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/
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