anxious to see what’s going on over there. What will it be like to live and work in a field camp on the ice? What will the diving conditions be like? Will we be warm enough in tents on the ice? Stay tuned for those stories as well.
Tomorrow, Kamille and I will board this helicopter. We're excited! What will the helicopter ride and field camp be like?
Lastly, register for our upcoming webinar on November 17 at 4:30 pm (PST) or November 18 at 1:30 pm (New Zealand and Antarctica time). It’ll be just a couple of days after our return and we’ll share many more pictures and stories about our experience at field camp and about what we’ve been seeing and doing here in this amazingly beautiful, insanely interesting land of ice, science, and wonder! (See http://iceaged2010.mlml.calstate.edu/events/)
How do you fly these things? I got to sit in the pilot's chair but was overwhelmed by buttons and dials. I'll leave the flying to the helicopter pilots.
On the eve of our departure for field camp, Kamille and I went for a beautiful walk around Ob Hill. With no wind and 20 degrees above 0, it was heavenly! We're so lucky to be here!