Busy- Busy

Hey y'all. How the heck are you? I hope that this finds you all happy and well and fighting off the mid-winter blues. I know I am at that stage right now. In "hibernation" mode. Taking in every moment I have between work and cruise ships tours to take a breather. But I still have 3 months here on the ice, I can't go and get all "toasty" now. :) We are in the middle of our tourist season. We have at this moment two yachts in the harbor and a cruise ship this afternoon. All come over for a tour and the yachties come for lunch/dinner. It pretty much is always "ON" mode when we have guest. But it's also so fun to have them and hear their stories and tales of their journey. I looked at a calender finally and realized that I have been back at Palmer almost a month now. WOW.. time has flown. We have been busy with work and projects and tours and playing. Whales have been all around, baby penguins and seals and birds. My favorite, the Giant Petrels are hatched. They are so cute. Just little white puff balls. I have posted some photos on Flicker of them. I was lucky enough to go out with the birder scientist and help them weigh and measure the chicks and it's such an amazing experience.  Well, I don't think I told you last time I wrote, forgive me if I did, but we did have a visit from another astronaut, Buzz Aldrin. He came, like Neil Armstrong, on the National Geographic Explorer. We got to hear him speak and tour him around station. He for sure is more outgoing than Neil. He is a "Rocket Hero" as he promotes himself (which is so true). He has shirts and a "Rap Video".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QO9U4mwNLQ

It's kind of funny. Real nice guy, but he sure is different from Neil. Neil was so humble and much quieter. What an amazing privilege to meet both these historic figures. We also are having a "funny" visit tomorrow from a couple of passengers and crew from the Explorer. It seems that the "Fact Finding" crew from Jeopardy is on board (No Alex.. bummer :( . They are planning on coming on Station in the afternoon and spending a couple of hours. I don't think anyone from Station will be in any shot, but we sure can try. Slowly the daylight is getting shorter and shorter. Now we actually see the sun go down behind the glacier. In another month or so we will start loosing aprox 8 min of daylight a day. It gets dark pretty quickly.
I'm sending y'all a couple of links of "news of the Antarctic". I don't know if you have heard or not but the Nations that support Antarctica have passed new restrictions on cruise ships coming down here. Yachts, such as the Spirit of Sydney who is a "regular" here at Palmer and we have a great relationship with them, will not be effected by the new restrictions. It is the larger vessels that will no longer be able to sail this way. See links below.
I have posted just a few photos on Flickr. Have not been to much going on here. But hope you enjoy.
Keep smiling friends. So much to be thankful for! :)
big hugs
stace

http://www.spiritofsydney.net/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30279820/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8448893@N05/

Back at Palmer

Greetings my friends!
Happy New Year!! How the heck are you? I pray that this finds you all settled back into "long work weeks" and sticking to your New Year Resolutions with much conviction. :) I'm still trying to figure out what mine should be, I should get on that soon...
Well I have returned to Palmer a couple of days ago. I was dropped off the night of the 3rd of January and welcomed back with many hugs and smiled. How I missed these sweet people. I have pretty much settled back into the routine that is Palmer Station. However there are about 9 new people that arrived prior to me that I am still trying to get to know. Science is in full swing. Summer is in full swing. It has been beautiful warm weather. Sunny days, low wind and hovering around 38 degrees F. It's quiet delightful and amazing to sleep out in. The science folks that are here are doing some wonderful work. We have 3 guys from Miami University in Ohio here that are studying BUGS.. There are two types of insects in this area. A wingless fly and a tick. The fly lives in penguin and seal poop and the tick lives off the blood of the penguins. There is a third insect that lives in Antarctica, a worm that actually dehydrates itself prior to winter so it won't freeze and then reconstitutes itself come spring. Pretty crazy. But they live over on the other side of the Continent. We also have Norbert Wu  (  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1234227/Into-frozen-deep-Stunning-underwater-photos-life-beneath-Antarcticas-ice.html    ) here with 3 other divers to help him. He is an amazing underwater photographer. Then we have 3 divers that are here welding and repairing the dock. It's a mess. It's the same dock they built as a temporary one in the 60's. OOPS!
So my tooth is all better. Had to have a root canal and I have a temporary on it now and hopefully will get the cap put on upon my return to Chile in April. It was only $62.00 Amazing :) I then flew over to Ushiuia Argentina two days prior to my departure on the National Geographic Explorer and went on a 4X4 trip through the Andes. It was amazing. It was such a beautiful day and I tagged along with a family from California. They where a hoot. They made it so much fun. I then hopped on the Explorer and we had a smooth sail through the Drake and made it in only a day and a half. On the LMG (Big orange boat) it takes 4 days!!! It will never be the same sailing on the LMG again. :( We made many stops along my journey back to Palmer. My favorite two where the Weddel Sea on the East side of the Antarctic Peninsula. We hit that New Years Eve.Thousands of huge ice bergs. The way the current flows they break off and circle around to this bone yard of ice bergs. It's so stunning. I stayed up until 2:45am watching the sun set and the moon rise. It was pretty incredible. It was the "Blue Moon". What a thrill. Then my other favorite moment was kayaking in Charlotte Bay in the Gerleche Straight. Amazing beautiful day. Tons of icebergs and Gentoo Penguins. And to top it off, a zodiac would come around and bring you hot coco while you kayak... These are just a couple of the wonderful experiences I had on my VERY blessed journey back to Palmer. I met some wonderful people on the Explorer. The head writer for the Simpson's, they guy who owns SPY glasses/goggles ( he said he would send us some down here at station.How cool would that be..I'll keep you updated :) and the most INTERESTING man I met was the gentlemen who created " The Body Works Exhibi". He is from Germany, a little odd in a wonderful way. Fascinating to talk with. I continue to go through my photos and post them this weekend. Well that is enough about ME.. What about you all? How is the New Year going? Kids back in school. Crazy weather all over the country. Going to the gym. :) I must run and start dinner prep. We are having the Hanse Explorer
 http://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=hanse-explorer-yacht-1433    come for dinner and spend the night. They came last year and where so much fun. They invite us out for cocktails and munchies. Usually a good time. As always I appreciate all of you and am so Thankful that you are sharing this amazing experience with me. I am truly blessed.Thank you for all of your emails and prayers and well wishes.
I have put a few new photos up of the Explorer and also last night going out to Torgersen Island to see the penguin chicks. They grow so fast. I also have uploaded a video of me being served in my kayak. I am NO video person this is very obvious! And I'm so bummed, I just meant to change hands and ended the recording. But you get the idea.
Big hugs
Stace
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8448893@N05
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlh5aiAVyEc