So I had a few firsts for this trip/ my life this last weekend. Not all of
them are "good" per se, but they were bound to happen I suppose.
The first first was I ran for the first time in Antarctica. Unfortunately,
this wasnt a pleasant joyful jog around the neighborhood. In fact, it
wasn't even for the exercise and cardio to keep my body from getting overly
mushy. No, I ran because I was being chased.
Generally when you walk around here, you keep your eye on the bull fur
seals. They are the biggest, they're deceptively quick, and they don't
really take kindly to foreigners encroaching on their ladies. However, the
bulls get it. Other than a few slightly over agressive ones, they are
concerned about their ladies and keeping as many as possible, so if you
walk away, they dont follow. Therefore, the real ones you have to watch out
for are the ladies themselves. I found this out the hardway (although I did
know it from whats now 2 months of life here).
To stop stalling and get to the story, there is one female fur seal in
particular that is something of legend. I have heard multiple stories of
other people encountering her and only escaping by swinging their hightech
self-defense weaponry, aka a ski pole, wildly back and forth and hoping to
land a glancing blow that wont so much hurt her but at least confuse her
just long enough to get away. Think of it like throwing a dud smoke bomb at
your feet, but you still yell "SMOKE BOMB!" and then giggle as you run
away. The problem with these stories I kept hearing is nobody ever bothered
to tell me WHERE they were. Well I can tell you now, she hangs out at Playa
de La Caverna.
This weekend was our cape-wide pup census. It's exactly how it sounds. 3 of
us walk all the beaches on the cape and count every puppy we see. I ended
up counting about 2,113 puppies in total. On La Caverna, I was the second
person to count that beach for the day. The beach only has one entry/exit
point, but is this cool little rocky outcropping with a small, but
surprisingly deep cave behind it. I walked through, counted pups, checked
out the cave, no problem. On my way out, literally at the very edge of the
animals, I stopped to take one last look around for any straggler pups I
might have missed. As I turned, I saw a female coming at me. This isnt
totally uncommon, females will defend pups and often give you something of
a bluff charge, especially once you give them a good poke wiht your
skipole. The problem was, this female did not stop. She ran right over the
pole, biting her way up it. This made me jump to say the least. After
jumping a few feet away, I looked back to see her continuing to come
straight at me. You can tell when a fur seal is pissed because their eyes
get huge and all crazy looking. She had the crazy eyes. It kind of makes
you flashback to highschool when you could only dream of girls just
throwing themselves at you. They tell you about the crazy ones, but you
never believe them... until its too late...
Quickly calculating that my flimsy ski pole was unlikely to provide much
protection in this situation, I did what I only assume is a routine
occurance for the likes of Justin Timberlake, One Direction, and other
similar celebrities- I ran from some crazy chick. Unfortunately, as I
mentioned, the beach only has one way in or out, otherwise its water or
sheer cliff, and that one way out, while close to where I was, was not
exactly smooth sailing. It was more like steep, potentially slippery rocks.
I ran anyway. Fur seals, as awkward looking as they are, are surprisingly
quick on land and I couldnt get any distance between her and me as I tried
to scramble up a rock. So at one point, I turned to do what I could to fend
her off. Reluctant to turn and just start hitting her or kicking her, I
tried to use my skipole to get it between me and her and essentially push
her away/ slightly down the hill from me. The skipole broke in half. Woops.
At that point, if I fell, she would be on top of me bitey end first.
This brings me to my other first, and this one is actually a semi
surprising lifetime first.
Saturday Dec 27 2014 I got bit by a pinniped for the first time. Now
luckily I had a few things going for me. First, I was just about at the
edge of the beach when the skipole broke and was just starting to make some
headway up a snowy embankment. This meant I was likely at the edge of where
she might follow. Second, I was wearing large ski gloves. When push came to
shove at that pivotal breaking point (literally), I went for the push or
shove. I basically used what was left of my pole and my other hand to try
ot push her down. It kind of worked. She got hold of my left hand with her
mouth. To just go ahead and ruin the drama, she only bit the tip of my
middle finger and because of the gloves, didnt even break the skin. She
pulled the glove clean off, which probably gave her a sense of
accomplishment and helped end the chase. It still hurt pretty badly though
and now the end of my finger, including under the fingernail is all black
and blue. It could have been much worse though.
