Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 12/11/2006 - 14:38
Forums
Oden Antarctic Expedition 06

Dear Mr.Miller,

                                 Are you having a wonderful time at Antarctia.

1.Do you know anyone?

2.Is everyone nice or not?

3.Are you on boat or land?

3.If your on land is it cooled on the land?

4.If your on the boat is it fun to see the ice brake why or why not?

5.If your on land is it slipery on the ice?

6.Is the icebraker from Swedion or U.S.A?

7.Are you having a fun time in Antarctica?

8.Is it snowing hard?

9.Is wind blowing hard over there or not?

10.Can you see the sun?

11.Have people been saying it's cooled?

12.Are there any mountains?

13.Is there alot of ice?

14.Is there alot of pinguins?

15.Are there any whales there?

16.Are you afraid of frost bites?

17.Is there any camp site you found?

Warmly,Aexis from Mrs.Labert's classTongue out

Tue, 12/12/2006 - 08:50

Allan Miller

 Alexis - great to hear from you and this is definitely my current record for questions.  Wish I could be there to answer in person but let me see if I can fill in some of the blanks for you!1.Do you know anyone?  Met lots of new people and they all have been very friendly.  I need you to teach me Spanish though since I don't speak much and not everyone speaks English. 
2.Is everyone nice or not?
3.Are you on boat or land?  as of Sunday we're on the boat for good - but are still able to come and go via the pier until we pull up the gangplank tonight.
3.If your on land is it cooled on the land?  it's pretty cool - about 45 degrees F, but there isn't any snow or ice around.
4.If your on the boat is it fun to see the ice brake why or why not?  It will be awesome to see this boat at work but first we have to cross about 500 miles of open water called the Drake Passage before we get to the Antarctic icepack
5.If your on land is it slipery on the ice? - they warn that it will be really slippery, even on the boat due to the ice.
6.Is the icebraker from Swedion or U.S.A?  it is a Swedish icebreaker - we're just their guests for the next 3 weeks
7.Are you having a fun time in Antarctica?  It's been awesome so far and will get even better once we get underway.
8.Is it snowing hard?  No snow here and the sun shines for 20 hours everyday.  I expect we'll see snow once we reach the Antarctic Circle in a few days.
9.Is wind blowing hard over there or not?  It is howling at about 30 mph, I went for a run this morning and right from the start it was blowing right in my face on the pier.  At times it felt like I was running backwards!  There are very few trees because the wind blows so strong!
10.Can you see the sun?  It is very bright - I have to wear sunglasses and put on sunscreen.  We're located under the hole in the ozone layer right now so the radiation is particularly strong and even potentially dangerous.
11.Have people been saying it's cooled?  The Chileans say things are pretty normal here - they haven't seen many impacts from global warming like we have in Alaska.
12.Are there any mountains?  Flying down we could see the huge Andes Mountains that form the border with Argentina - they are beautiful and remind me of the Kenai Mountains by our home in Alaska.  Right near town there are some little hills - one has a ski area on it and it about 1000 feet tall.  But we can see large mountains off in the distance in a number of directions.
13.Is there alot of ice? None at all here - but should see it soon.
14.Is there alot of pinguins? Not in town but about an hour north we visited a penguin rookery with over 6000 - check out the pictures in my forum.
15.Are there any whales there?  We definitely should be seeing some as soon as we get underway - the scientists from Sea World say we might see humpbacks. beaked whales, orcas, and maybe even some of the larger whales - depends on how rough the seas are if we'll be able to see them.
16.Are you afraid of frost bites?  Always - but you remember the awesome cold weather gear I had you try on?  I have a full bag so with the right clothes it shouldn't be any problem at all.
17.Is there any camp site you found?  Lots of tourists come here to go camping and trekking -alot of them head off to an island called Terra Del Fuego which is the southern end of South America - often called Patagonia - it's supposed to be awesome and we see lots of folks heading off for adventures from here.

Tue, 12/12/2006 - 16:10

kimberly

Hi Mr. MIller how are you.I am very intrested in you're trip to antartica.You make learning very fun. I still have a cuple of questions for you.*are you used to the cold ?
* after you're  expediton to antartica would you like to go to antartca again ?
* if you can go to another expidison where would you go ?
* how cold do you expect it to get in antartica ?
do you have any questions for me or my class ?
Well as my class said have a safe trip to antartica I will be cheking in evry day for the pass two or three weeks oh and don't forget to have a fun trip.    

Sun, 01/07/2007 - 13:40

Allan Miller

Thanks for another question Kimberly - I think I'd like my next expedition to be with my family up to Alaska this summer - to reexplore the wilderness of the Kenai Peninsula where we live.  It's incredible to me how similar the Arctic and Antarctic look on the surface - I was talking about that with First Mate Lars from Sweden our last night on the Oden and he said the same in regards to Northern Sweden where his home is.   I"ll have plenty of questions for your class when I come visit you in the next few weeks - the big one is I'm hoping some of you can explain to me how we had 24 hours of daylight in Antarctica now, and yet in just a few months it will be completely dark 24 hours each day?  See you soon.