Yesterday we got a special treat- a few of us were lucky enough to get off Healy for a day and visit St. George Island, one of the Pribilof Islands. We went to visit the St. George School to interact with the students and give a presentation. A few students, teachers and community members were then going to come back with us to visit Healy.
We started our day off in the helicopter hangar at 8:45am. As I walked outside to go to the hangar, I was greeted with this breathtaking view:
St. George Island
My first look at St. George- beautiful!
In the helicopter hangar we put on our MD 900 survival suits, which we are required to wear when traveling by zodiac or helicopter (or out on the ice). You’ve seen these suits before- I got to wear one out on the ice as well. They are tricky to get into because they have watertight neck and arm seals- it’s like wearing a diving suit with all your clothes on underneath!
Emily MD900
Me getting into my MD 900 suit and helmet.
Safety Brief
Getting a safety brief before leaving for St. George…yes that first person is me in the helmet, next to Robyn.
Our trip to the Pribilof’s was by zodiac (sadly, no helicopter trip for me). A zodiac is a small boat with a hard bottom and inflatable sides. They are located on both sides of the ship (port and starboard), on the second deck. We all piled in with our gear, and then they lowered us down into the water, and away we went! From the ship it was a 15 minute zodiac ride to the harbor. We removed our suits (all except Maggie who kept hers on to use later on) and headed off to the school in a little white bus.
Maggie MD900
Maggie, wearing her survival suit and helmet, in the back of the bus.
The island of St. George is about 5 miles wide, so it was a quick drive to the school. The population of St. George is 108- our coast guard ship has more people on it (we have ~120 people onboard) than the island!
As we reached the town, we got a good view of the church:
Church
The church in town (photo by David Shull)
Shortly after passing the church, we reached the school where we would spend our day. The school goes from kindergarten to 12th grade. There are approximately 20 students at the school.
St. George School
St. George School, with Robyn (PolarTrec teacher), Matthew and Nathaniel (St. George students).
Notice the 4 wheeler- a few of the kids use these to get around on.
When we got the school we were warmly welcomed by the principle Carol and a couple of students who were excited that we were there to visit. To start off we headed into the gym, where all the students were waiting, to play a "human bingo” game in order to get to know everyone.
Emily - Ashley
Ashley and I, learning more about each other (Photo courtesy of Carleton Ray)
St. George Circle
Robyn and I chatting and sharing photos with some of the students (photo courtesy of Carleton Ray)
Then we split up into two groups- kindergarten through 8th grade and high school (9-12). I went with the kindergarten through 8th group. Maggie had set up some stations for the kids to participate in- one station was putting on the MD 900 survival suit, which I helped run. I quickly realized that the smaller you are, the easier it is to put on one of those suits (and the sillier you look!!). Here are a few examples:
Kobe
Kobe, being silly during his turn in the MD 900 suit.
Muriel
Muriel, striking a pose.
Josh
Josh, looking ready for action (hey, he looks like he fits right in with the Coast Guard!!).
At noon, all the students went home for lunch. I poked my head around some of the classrooms- the high school is in the library where they have televisions set up in order to have joint classes with the high school on St. Paul, the neighboring island. The science lab/classroom is fabulous- they have nice microscopes for dissecting and viewing microscopic organisms. They also have their own greenhouse set up!
High School
The "high school” section of the school.
Greenhouse
The greenhouse in the science lab/classroom.
All too soon it was time for us to head back to Healy- but we did get to bring along some visitors!!
Zodiacs
Zodiacs waiting to take us back to Healy.
High School MD900
The high school students in their MD 900 suits.
Zodiacs Return
The zodiacs heading back to Healy with our visitors.
Our visitors headed back to Healy first, and we waited our turn. While we were waiting, I spotted an Arctic fox! These are fairly common on the island. They are brown, fluffy and about the size of a large house cat. Some of them on the island are white. This guy (or girl) didn’t seem to mind having its picture taken:
Arctic Fox
Arctic fox on St. George.
Back on Healy, we gave our visitors a tour of the ship, including all the science facilities. Then they got to have a meal, coast guard style, before heading back to the island. All in all it was a great day. We made lots of new friends and memories.
Zodiac - Healy
Back to Healy from St. George- being pulled up the ship in our zodiac to the 2nd deck.