Female fur seals aren't huge. They are about 40-60kg (maybe 90-130lbs).
Really they are more like a medium sized dog though. That being said, even
little dogs can bite pretty hard. I'm glad that my first true bite (not
counting the puppies here that try to chew on my hands on a daily basis)
wasn't a terrible one. Seal finger is a very real bacterial infection you
can get and, while our medical supplies are very well stocked, help is
never closeby. At the same time, I am a little embarassed to say I was run
down and viciously mauled on the tip of the finger by a girl seal.
So morals of the story- always look out for the crazy girl in the crowd and
dont bring a skipole to a bite fight.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
White summer christmas
So just a quick update, since I have to go eat dinner in a few minutes...
We had almost a solid week of nice weather. It was the first week with an
average temp above freezing. A lot of the snow has finally started to melt,
though there is still plenty on the ground. To help it out, it has been
snowing all day so we have a nice layer of fresh powder.
This morning the weather was actually kind of nice. It was snowing, but
there was no wind and it was actually almost 40F outside. The snow was that
nice, dry, light fluffy stuff that just makes you want to start a battle by
pelting someone in the back of the head with a well crafted snowball (I've
been reading a lot of Calvin and Hobbes at breakfast...).
We also finished our perinatal captures officially the other day, so things
have finally slowed a little. However, we are just starting up our diets
analysis work, which will continue through the rest of the season.
Basically we collect 10 scat (that science for poop) samples each week,
sift through them, figure out what they've been eating, and measure and
analyze it for whatever we need. Often it involves mostly pulling out
carapices (again, science for shell) of krill, which are small shrimp like
creatures that feed pretty much everything in the ocean. They are very
small though, and have already passed through an animals digestive tract.
The common metaphor here is its like trying to find a 1/2 inch piece of
saranwrap that has been rolled up and throw into a pile of crap. You then
have to unroll it to measure it while taking great care not to rip it or
damage it, otherwise you get to start all over. Now do that 20 times per
scat. Basically it ends up taking about and hour to an hour and a half per
scat. Luckily we have 3 people working on them this year, usually its only
2. If you find fish bones, its a whole other level of figuring out the
species and how degraded the bone is (specifically we look for otolith
bones, which are unique to a species and can tell the age of the fish as
well). Its all very cool science once you (literally) sift out the
information.
Our Christmas plans will be similar to Thanksgiving. Smoking some turkeys,
eating lots of food, minimal working, but still working some. We are also
doing a small gift exchange. Unfortunately none of the returning people
remembered to tell us new people this happens so none of us came prepared
with gifts, so we had to get creative. The most common is to give "gift
certificates" for common camp chores, like dishes, slop bucket, etc. My
plan is to have a goody bag with a series of chores and people pick
randomly to see what they get. That way, I dont have to pick favorites and
I dont have to do the same chores over and over. I tried to be creative and
make something, but you (legally) cant take anything from Antarctica so
even if I was awesome and carved a bone I found (original idea), nobody
could take their present home with them. So I'm just being creatively
boring.
Finally, our latest SitRep should be coming out soon if its not out
already (https://swfsc.noaa.gov/contentblock.aspx?
id=13620&ParentMenuId=42). It should feature a photo of yours truely having
just shovelled out a trench halfway through Antarctica to expose our long-
buried path to the shop and generator. We might get to send a photo out for
Christmas, so I will try to post something here, otherwise it will go to my
parents and they can distribute it accordingly (if we even get that
bandwidth increase for a day).
We had almost a solid week of nice weather. It was the first week with an
average temp above freezing. A lot of the snow has finally started to melt,
though there is still plenty on the ground. To help it out, it has been
snowing all day so we have a nice layer of fresh powder.
This morning the weather was actually kind of nice. It was snowing, but
there was no wind and it was actually almost 40F outside. The snow was that
nice, dry, light fluffy stuff that just makes you want to start a battle by
pelting someone in the back of the head with a well crafted snowball (I've
been reading a lot of Calvin and Hobbes at breakfast...).
We also finished our perinatal captures officially the other day, so things
have finally slowed a little. However, we are just starting up our diets
analysis work, which will continue through the rest of the season.
