Blogs from Antarctica, Antarctica - page 33

I just came back from a 10 day cruise to Antarctica on the M/V Polaris. It was one of the greatest experiences of my trip. We started sailing through the Beagle channel, which was quite nice, and we saw lots of sea birds, and a few magellanic penguins. Then, we had two days sailing through the Drake passage, which is infamous for bad weather and rough seas. Fortunately, on the way down to Antarctica, we had great weather and calm seas, and we even got there half a day earlier than expected, and so we were able to land on Aitcho Island on the evening of our third day. I won´t bore you with details of all the landings we made during the following four days, mostly because I don´t remember the names of all these ... read more

Carp Shop Foreman: "Hey Betty, have you been to a field camp in a while?" Me: “Not since Granite Harbor and AGAP.” Said Foreman: “Hmmm, we’ll have to see about that.” I HAD noticed that most of my coworkers had been venturing out a lot more frequently than me, but I assumed it was due to skill and seniority and didn't think much of it. The following day, I was summoned into the office and told that I would be tasked on an Environmental Remediation trip (right up my alley!) to Odell Glacier along with another Carp, two people from the environmental department, a mechanic and a camp manager. We were scheduled to be away from McMurdo for five days, during which time we were to dismantle the field camp and package it up to be ... read more

"If you do not suffer now, you will suffer the rest of your life," David hissed in my ear as I bent painfully backwards as far as my body would allow. David, the Bikram yoga instructor had been transformed the second we entered into the one hundred and twenty degree room. Outside he had been shy and unassuming, and with just about as much presence as pounds on his body. There seemed to be very few of either. Pain coursed through my lower back and knifed its way down to my upper legs. This guy is crazy, I thought to myself. The steamy room was full of an assortment of colorful yoga mats, occupied by a mix of women so healthy that the organic food almost seeped out of their pores. As I struggled to bend ... read more

There are a few new pictures too at a href="http://travel.webshots.com/album/562274827nGgAiS"img src="http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/62/562/0/63/26/2491063260081391383FhunSd_th.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Webshots.com"/abrby a href=http://community.webshots.com/user/SharonNee SharonNee/a Sat 2/09/08 Well we finally have Internet connection again but I’m not sure exactly where I left off since my last posts were made from the Explorations Café so I don’t have a copy without access. I’ll check it later and add in anything I may have missed. It was a wonderful 4 days in Antarctica but not sure there’s any way to really describe it and I’m sure the pictures won’t do it justice. I’ll try to summarize each day below but will need to update some of the actual places after the Ice Captains presentation this afternoon when he’ll go over where we actually did go vs the plan. It... read more

Mon Feb 4 Well this may be a quick post since I decided not to bring my laptop upstairs. Unfortunately the weatherman was right and the conditions in Pt. Stanly were not good so we did not get to stop there today. I was pretty sure we wouldn't when I woke up and saw the waves out my window. I headed up to the Lounge at 7:15 but didn't bother to bring my stuff. The captain came on shortly after and said they'd have to cancel. Wish they'd have done it earlier but they didnt' want to wake up those on later tours I guess. The seas were at high (20-27 feet) at that point and 50 gale winds. The seas after that and thru lunch were at very hight (27-42 feet) so it's been an ... read more