A HUGE thank you to the team at Palmer station who welcomed us to their Station today. Palmer station is one of three US antarctic stations – the other two are McMurdo and the South Pole. We first made a visit to Palmer on our first trip to Antarctic on our smaller vessel, QUijote. We spent a few days at Palmer, as some ice blew in and it was much easier to stay and wait for the winds to change and blow the ice out, than to try to get through it. Thus we got to meet the team at the base. The great thing about Palmer is that many of the crew come back year after year, so as we visit we get to see old friends. We were given a fantastic tour of the facilities – their aquariums, living areas, a history of the base. We also ran into scientists doing work and got to hear about what they were working on. They then invited us for dinner – what a HUGE treat for us. We got to talk with more of the station crew and got to enjoy an excellent dinner (and I didn’t have to cook dinner – even better!). And to make the day even better – the morning was quite cloudy and grey, but as the afternoon wore on, the skies cleared and now as we are on our motor to our evening anchorage, we are being treated to fantastic mountains, a low light evening light and we are all on deck just soaking in the beauty.
– Laura
