Leaving Palmer

Tomorrow I am leaving Palmer Station and Antarctica. Heading north, back to Punta Arenas, Chile and then on to Santiago, Dallas and finally Southern California. What an amazing time I have had. So many amazing experiences. Here are some final images from Station.

 The station cat. He likes cocoa puffs.

Icefish. These fish do not have hemoglobin, and thus their only source of oxygen is what is dissolved in their blood. Since they live in very cold waters, their blood is very cold and can carry much more dissolved oxygen than we can.

Early morning with the LM Gould (on the left) lighting up an iceberg and the NB Palmer (lights to the left of the iceberg) in Arthur Harbor after a visit to station.

The Last Month

WOW! A month has passed since my last post. What have I been doing? Keeping busy. Forgetting to post. Watching the days gets shorter, colder, windier and wetter. Also ...

A tall ship visited Station.

I helped with Giant Petrel chick research.

I finally polar plunged on St Patty's day.

 I helped the divers.

I got out for a zodiac cruise in between storms and had one of the most amazing few hours.

Blubber, Fur and Feathers

A Weddell seal enjoying the sunshine.

A fur seal taking a scratch break before heading back in the water to eat krill.

An adult Adelie penguin looking scruffy while molting.

Baby Birds

Penguin chicks aren't the only little birds we have around Palmer Station. We have ... 

sheathbill chicks - look how the face is just like mama's (or is it papa?)

The sheathbills are the only birds here without webbed feet. They feed on penguin poop, carcasses and what everelse is lying around. There are about 8 living on station, but only one couple hatched an egg and had a chick. Near station there are also ...

 

southern giant petrel chicks. This downy chick is on its own while the parents feed. Other birds will not go after the chick because if they get close the chick will spit out stomach oil that damages bird feathers. 

 

Southern giant petrel adults. 

Their wingspan can reach up to 7 feet.

Bad Hair Day

Remember those cute, little Adelie chicks from ....

2 months ago ...

one month ago ... well ...

they are currently having bad hair days. They are losing their baby fluff and looking like young adults. Notice how the black feathers do not cover their chin yet (adult is on the right). They will get their adult feathering next year. Now that they have feathers they are waterproof and can enter the water to play and find food.

Looking Down the Throat of a Humpback

 

The Day of the Whales lasted several days. Swarms of krill filled the ocean so the humpbacks spent days in the area feeding. This whale came within 20 feet of our zodiac, but at not time did we feel concerned that the whale might hurt us. They were aware of our presence and did not seem to care.

It's hard to believe that these large whales eat krill, a shrimp-like crustacean that can be found worldwide.They use the baleen in their mouths to sieve the krill from large mouthfuls of seawater.

Day of the Whales

Today, we were blessed with around 15-20 humpback whales near station. They were feeding on krill and so they stuck around most of the day. We went out in the zodiacs and watched them for hours. We saw them bubble feeding and breaching - it was awesome! I went out twice to watch them.

The Last Two Weeks

You would think that being here in Antarctica, away from all the distractions of typical day-to-day life, I would have plenty of time to work on this blog. But .... we keep pretty busy here. A typical day for me starts at 5:20am when I wake up and start to "Bring It" by working out with Tony Horton's P90X or P90X+.

By 7:30 work starts. What I do all day varies and includes - checking the hot tub to make sure it has the right amount of chemicals, keeping track of the inventory and ordering medications and supplies,

leading the trauma team in skills trainings,

participating on the Glacier SAR team, working the Pal-Mart store,

welcoming visitors (including astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren) from large cruise ships

or from a small sailboat with a family on a 4-year journey around the world,

helping birders do research on penguins,

boating to nearby islands to change out the SAR caches or help with deployment of research equipment, writing and leading monthly fire drills, performing quality control on the medical lab equipment, testing drinking water,

providing medical support to the 2 USAP research vessels (one has a helicopter that brought in a patient), and, of course, providing medical care to station personnel.

The "work day" officially ends at 5:50pm, then I typically work out again, have dinner and maybe go boating to see the wildlife and icebergs ...

... last night ...

or I might rehearse with the band, read, or watch movie.

We work 6 days a week.

Rest day includes working out, boating, hiking in the backyard, watching movies and napping.

In other words, we keep busy.

Leopard Seal

 

This female leopard seal spent the day on an ice floe right off station. At one point the floe bumped into our pier bumpers, then into the zodiacs in the "parking lot", and then so close to a rock I was sitting on that I could almost touch her. She did not seem to mind that we were watching her most of the day and taking pictures. Beautiful creature.

Adelie Penguin Chicks

First we started seeing eggs,

then gray balls of fluff with black heads and tiny flippers,

 

then they were too big to fit under mom and dad.

Another Fabulous Day

It's been a busy few weeks with the holidays, ships visitings and enjoying the surroundings. The local icebergs are spectacular. This one has a group of chinstrap penguins hanging out.

And these bergs form amazing shapes!

This is a picture of the Piedmont Marr (our glacier) as it ends at the ocean.