I hope this finds you all happy, healthy and having wonderful fun plans for the weekend. This past week has been full of fun things here at Palmer Station. On Tuesday, we had a fly by from NASA. They are doing "Operation Ice Bridge" http://www.nasa.gov/topics/
They are finding out some pretty incredible things about what is going on under the ice. We had about an 8 min. warning that they where going to do a fly by so we ran out and where trying to figure out some way of saying "HI" there was not enough people to lay down and write it so we ran and got our float coats ( those orange huge coats we have to wear when we are around or in the water) and spelled out HI for them. They sent us a picture from the plane. It's pretty cool. Then the birders found a new Gentoo colony. There is over 150 of them about 3 miles from Station. They where not there last year. Over the past few years, the Gentoo population has increased as the Adele's , once the main penguin breed in this area, decrease every year. The birders where so excited about seeing so many Gentoos they bought us all a beer. :) The weather has also been so beautiful that I have been able to go out after work and tour around in the boat. This seems to be the season of icebergs as well. There are at least 5 large ones that are within our boating limits and a dozen more outside of them (which we can't go to..at least 4 miles out) but they look so close... we always "will them in" it has not worked. ... YET! I also was able to go over the Island with all the penguins. It still just makes me smile to see them all. It never gets old. They are in the fighting stage right now. There is only so many mates and so many rocks exposed right now to start a nest, so competition is fierce. I uploaded a video I took to youtube that shows quiet the fighting. Also it has the fly by of the DC-8. It's pretty fun... :)
It continues to amaze me just how beautiful rock and snow can be. God did some amazing work in this remote part of the world. Even in the icebergs ... they are works of art.. My tent is up as well. Today was so pretty that I finished digging and putting it up. I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to sleep out now every night. There is nothing quiet like the sound of the water and the elephant seals and the glacier. I feel so very blessed to be able to have the privelage of sleeping under the stars in such a beautiful place. I'm going to break the 20 month mark for sleeping outside in Antarctica... Yippeeee!! I'll take some photos and send them out this weekend of my tent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
Well, that's about it for me... I've uploaded some more photos as well to flickr. As always thank you for sharing this with me and emailing what is going on in your life. It does tend to become a bubble down here. Time goes by differently yet the same.?? OK enough thinking, I must be tired, off to the tent.
Good night my friends.
Stace
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