Soon...Very Soon!

The Summer season is winding down here at McMurdo Station. All of the ships have completed their assignments and have departed our Ice Pier. Scientists, research students and workers are starting to head off the island via the C-17, Airbus or Kiwi 757. I have 2 weeks exactly before I get to leave.

The weather is also beginning to change towards Winter. We had a huge storm last weekend that closed both airfields down and trapped our firefighters at Williams Field for 3 days as it was Condition 1 out there on the ice. In town we had Condition 2 most of the time. The storm started on Friday and didn't leave our area until late Tuesday. We had winds well over 50 kts and snow. It ended up blowing all of the ice out and exposing the frigid waters of McMurdo Sound. We have seen some Minke, Beluga and Orca whales here but I haven't been able to get any pictures as they have been too far away. The sun is lower in the sky and our first sunset since October 18th will be February 20th at 01:48 AM. I will not see it as I'm still working dayshift and will be sleeping at that time. We have more cloudy days than sunny days.

There is a fishing vessel stuck in the ice down here about 900 miles from here. We had an EOC activation because of it. The Polar Star is on it's way to rescue them as well as a New Zealand fishing vessel. Read about it here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/66096627/us-icebreaker-talleys-ship-on-antarctic-rescue-mission

Below are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

During the storm Friday, February 6, 2015

The fuel tanker, Maersk Perry backing out from the Ice Pier on Tuesday, February 10, 2015
The Polar Star is waiting in the distance to escort the tanker.

SAUSAGEFEST at Lunch! My favorite meal here!

Myself and 3 Italians from Mario Zucchelli base.

Life at MCM

Or Life at McMurdo. MCM is the IATA code. That is the airport identifier code like LAX or ORD or PHX. We have many other IATA codes for around the continent including: NBY - Byrd Surface Camp, NPX - South Pole Station, WSD - WAIS (Western Antarctica Ice Sheet), XGK - Kein Glacier, etc. We have aircraft that service all of those areas. The aircraft range from C-17's and Airbus A310's to Twin Otters, Baslers (refurbished DC-3's) and helicopters. I've included some photos of the different aircraft down here.

So life at MCM. Today the Ob Tube opened. It is a literally a steel tube no wider than an average person that has been placed into a drilled hole in the ice. It is 30 feet long with a steel ladder inside. It opens up into a very small area of Plexiglas just off the ocean bottom where 1 person can stand and view the marine life under the ice. Below are the rules and a photo of the Ob Tube. In case you were wondering, no I'm NOT going to go in it. I have sent my camera with a couple of people and will post pictures later of what they saw. I take down the participant's information, issue them a key and a radio, and the groups go out to the ice.

                                                                                           Ob Tube Entrance

I have my name in a lottery for a trip to Cape Evans. There is a hut there like at Hut Point. The way one gets there is by snowmobile. There are also penguins there! I am hoping to be able to go. There is also going to be some trips to the Ice Caves and again, I am hoping to win the lottery for that trip as well!

More about life here. The other day while I was at dinner, I saw a girl sit down by herself and she had a nice avocado. An avocado!!! She was clearly a "Beaker". That is what us worker types call the scientists down here. I said to the people at my table, "I didn't see any avocados." They said Beaker probably brought it down from Christchurch. So there she sat, carefully cutting open that beautiful, green fruit. She methodically cut it in half. As I stared at her and the green goodness, I secretly hoped that it was rotten inside. Soon all of us were staring at her and the fruit. As she cut pieces out of it and put them on a piece of bread, I said to my table mates, "One of you hold her down, the other one choke her and I will grab the avocado!" We all laughed but I was only half-joking! If I could've shivved her right there I would've! I've got a connection with a guy who has a connection with a Loadmaster in the Air National Guard. I'm going to trade one of my tee shirts for some avocados from NZ. I can already taste it...

Speaking of Beakers, 2 of them got kicked off the island and sent home this week early. I got a call at 0530 am reporting 2 women passed out and a male puking in one of the lounges. They were all super drunk. I sent the fire crew out there and one of the Beakers got very belligerent with my crew. She F-Bombed them up one side and down the other and at one point said, "You guys don't have F-ing nothing on me! I have a PhD!" She was the head professor from University of Arizona working on a project for NASA studying the surface of the Jupiter moon, IO. The landscape here is the same as IO. Well, she is no longer studying it here. She was sent out, along with the guy who was puking, on a plane less than 8 hours later. He was a student researcher of hers. I don't have a PhD but geez I know better than not to get stinking drunk and pass out and then be belligerent. PhD or not, she was a dumb Ass!

                                                                     Twin Otter

                                                                      C-17

                                                                       Airbus A310

                                                            Twin Otter and a Basler

                                                             Me in a helicopter

                                                       LC-130 (Notice the Skis)                

The Season Has Ramped Up

It is November 10th, the 239th Marine Corp Birthday. They are having a cake cutting ceremony this evening in the Galley to celebrate. Happy Birthday to all of the Marines or former Marines out there! Thank you for your service! As far as the rest of us who did not serve in the Corp it is just another day.

As most of you know, I am working the night shift. I will be on nights until January 5th and then I will work days. I am thankful to be on nights right now because honestly, there are just too many people here. We are up to 1100 people on station and for me it is about 700 people too many. When I got here we were at 400. That was perfect - no waiting in line to get into the Galley, no waiting in line to get rid of your plates, no waiting to wash your hands before a meal, no waiting period. We have more than 50 Australians here waiting to fly out to Casey Station but the weather has been bad there for about a week so they are all still here. They are sleeping in the gym because there's no room in the dorms.

