flying south for the winter
Posted on December 26, 2010
This is why geese and retired couples migrate south for the winter. Good thing I’m heading south, too, though I may overshoot balmy Florida by a few miles…
TOMORROW I LEAVE FOR ANTARCTICA!
More than a year after my last blog post (let’s call it “busy” rather than “lazy”) I’m back on board with the Palmer LTER. Assuming my flight isn’t snowed-in, I’ll fly tomorrow to Punta Arenas, Chile, get some standard-issue Antarctic gear, and hop aboard the ARSV Laurence Gould. From there, we’ll churn out through the Strait of Magellan, then four days south through the world’s most notoriously tempestuous seas (think “Deadliest Catch” meets “Ice Road Truckers”), until we hit the Antarctic Peninsula for five weeks of research.
Video from Antarctica
Posted on February 27, 2009
Here are a few strung-together clips of icebergs, humpback whales, penguins, and other views from the West Antarctic Peninsula. To see the video in better quality, press play and then select the “HQ” or “view in high quality” setting presented in the bottom right corner.
Chilly in Chile
Posted on December 28, 2008
…as if that pun has never been made before. Apologies.
Anyway, here I am! After nearly 30 hours of flights and layovers, I have made it to Punta Arenas, Chile. At the Santiago airport, representatives from Raytheon (the company that oversees many US polar deployments) met our group and breezed us through customs. I totally felt like a VIP celebrity … if celebrities ever arrive at airports wearing enormous backpacks and hiking boots.
Punta Arenas is, incidentally, home to the southernmost beer brewery and southernmost grapevines in the world.
Time for me to go to bed. Early tomorrow morning I will head to a giant warehouse overlooking the Strait of Magellan, where I will be issued my cold weather gear, and then move onto the LM Gould.
Jumping Ship
Posted on December 26, 2008
With so much left to say about my time at sea, it’s hard to believe that I’ve been home for a month already, and that I’m leaving so soon for Antarctica. I fly out on December 27th, and will arrive 26 hours later in Punta Arenas, Chile. From there, it’s another four or five days by ship across the Drake Passage before I reach the Antarctic.
This time last year I was just beginning the first of my adventures, and I’m about to embark on my last–for a little while, anyway. Thank you to all those who have shared these experiences with me. Stay tuned for stories from the deep, deep, deep south…
shore of the cosmic ocean
Posted on May 14, 2008
In one month, I’m headed off for nine months of adventures that will take me from the Arctic to the Antarctic. AAAAH!
I have no idea what my internet situation will be for parts of these next few months. But the call of the wild is synonymous with the call to blog! Right? Well, the moral of this story is: stay tuned…