Basically we collect 10 scat (that science for poop) samples each week,
sift through them, figure out what they've been eating, and measure and
analyze it for whatever we need. Often it involves mostly pulling out
carapices (again, science for shell) of krill, which are small shrimp like
creatures that feed pretty much everything in the ocean. They are very
small though, and have already passed through an animals digestive tract.
The common metaphor here is its like trying to find a 1/2 inch piece of
saranwrap that has been rolled up and throw into a pile of crap. You then
have to unroll it to measure it while taking great care not to rip it or
damage it, otherwise you get to start all over. Now do that 20 times per
scat. Basically it ends up taking about and hour to an hour and a half per
scat. Luckily we have 3 people working on them this year, usually its only
2. If you find fish bones, its a whole other level of figuring out the
species and how degraded the bone is (specifically we look for otolith
bones, which are unique to a species and can tell the age of the fish as
well). Its all very cool science once you (literally) sift out the
information.
Our Christmas plans will be similar to Thanksgiving. Smoking some turkeys,
eating lots of food, minimal working, but still working some. We are also
doing a small gift exchange. Unfortunately none of the returning people
remembered to tell us new people this happens so none of us came prepared
with gifts, so we had to get creative. The most common is to give "gift
certificates" for common camp chores, like dishes, slop bucket, etc. My
plan is to have a goody bag with a series of chores and people pick
randomly to see what they get. That way, I dont have to pick favorites and
I dont have to do the same chores over and over. I tried to be creative and
make something, but you (legally) cant take anything from Antarctica so
even if I was awesome and carved a bone I found (original idea), nobody
could take their present home with them. So I'm just being creatively
boring.
Finally, our latest SitRep should be coming out soon if its not out
already (https://swfsc.noaa.gov/contentblock.aspx?
id=13620&ParentMenuId=42). It should feature a photo of yours truely having
just shovelled out a trench halfway through Antarctica to expose our long-
buried path to the shop and generator. We might get to send a photo out for
Christmas, so I will try to post something here, otherwise it will go to my
parents and they can distribute it accordingly (if we even get that
bandwidth increase for a day).
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
A Break in the Action
Has not happened yet... We are keeping busy, but we are almost done with
our perinatal (basically when females are having pups) captures period. We
have so far caught 41 seals in the last 2 or 3 weeks. By the time this is
posted we will hopefully have caught 2 more to reach our required sample
size for one of our CCAMLAR projects.
First off, CCAMLAR is basically the governing body for Antarctic research
and they require you to submit certain project data to continue working
down here. Or something like that. The main data we submit is trip
durations of females with pups, so 32 of the captured females get VHF (very
high frequency) tags that we can monitor essentially 24 hours a day through
two automated data recorders to see when they are on shore and when they
leave. Basically we have exactly what I WISH I had had for most of my
masters project. This is more how its supposed to be done, rather than me
spending hours in my car driving up and down the coast looking for seals.
Once these captures finish up, things will hopefully calm down a little for
a couple weeks. We still do daily tag resights and other work, but we wont
be catching seals everyday. The resights are getting a little tougher
because pups are getting more adventurous so they have started wandering
all over the place. The moms too, so you have to search a little more to
make sure you get everyone.
That being said, the number of females on the beaches has dropped like
crazy. Females usually stay with their pups for about a week after its
born, then they begin going to sea for often several days at a time to
forage. When they come back, they find their pups on the beach by calling
to each other, then the pup usually nurses until its belly looks like its
about to pop. This is especially true for pups of females that make longer
trips because they are nearly starving before mom comes back, then they
gorge themselves silly. This is usually followed by something of a milk
coma, where you can actually walk right up to them sleeping on their backs
and at most they might give you a half-ass growl. You can even rub their
belly a lot of the time without them having the energy to do anything about
it because they are so full. Its like Thanksgiving day for them ever 2-5
days.
So anyway, many of the moms are now off foraging, leaving just packs of
puppies roaming the beaches. While they still sleep a good amount of the
time, many are also starting to form little gangs that romp around
together. I saw one chasing a skua, which made me very proud.
