I live in Antarctica!: February 2011

So today is my last full day here on the ice.. The countdown started when I hit about 12 days. Don't get me wrong: the Ice is awesome, but I am ready to dethaw, eat an avocado, and paint my toe nails! It's kind of a bitter sweet feeling seeing people hop on the C-17's, 757's, and airbuses and fly back off to the land of vegetation. Although, I'm just a day away from getting the chance to enjoy the luxuries of civilization, travel, and relaxation, I must say I am a bit sad to say goodbye. It finally hit me yesterday that the season is actually over. Yesterday morning the last two C-130 Hercules left the ice. As they were leaving they both did goodbye flyovers over town. It was pretty cool to watch. With that, these past 2 weeks have been super fun in the office; really laid back with great conversations with some pretty great people. I think I'm going to miss the simple life down here.

Other than that, not too much has really gone on since the last time I've blogged. The fuel vessel has come and gone along with the supply vessel. When the supply vessel was here, McMurdo was pretty hectic. People were running around like headless chickens. With the vessel here, the town had also inherited a bunch of navchaps and kiwi off loaders. As if McMurdo wasn't already packed with people as it was. On top of that, most of the field camps had closed for the season so all of those people had also graced us with their presence. What did that do for the people of McMurdo? The computer kiosks were always occupied, the galley was crammed full with people walking all over each other like the lobsters in the tanks at Meijers, crime rate had increased (you'd be surprised at the amount of iPods, coats, magnets, shoes, etc. that have gone missing), and the whole station had gone dry for the duration that the vessel was here. Now, for some people a dry station is borderline the end of the world, therefore making them go a little bit more crazy than they already were before. As for the crime rate increasing, it seems to be blamed on the navchaps, but I think people just use them as a cover. It's the end of the season, everyone is shipping out, better start ganking things while there were people here to blame it on. I don't know, that's just my thought.

Now, lets talk about the navchaps. Well, with the navchaps talk you will also hear about the penguin trip that I led as well. They go hand in hand with each other. So, the navchaps seem to have a "not so pretty" reputation here in town. In fact, I even received an email telling me to make sure I lock my door, don't hang up my coat before going into the galley, and that it's "recommended" that I stay out of the bars before the vessel arrives. You can only imagine what is going through my head about these navchaps... stay out of the bars? How bad can these people be? Anyways, during the arrival of the navchaps the recreation department was offering trips to go out and see the penguins that have gathered at the 1/2 way house.

The half way house is at about mile 7 and it is where the fuel line runs under and switches sides of the road. I believe there is a fuel pump there? Probably, about 14-16 penguins decided to make that their home for the next 40 days to molt. Molting is when penguins get rid of their old feathers and replace them with shiny new ones. They make sure that they are far enough away from water so they are not tempted to go in. Penguins have about 70 feathers per square inch. They act as an insulator and are waterproof. Therefore, if they do go in the water before their new feathers are fully grown in they will freeze. Anyways, I volunteered to lead one of the penguin trips. How this worked was, people could sign up on the sign up sheet at the rec board. Keeping the Antarctic treaty in mind (you must stay 25 feet away from the wildlife) and crowd control we only offered a van, which can hold up to 10 max. The sign up sheet also offered alternate spots in case someone didn't show up. Well, it turned out that 6 people who signed up did not show up, allowing 6 navchaps who signed up as alternates to go as their replacements. So, I drove out to the 1/2 way house, it probably took about15 minutes, and I ended up chatting with a few of the navchaps. Granted they were only a few out of the whole lot of them, from what I was hearing from them my perception of these people was way off! They were explaining to me the selection process for them to come down here and how lucky they were to actually have been chosen. With that they were taking in every moment of their Antarctica experience with pure gratitude. They kept talking about how breathtaking the mountains were, how surreal it was to actually be at the bottom of the world, and how they couldn't believe they get to see real penguins. After the trip was over I think they thanked me about 17 times before they actually got out of my van. It was an awesome penguin trip. After being here for 4 months and working long hours, you sometimes forget the whole reason why you came here. You sort of forget the beauty that you are surrounded by and forget how blessed you are to actually be here in Antarctica. One of the navchaps told me that in the last 50 years only about 250,000 people have been to Antarctica, in the entire world! If you think about it, in the last 50 years, that is nothing. Needless to say, it was a nice "pick me up" to get me through the rest of the season and a great reminder of how lucky I really am. And as for the navchaps, they just blew me out of the water with their kindness and manners. I still am a bit confused as to why they have the rep they do, but maybe they all aren't that grateful. I'm sure something must have happened in the past.. But, who knows?

Another rec trip that I was a leader for was a trip out to a plane that had crashed. So here is the short story for the plane crash. On October 8, 1970, C-121J super constellation called "Pegasus" departed Christchurch heading towards McMurdo Station with the knowledge that the weather was a bit shaky. When they reached the point of no return the weather still wasn't too bad and the captain decided to continue the flight. When they arrived at McMurdo the weather was horrible with barely any visibility. After 10 hours of flying and several attempts at landing they finally ran out of fuel. It was either crash land or just crash. They ended up doing a crash landing. Everyone survived, but the rescue mission took over 3 hours due to the lack of visibility. The plane actually crashed on the Ice Runway, but they thought it was "bad moral" to have the plane visible to people flying in so they dragged it out to Pegasus. And that is also how Pegasus White Ice Runway got its name.

