[Sksouth-l] Catching up

[Sarah Kaye]

Hi folks,

Well it's been an interesting couple of weeks. We had
some transportation issues: our vessel the Gould
wasn't able to make its last scheduled stop here two
weeks ago, due to heavy ice around the station and
engine trouble. It got to within 6 miles of station -
in sight from the higher areas - and had to turn
around. The people on the Gould who were supposed to
be coming here got another exciting voyage across the
Drake; the people here who were supposed to be going
home were about ready to put on immersion suits and
start swimming. We started improvising: had Twin
Otters on standby at Rothera and the glacier skiway
ready here, but the weather went bad. Next option was
cruise ships, and eventually that worked: in three
trips on two different ships we got our northbound
folks out and our southbound folks in. That took a
fair bit of time and we're just caught up now. The
Gould is now fixed up and on its way back, although
they're detouring right now due to ice on the direct
route. Fingers crossed all round! We've got our people
but not our cargo, and some of it is critical. Also I
want to get the box I mailed to myself from Seattle
back in September, with my good boots - coffee - books
- etc. It'll be pretty well-travelled by the time it
gets here.

In between cruise ships we did have our Thanksgiving.
It's one of my favorite holidays here. It's our first
big one, we have heaps of food and decorate the Galley
and sit down together at tables with tablecloths,
candles, etc. We didn't have freshies on account of
the Gould not getting in but we did pretty well for
all that. I do like that we can all sit down together
here: the other stations have to have 3 shifts. We
even had the cooks eating with us, which doesn't
happen at the other stations either! They got a big
round of applause. We missed our two-day weekend
because of a cruise ship coming in on Sunday, but
we'll get it this weekend.

The cruise ship visits are fun but disruptive. We run
tours and open the store for souvenirs. People get
very enthusiastic and it's our chance to show why
we're here and what we're doing. They're generally
very nice; some people did get huffy when the store
system crashed (don't buy Micros) and we had to tell
them they couldn't use credit cards. No credit cards!
In Antarctica! Oh my. 

Wildlife is picking up. We had one fabulous day with
orcas cruising right by the station: doesn't happen
too often. Gentoo penguins are around almost all the
time. The birders say they may start nesting here.
We're also getting more different birds, although I'm
still not sure who exactly is hooting at night. Oh,
night - it doesn't get dark any more, just dim. Yep
it's summer! Our temps are running from about 22-45F.
The snow is melting, mud season is starting. Science
is in full swing: samplers are sampling, birders are
birding, divers are....  waiting for their equipment.
Oh well, two out of three?

I hope you're all well out there. I like hearing what
you all are up to - please send me a note when you
can!


Best,


-Sarah


	
		
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