Weather Windows
Ocean Tramp – Lori
We have “windows” in the wind that allow us to move. It has been typical Antarctic weather; grey, foggy, cold and windy. Unfortunately, to make the travel easier, we had to forgo the Chilean base in favour of getting back to King George Island without a repeat of the other day’s atmosphere.
We had another early start; 4 a.m. is sunrise, and that’s when we got going. We got to Barrientos Island by about 5:30 a.m., and went out to shoot. Lots of moody weather; the island was encased in fog. A mixed colony of Gentoos and Chinstraps, elephant seals moulting on the beach, a fur seal, Southern Giant Petrels and the dive-bombing skuas. It was good to get out.
Another big crossing to King George Island, but the sea is still too choppy for us to go out in the Zodiac. The Carlini research base is just within sight, but the bay is simply too windy. A quiet afternoon while the crew uses the time to do the things that get done to boats.
By 5ish, everyone was getting a little antsy, so we started watching videos. And true to everything that I’ve already described, the first video is a TED talk called “The Secret Life of Plankton” LOL. And we were all okay with that, actually. Great micro photography! Then next up was (Canadian connection alert) National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen giving a TED talk about his Arctic and Antarctic adventures. It was kinda cool to be here with our own Nat Geo ‘tog, Michael Melford, who knew a lot of the locations that Paul referenced, and has been to a number of them. He has been down here a number of times, himself. We’ll have to get HIM to do a TED talk some day!
When you travel in a place that is measured in thousands of years, time has very little meaning here. There are no traditional markings to the day; there is very little time between light and darkness, you just keep going about your business, until you feel it’s time to sleep. We had breakfast at 5:30 a.m., and lunch at about 2; snacks are always readily available, so you don’t particularly notice. Dinner (a lovely Indian meal made by Caesar last night) showed up about 9:30, and then we played a quiz game, with tons of laughter (okay, there was some alcohol involved…) until there was darkness, and time for bed. Tomorrow is last day, and we don’t need to get a sunrise start; sleep in.
Blog – Lori Ryerson
Photo – John Evarts