We have people going out from here to the South Pole and some Winter-Over Polies coming back here to go home as well. You can spot a Winter-Over Polie fairly easily - It's like they are on drugs. They are oblivious to almost everything. Some of them act like they are on crack. I tried to have a conversation with one who was a cook there over the Winter. He was like Ricochet Rabbit - he was all over...SQUIRREL! It was annoying.

We are in the time of "Just keep going and the holidays will be here soon". The flights have been able to come in and for the most part, go out. I have gotten some packages (YAY!) but not all of them. Some people have gotten to go on "Boondoggles" - trips to help science teams out in the field for a day. Really it's just free labor for those teams. I know of several people who got to fly on a Basler (a refurbished DC-3) or Twin Otter (a high winged plane) and have flown to remote locations to dig out fuel barrels for a couple of hours. We in Dispatch haven't been offered said Boondoggles. It would be kind of nice to be able to get out of "town" for a day. But rumour has it that the Rec Department is working on trips to the Ice Caves and Cape Royds (where there's a huge Adelie penguin rookery) as well as trips out to Scott Base for the Pressure Ridges. I will keep you posted on that and if I get to go to any of those places, I will post pictures!

Last night at about 2100 I hiked out to Hut Point and "Roll Cage Mary" or the Our Lady of the Snows Shrine a memorial to Richard Thomas Williams, a Seabee who died during the initial construction of McMurdo Station when his D-8 tractor fell through the ice. I also got to see several Weddell seals lounging on the ice. Enjoy the pictures!

                                         "Roll Cage Mary" aka Our Lady of the Snows Shrine

                                                             View from the Shrine.

                                                                    Cute Weddell Seal

                                           Me at Hut Point standing next to Vince's Cross

It's Like "Groundhog Day"!

No joke. Almost everyday has been Condition II on station meaning, "Condition II: Winds 48 to 55 knots, wind chill - 75 to -100 degrees F, or visibility 100 feet to 1/ 4th mile. Restricted pedestrian traffic only between buildings is allowed. Vehicular travel is allowed in radio equipped, enclosed vehicles only, and check out is required." It also means that no one should or would want to go hiking, skiing, etc. because the weather is terrible. It also means no flights. No flights means no mail. No mail means I have to go to the store to buy shampoo and conditioner because I mailed a lot of those items to myself because I was concerned about my luggage weight.

But it could be worse. It could be Condition 1 in town. It should have been called that a few times but I've been told that Station Management does not like to do that because then no one would be able to work. So my boss likes to call it Condition 1.5 when it really should be Condition 1. Here is the definition of "Condition I: Winds over 55 knots, wind chill lower than -100 degrees F, or visibility less than 100 feet. Severe weather is in progress. All personnel must remain in buildings or the nearest shelter." It is Condition 1 everywhere else - Scott Base (which is 3k's away), the Road to Scott Base, Pegasus Airfield, Williams Field Skiway, T-Site, Arrival Heights (It's a "science" area, I think it's some secret squirrel military place!) and LDB (where they launch the Long Duration Balloons). So really, nothing is going on here - no flights and no science. I'm at work so at least I've got somewhere and something, albeit scarce, to do.

Enjoy the "Con 1.5" photos!

 

It's a Blustery Day for Football!

I am on Day 2 of my 3 day weekend. It is Monday so it must be football! Yes, Monday because we are a day ahead of everyone in CONUS (Continental United States). All night last night I heard the wind blowing hard and whistling thru my window. It is not really cold, it is currently -2 with the wind chill at -26 degrees. That wind is brutal! I broke out my Big Red today. Here are some pictures from today:

I watched the Cardinals/Broncos game and was really disappointed. But it was still great to watch football! And what made it even better was that it was a game that didn't have the Cowboys in it! Now I'm getting ready to watch Sunday Night Football.

And if football isn't enough to make it a fantastic day, we had McRibs for lunch!! YAY!!

An Extra Day in Christchurch!

My room in CHC.

My flights were long but thankfully uneventful. I had an 11 hour layover in Sydney and tried to get into the Qantas Lounge but the evil lady at the door wouldn't let me in! She was just plain nasty. I was with 2 other "ice people" so we went to the Air New Zealand lounge and the Kiwis being the friendly people they are, allowed us to spend our hours in their lounge! Once inside we had the run of their buffet, drinks (including beer, wine and hard liquor) and best of all, the showers! I'm not gonna lie that was one of the best showers I've ever had! And I really needed one! It's always bad when one can smell oneself! Lol!

I arrived in Christchurch at 0030 Sunday morning 9/28 and had to be at the CDC ( Clothing Distribution Center) at 0900. Oh and there was a time change-Spring Ahead. By the time I got checked into my hotel it was 0130 and with the time change it was 0230. Ugh! But I woke up in time after a short but satisfying sleep and got my gear and attended orientation. We were done at 1500. I met the new doctor, Jane, and we went to dinner. Went to bed at 1930. I know, such a party animal!

We were supposed to be on the C-17 this morning and 15 minutes after I got out of the shower I received a call from the desk that we were on a 24 hour delay. That means I'm going into the city center today and playing tourist! I'll post some pics later! Woot woot!

My new Big Red!