It is a little weird how attached you get to some of the animals just
because you see them everyday. I only recognize a handful (it helps that
the pups of those ladies with VHF tags get names and symbols bleached on
their butts), but you still get to know them and where they hang out. One
of the tiniest pups I have seen here also happens to be one of the fiercest
and I love it. He doesnt take it from anyone. My marked pups also happen to
be named Arya (we have a game of thrones theme going), Kitty, Bubbles, Pi,
Carmen Sandiego, Rage, Wienerschnitzle, Funkmaster Fred and Aunt Jemima, so
you find yourself saying hi and checking in with them each day. Making sure
that the other pups arent being mean or calling them bleach butt. Actually
Funkmaster Fred is one of the biggest pups out there. I also almost got a
video of Arya chasing Kitty, which as anyone who has recently watched Game
of Thrones might remember, her dancing master tells Arya to catch cats as
practice for swordsmanship...
Speaking of GOT, I'm mad at that show. They finally killed my favorite
character. I know, I know, they kill EVERYONE (spoiler alert...), but
still. I wont say who it is or what season we just finished or whatever,
but fell free to guess. Now I'm a little turned off of watching future
episodes.
In other non-animal news, we also recently watched the Lego movie. I went
into it thinking ok this could be fun, but its a kids movie so who knows,
maybe they will pull something off... I have to say that movie is one of
the best and funniest I have seen this year. I highly recommend it to
anyone, kids or adults (many of the jokes I think are targeted for adults).
Even if you didnt play with Legos and therefore didnt have a childhood, you
will enjoy the movie.
I have also been reading a Bill Bryson book, which I am a big fan of. This
one is I'm a Stranger Here Myself, which is a collection of short newspaper
articles he wrote for a british paper about moving back to America after
20 years in England. I also highly recommend In a Sunburned Country, which
he wrote about travelling through Australia. A lot of the humor I try to
incorporate into these posts comes from his style of writing... I probably
shouldnt be giving those secrets away...
Thats it for now. I am continuing to lure puppies and elephant seal weaners
alike to be my friend and hang out. Maybe once we have a slightly more
flexible schedule I will get to spend some quality time with them, at least
before they become leopard seal poop...
our perinatal (basically when females are having pups) captures period. We
have so far caught 41 seals in the last 2 or 3 weeks. By the time this is
posted we will hopefully have caught 2 more to reach our required sample
size for one of our CCAMLAR projects.
First off, CCAMLAR is basically the governing body for Antarctic research
and they require you to submit certain project data to continue working
down here. Or something like that. The main data we submit is trip
durations of females with pups, so 32 of the captured females get VHF (very
high frequency) tags that we can monitor essentially 24 hours a day through
two automated data recorders to see when they are on shore and when they
leave. Basically we have exactly what I WISH I had had for most of my
masters project. This is more how its supposed to be done, rather than me
spending hours in my car driving up and down the coast looking for seals.
Once these captures finish up, things will hopefully calm down a little for
a couple weeks. We still do daily tag resights and other work, but we wont
be catching seals everyday. The resights are getting a little tougher
because pups are getting more adventurous so they have started wandering
all over the place. The moms too, so you have to search a little more to
make sure you get everyone.
That being said, the number of females on the beaches has dropped like
crazy. Females usually stay with their pups for about a week after its
born, then they begin going to sea for often several days at a time to
forage. When they come back, they find their pups on the beach by calling
to each other, then the pup usually nurses until its belly looks like its
about to pop. This is especially true for pups of females that make longer
trips because they are nearly starving before mom comes back, then they
gorge themselves silly. This is usually followed by something of a milk
coma, where you can actually walk right up to them sleeping on their backs
and at most they might give you a half-ass growl. You can even rub their
belly a lot of the time without them having the energy to do anything about
it because they are so full. Its like Thanksgiving day for them ever 2-5
days.
So anyway, many of the moms are now off foraging, leaving just packs of
puppies roaming the beaches. While they still sleep a good amount of the
time, many are also starting to form little gangs that romp around
together. I saw one chasing a skua, which made me very proud.
It is a little weird how attached you get to some of the animals just
because you see them everyday. I only recognize a handful (it helps that
the pups of those ladies with VHF tags get names and symbols bleached on
their butts), but you still get to know them and where they hang out. One
of the tiniest pups I have seen here also happens to be one of the fiercest
and I love it. He doesnt take it from anyone. My marked pups also happen to
be named Arya (we have a game of thrones theme going), Kitty, Bubbles, Pi,
Carmen Sandiego, Rage, Wienerschnitzle, Funkmaster Fred and Aunt Jemima, so
you find yourself saying hi and checking in with them each day. Making sure
that the other pups arent being mean or calling them bleach butt. Actually
Funkmaster Fred is one of the biggest pups out there. I also almost got a
video of Arya chasing Kitty, which as anyone who has recently watched Game
of Thrones might remember, her dancing master tells Arya to catch cats as
practice for swordsmanship...
