Happy Holidays! We enjoyed a quiet and well-needed rest during our 2 day weekend for Christmas. The station had a huge holiday party - complete with Santa, door prizes and eggnog - as well as a big holiday dinner with lobster tails and duck.
We went for a couple of walks (and saw a lone Adelie penguin), played games and watched "Weeds", my new favorite cable series.
The season is ramping up to a fever pitch of activity as the ice breaker ship approaches. This annual event signals the approach of the re-supply vessel and the fuel ship. This year, the NSF contracted a Swedish ship, the Oden, to break the channel through the ice from open water. The ship had several scientists on board who needed to fly out to New Zealand, so I was invited to go on board to do the "bag drag" for the departing passengers. Bag drag is the process of weighing passenger's checked bags as well as the passengers themselves with their hand-carry bag.
The ship was only 5 miles from the ice edge, so the only way we could get to the Oden was by helicopter. Helicopters are used extensively by the US Antarctic Program to get scientists and their field support teams to various field camps. This was my very first helo ride in Antarctica, so I was very excited!
We traveled 15 minutes over the ice and spied lots of Weddell Seals hanging out by the pressure cracks as well as a group of about 9 Adelie penguins scattering from the sound of our rotors. We landed next to the ship and enjoyed great views of the freshly created channel at the stern and the large chunks of ice churned up next to the vessel.
We got a short tour of the boat after doing our work and I was particularly impressed by their 2 pine saunas and snazzy bar. As you would expect from a Swedish ship, we were offered Wasabread and coffee :)
Here is a short movie (high quality for fast internet connections)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6N1lJ1nEYg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uojQ_I0_dME
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