We’ve arrived, are on the Oden, and are deep into preparations to depart for Antartica tomorrow.
The Oden in port
Mr. Miller has been determined that my skills and talents would best be served during the voyage if I was to be responsible for reporting the basic information about where we are and what we are seeing. Specifically – once we’re underway – I’ll be responsible for giving wildlife reports and letting you know just what kind of environment these animals need to survive. As of today our contacts have been primarily human – but the biologists from Sea World are promising that just as soon as we leave and head for Cape Horn and Terra Del Fuego we’ll be seeing whales, seabirds, and marine mammals galore. So here’s the update info that you can expect in every one of my posts – it will always have our current location – which is:
Latitude – 50 degrees 10 minutes west
Longitude – 70 degrees 54 minutes west
It will always have our current weather conditions
Temp – 8 degrees Celcius
Wind – 38 kilometers per hour
Skies - Clear, no precipitation
And it will always have the information for calculating hours of daylight – but we’ll leave the math to you students since, even though I graduated in the top of my class up in Barrow, I never had much need for learning to read watches or time!
Sunrise – 4 AM
Sunset – 11:30 PM
Since we don’t have any wildlife to report how about if I show you some shots from around town here. We arrived at Punta Arenas airport almost exactly 24 hours after we left Salt Lake City and the NSTA conference there.
Our hotel - the Jose Noguera
The Jose Noguera
View looking west from the main square
View looking west in town
view looking south in town - note the Coca Cola signs - it's universal!
view looking south
It's summer - and that means flowers even in the extreme south!
Puenta Arenas flower garden
Much as we are enjoying our time here - we're even more ready to move on to Antarctica! Bring on the ice!