Speaking of GOT, I'm mad at that show. They finally killed my favorite
character. I know, I know, they kill EVERYONE (spoiler alert...), but
still. I wont say who it is or what season we just finished or whatever,
but fell free to guess. Now I'm a little turned off of watching future
episodes.
In other non-animal news, we also recently watched the Lego movie. I went
into it thinking ok this could be fun, but its a kids movie so who knows,
maybe they will pull something off... I have to say that movie is one of
the best and funniest I have seen this year. I highly recommend it to
anyone, kids or adults (many of the jokes I think are targeted for adults).
Even if you didnt play with Legos and therefore didnt have a childhood, you
will enjoy the movie.
I have also been reading a Bill Bryson book, which I am a big fan of. This
one is I'm a Stranger Here Myself, which is a collection of short newspaper
articles he wrote for a british paper about moving back to America after
20 years in England. I also highly recommend In a Sunburned Country, which
he wrote about travelling through Australia. A lot of the humor I try to
incorporate into these posts comes from his style of writing... I probably
shouldnt be giving those secrets away...
Thats it for now. I am continuing to lure puppies and elephant seal weaners
alike to be my friend and hang out. Maybe once we have a slightly more
flexible schedule I will get to spend some quality time with them, at least
before they become leopard seal poop...
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Working Hard and Keeping Busy
So this will actually be short, because I am too exhausted to get overly
sidetracked. When your brain is spent, your train of thought if more like
the little engine who could. Except he doesnt always make it over the
hill...
We are in the heart of our perinatal season. This basically means "the time
when moms have pups." Median pupping occured somewhere around today,
meaning the maximum number of pups being born happened maybe today or
yesterday. One of my beaches has around 150 pups on it alone. The sad thing
is that 10 years ago, there were something like 3 times as many pups on
these beaches. There used to be puppies roaming around the deck of our
cabin all the time, now we will be lucky if any wander by (although this
isnt all bad, I'm told that trying to sleep while a batch of pups have
wrestling matches and races around the building can be a bit difficult).
So the moral of the story is, we have been working hard to retrieve tags
that overwintered here (remember, its summer here now), put out new tags to
monitor behavior over the summer, and just generally keep track of who is
who on the beaches. Its been mostly 8-12 hour days, and those 8 hour ones
were primarily because the weather sucked and was snowing/raining on us.
It has also been slightly warmer recently, which seems awesome at first but
causes 3 main problems: 1) The snow on the ground turns soft and slushy,
meaning each step you take is like russian roulette of am I going to find
firm ground or sink to my knees. In this case though, there are 5 bullets
and one blank, so even when you win, you think you're going to lose and it
ends up being just as hard to walk. 2) Instead of just snowing all the
time, now it sometimes decides to rain, or sleet, or some weird combo of
all 3. Snow is generally relatively dry. Rain is not. Rain is wet, about as
wet as it comes. I'm told that rainy and overcast is more "typical Cape
Shirreff weather." Joy. And 3) I have finally aclimated/ figured out what
clothing to wear to keep myself warm here. Long underwear, work pants,
bibs, fleece sweater, outer shell jacket, hat. And a facemask of some sort.
Now, however, I get overheated. Its amazing what just a couple degrees
difference makes. Actually, I think this really circles back to problem one
more than the actual temperature difference in that walking is so much
slower and more difficult, you work up a sweat.
Today on my walk back from my beaches, normally about a 10 minute hike,
while struggling to pull each foot out of the snow with each step, I
realized that, more than being tired and wanting to get back to the cabin
to sit down, I was just getting bored... I was moving so slow that I would
look around thinking I must be almost there and realize I had barely gone
anywhere. Its amazing how hard you can work to get almost nowhere (like
Grad School... am I right?).
We also saw an adult leopard seal today hanging out on one of my beaches.
They are pretty ridiculous looking when you get up close. Their heads are
almost comically large while their lips get all wrinkly, making them look
like a really old lizard that wants to gum up a piece of lettuce. Except
instead of gum it up, they use their set of large, very sharp teeth. And
instead of lettuce, its a penguin, or baby seal, or adult seal for that
matter... or your face if its in the mood.