Here is a little fun dispatcher story. So about a week ago I was the shuttles dispatcher for 6 1/2 hours. With the role of dispatcher I am in charge of what vehicles are used for passenger transport, I'm in charge of watching the flight board and making sure the passengers/crew are picked up, making sure all taxi needs are met, all with computer, phone, and radio communication. As I was on dispatch......

Shuttle Bill radios in saying "I might be late for my 1530 Pegasus run back to town. I'm here at the 1/2 way house caught up by a penguin parade! They are waddling and there are lots of them! Oh goodness! How long does it take them to cross the road?!".

My "professional" response as dispatcher, "Shuttle Bill...Why did the penguin cross the road?!"

Shuttle Bill, "But what am I supposed to do?! Where's Kris when you need her?!"

My response "Just don't run over any and you'll be fine"

Shuttle Bill, "uhhhh... oh no, they're on their bellies now and they just keep coming!"

Naturally, of course, I'm laughing my arse off because I think my penguin joke was just hilarious. Oh man, the things that make me smile and keep me entertained.

Moving on.... Last night some of the shuttles crew and I were invited to the Scott Base (the Kiwi base) for dinner. Wow! It is so much more relaxed and the food was awesome compared to here. Granted they only cook for about 50 people so you have to give the cooks here at McMurdo mad props for cooking for over a 1,000 people and making it edible. Anyways, they invited us for helping them out. Wednesday the kiwis had a big memorial service for the 32nd anniversary of the kiwi sightseeing flight that crashed into Mt. Erebus with no survivors. They flew in 110 family members of the ones who perished. I helped with the pick up and take to of the pax to the plane. They even had a TV news station here and I just happened to make it on the Kiwi national news. All of us shuttle drivers did. Well, to be fair, we didn't speak, but they put the camera on us :) At the airfield and on the drive to Scott Base we sort of became the families photographers and personal tour guides. It was actually pretty fun. They were just loving life. Here is a short video clip to help explain what went on. Don't forget to look for me in Big Red and my tan hat... After dropping the pax back off to the plane I also saw them recording this video. http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/wreaths-laid-erebus-memorial-4029730/video

Change of top again. The scenery has changed dramatically here at McMurdo. Where the Ice Runway used to be is now all open water. The bay looks pretty awesome and, might I add, beautiful! There is so much open water with icebergs floating all over the place.

Icebergs in the bay before the wind blew them out

After dinner at the kiwi base, I attempted to clean my room for room inspection. While at the jano closet putting away the cleaner and rag, I hear a rumor that there are whales in the bay. So, I casually walk out there and sure enough there were roughly 10 Orca Whales swimming around! I sat behind the chapel and just watched for about ten minutes until I finally snapped out of my daze. I thought to myself I should probably go tell someone and share the moment. So, I went and grabbed my friends Jami and Blake since we were supposed to meet up soon anyways. It was beautiful out! I mean, the sun was setting behind the mountains, reflecting on the water, whales were swimming, and a few icebergs were left floating.
So, after a few minutes at the chapel we decided to walk over to the hut point. We ended up staying there for about an hour. We walked right down by the shoreline by where the ob tube used to be when the bay was frozen over. We were close enough to where we could touch the water. Where there was still ice under the water it was aqua blue. It was so cool! And the sound of water crashing into the shore?! It's really hard to describe what it sounded like after 4 months of just hearing heavy machinery and generators. You would've thought that I've never heard it before. It was so beautiful; like music to my ears. It was so soothing; I was mesmerized. I mean I was so into the sound of the water that I was ready to put my lawn chair out, grab a heater and just sit there for the rest of the night just so I could take it all in and fall asleep to it. I just couldn't get enough of it.

Cute Adelie Penguin

AND then.... As we were standing there just to the right of us, 8 feet away was an Adelie penguin kind of just doing its thing. Then all of the sudden, as I'm staring at the blue ice, this huge Weddell seal swims right up to shore.. like 5 feet away. It was unbelievable! There was so much going on, I had troubles deciding what to watch. Whales, penguins, and seals, all in the same night; all within a 1/2 hour. Oh and on our walk to hut point we saw some Adelies and Emperors at the ice pier too! Needless to say, it was an awesome way to end my season here on the ice!

The seal that swam up to us

Look how beautiful the open water is!

Blake (left), Jami (right), and I (middle) showing our love for McMurdo--- MCM

So as I say goodbye to the Ice I must tell you that I have had an AMAZING season here! With all the extraordinary things that I've seen and experienced I can't help but feel immeasurably blessed. With packing, cleaning, and saying my goodbyes to friends, these past few days have really made me think about how lucky I actually am. Not only have I been able to experience life in the most remote place on earth, I've also seen so many other great places. I just can't get over how incredible it is that I've been able to travel the world and see such beauty. I have met some pretty fascinating and kind people and have been able to see and experience so many things that so many people could never even dream of doing over the past few years. It's an awesome feeling to just take in life, all places, all people, all cultures, in all its greatness. With that, I'm not 100% sure yet, but I think I might be ready for round 2 on the Ice come September :)

Much love from the bottom of the world! And remember.... Antarctica... Its a Harsh Continent!

I will leave you with some random photos that I took at random times