Vessel Offload and Other Things

This week marked the arrival of the supply ship. It is known around here as "Vessel Offload". There's trucks, forklifts, mil vans and all other kinds of big, heavy equipment all over the place around here with WAY too many people. It is a very dangerous situation to be in here. They have set up "snow fences" to keep us out of the way of things. We have a certain way to go when we walk out of our dorms to walk to get food, the coffee house, the gym, etc. Most of the town is now on 24 hour 12 hour shifts to get everything off loaded and then to load the ship with millions full of garbage. People get very tired working long shifts with heavy equipment. The chance of something catastrophic happening is very real. Because it's so dangerous they have closed the bars which is a really good thing. So far (knock on wood) nothing has happened.

Ocean Giant Cargo Ship

Twin Ships-USCG Polar Star and the Ocean Giant

A couple of days ago I went on a hike. I did Ob Hill Loop, a 2.5 mile trail around Ob Hill. We had beautiful weather and it really didn't hurt until after the hike! I went a couple of my firefighter friends. Afterwards we went for hot chocolate and a muffin! Then they had band practice so I tagged along. I played the drums for the first time in about 20 years! I was a little rusty but it was fun!

Me on Ob Hill Loop

Dan and Sissy On the Ob Hill Loop

The next day was my birthday. I was working when the lady at Rec called me and told me that she and my boss arranged for me to take a snowmobile ride that evening for my birthday! I had so much fun! Of course I paid for it the next day, but it was totally worth it!!

Me In Front of the Active Volcano, Mt. Erebus

Aboard My Ride

A Very Busy Time of Year

We are in mid-January and activity here in McMurdo has picked up. We have the Coast Guard Ice Breaker, Polar Star here to break up the 6 foot thick ice in McMurdo Sound so the re-supply ship and the fuel ship can come in. The National Science Foundation research vessel the Nathaniel B. Palmer arrived yesterday and is docked at the ice pier. Once the fuel and re-supply ships get here, operations really ramp up. But for now we have a whole lot of people here in anticipation of the arriving ships. We  have 50 plus members of the New Zealand Defence Force (the NZ Army) and about 75 NAVCHAPs (Naval Cargo Handlers) to assist with the off-load. We also have future Winter-Over people here from the South Pole for their “R and R”. And a couple of nights ago the Polar Star docked so the Coasties could get some liberty for 18 hours so it was a little crazy for an evening. 

I was able to board the Polar Star while it was docked! I was able to tag along with my boss’s husband’s work centre for a tour! I was working and she came into the dispatch office and asked me if I wanted to go on the ship and of course, I said yes! It was great! We got to go on the front of the ship where the anchors are set, into the kitchen, computer lounge, where the rudder is powered, the helo deck and the bridge! Our Coastie tour guides and other members on board the vessel were great! My surprise was that most of the men and women were very young. My guess would be just barely 21 years old. One of them came to visit the Firehouse on his liberty (he was 20 years old!) and swapped t-shirts and patches with us and the fire fighters gave him a tour of our station and equipment and took him for a ride in the engine! See below for a few pictures of the Polar Star.

The Nathaniel B. Palmer or just “The Palmer” or “The Nattie B” arrived yesterday. It is a research vessel owned and run by the National Science Foundation (NSF) or basically the agency that all of us working down here is supporting. Anyway, the ship is a floating laboratory and partial ice breaker. It can break the thinner ice that is found on the other side of the continent where the Nattie B is from - near Chile. They are here to change out their crew (more people!) and to off load their hazardous waste from Palmer Station It is cheaper to bring their has waste here and then have it shipped off on the re-supply ship to Port Hueneme, CA than to ship it there via South America. It doesn’t sound “cheap” to me either way! I am hoping I can score a tour of that ship as well! See below for photos of the Palmer.

Work has been busy and should get busier! I had a couple more In Flight Emergencies (IFE’s) with the LC130’s. Yesterday one was half way to Pole and had to turn back to MCM because of a “mechanical issue”. And the day before it got real scary. The weather changed quickly that afternoon and we had an LC-130 coming in from Christchurch. They attempted twice to land on 2 different skiways in blowing snow and very bad visibility and couldn’t do it. So they said they were going to land in the “White Out Area” as they had to get the aircraft down because they were out of fuel. This is a crevasse-free snow covered area that is not groomed. It is basically a place for an aircraft to land when all else fails. (So far that has been the 2nd LC-130 to land there this week!) So after they said they were going to land there we had no further radio transmissions from them for 45 minutes. I sent the crews out there to start looking for them (remember there was a snowstorm) and this went on for a while. I activated the EOC and at one point I turned around to the firefighters in the room all gathered behind me and I said to them, “You all better start praying.” Finally the Tower came on the radio and said they had made contact with the aircraft and it was taxiing back to Williams Field and they needed to know where our vehicles were. They were safe! There was a collective sigh of relief by many people (as well as the people on the aircraft I’m sure)!

US Coast Guard Ice Breaker Polar Star

                  

                           
                             The Polar Star Bridge

                 
                       Me on the Deck Aboard the Polar Star

                 
                         The NSF Research Ship, Nathaniel B. Palmer

Happy 2015 From Antarctica!

2015 came into this part of the world 22 hours before it did in Arizona. I was working. It was an uneventful evening however I did get a kiss at midnight from one of the firefighters! Actually I think I won by default as he said he wasn't going to kiss any of the guys at midnight! Of course the next day he proceeded to tell everyone that he, "Kissed Russo at Midnight". See what I have to put up with! I guess boys will be boys!

Our big New Years party, IceStock, was held on January 2nd this year. Even though it wasn't on New Year's Eve it was still a lot of fun. There were 17 bands and it went from 3:30PM to 1:00AM. There was a chili cook-off (the fire department took 3rd place) and the cooks grilled hot dogs and elk sausages! I went out there at 4:30 to see the fire department band, Skuacide and then I went inside until about 9:30 when the fire chief's band played. Below are some pictures from Ice Stock.

The next day, after brunch, was the annual softball tournament. The Fire Department took 2nd place and they said that I should've been the coach! Anyone who ever played softball with me knows that I cannot keep my mouth shut-especially when an umpire makes the wrong call. That would've been the case that day. He should have called Infield Fly Rule and he didn't. The ball dropped and 2 runs scored. I started hollering and that got some members of our team asking the ump about it and he ended up making the right call and sending the runners back to their bases. Our guys said they were happy I was there and that I saved a couple of runs for them. Hahahaha!! The fans in the stands were the real game though. They would heckle everyone and it was really funny. And if they didn't like a call they would throw all their empty beer cans at the backstop! It was crazy! And one of our guys hit the ball literally out of the park and next thing I knew some guy had stripped down to his skivvies' and was running around on the field! Like I said, it was crazy! Here's some pictures from the softball tourney! Happy 2015 from Antarctica!

                                                             Skuacide At IceStock

              The Heckling Beer Can Throwing Fans In The Stands at the Softball Tourney
                                           

The 2nd Place Fire Department Team!