Last note before I go to bed. It will be about leopard seals because thats
the last thing we talked about here- Its very interesting (to me at least)
the dynamic of leopard seals in water vs out of the water. In water, they
are a fearsome killer. Just to clarify, I still think they are cool and
they are not mindless killers or anything, but they do kill to eat and they
eat a lot. They are also one of the only marine mammals that I know of that
has been known to intentionally kill a human in the wild. Killer whales
never have (documented at least), so keep that in mind. They have big
powerful jaws and teeth that allow them to take down even adult female or
juvenile fur seals that are not huge, but not tiny either. But when
leopards are on land, there is almost no fear of them by the tasty morsels
walking all around the Cape. Penguins walk right by without hesitation.
Fur seals allow them to share beach space with them. That being said, there
have been increasing numbers of reports here of leopard seals actually
taking pups while on land, but generally its rare. Usually the leopard
waits in the shallows for a naive pup to venture a little too far into the
deep end. So the whole relationship is different. Kevin, the other pinniped
tech here, said he has actually seen a penguin standing on top of a leopard
seal on shore! If a juice cheeseburger found its way onto my belly, I would
probably eat it, or at least take a good stab at it.
My guess is that leopards ("sea leopards" as they are often called in old
timey books, aka early 20th century even) are built for killing in the
water, so even though they could kill many things on land, they dont. Its
much easier to injure and drown your prey than to outright kill it on land
where there are rocks and pointy objects that could scratch your valuables
(like eyes...). So why chase down food that runs away when you can just
camp out and have room service deliver it to you? Thats my guess. Its still
funny to see though.
I know I said this would be short but I just thought of another comical
fact I learned yesterday about penguins (it relates to leopard seals
kinda). They are afraid of water. Makes sense to be weary about the ocean,
they get eaten there, so lining up and waiting for one brave sole to take
the plunge (or get pushed in), and then having everyone dash in at once
makes sense. However, apparently these ultra geniuses of the animal kingdom
will do the same thing with a stream that is maybe 3 feet wide and not more
than 6 inches deep. I haven't observed it first hand yet, but I am told
they will line up at the end of the stream and just wait until a large
group has amassed. Then when someone yells fire, they all run, dive, roll,
try to fly, and use any other means necessary to ford the raging river of
death where a 14' leopard seal obviously must be hiding...
Yet they will jump on top of an ACTUAL leopard seal if its on land.
Freakin' penguins...
sidetracked. When your brain is spent, your train of thought if more like
the little engine who could. Except he doesnt always make it over the
hill...
We are in the heart of our perinatal season. This basically means "the time
when moms have pups." Median pupping occured somewhere around today,
meaning the maximum number of pups being born happened maybe today or
yesterday. One of my beaches has around 150 pups on it alone. The sad thing
is that 10 years ago, there were something like 3 times as many pups on
these beaches. There used to be puppies roaming around the deck of our
cabin all the time, now we will be lucky if any wander by (although this
isnt all bad, I'm told that trying to sleep while a batch of pups have
wrestling matches and races around the building can be a bit difficult).
So the moral of the story is, we have been working hard to retrieve tags
that overwintered here (remember, its summer here now), put out new tags to
monitor behavior over the summer, and just generally keep track of who is
who on the beaches. Its been mostly 8-12 hour days, and those 8 hour ones
were primarily because the weather sucked and was snowing/raining on us.
It has also been slightly warmer recently, which seems awesome at first but
causes 3 main problems: 1) The snow on the ground turns soft and slushy,
meaning each step you take is like russian roulette of am I going to find
firm ground or sink to my knees. In this case though, there are 5 bullets
and one blank, so even when you win, you think you're going to lose and it
ends up being just as hard to walk. 2) Instead of just snowing all the
time, now it sometimes decides to rain, or sleet, or some weird combo of
all 3. Snow is generally relatively dry. Rain is not. Rain is wet, about as
wet as it comes. I'm told that rainy and overcast is more "typical Cape
Shirreff weather." Joy. And 3) I have finally aclimated/ figured out what
clothing to wear to keep myself warm here. Long underwear, work pants,
bibs, fleece sweater, outer shell jacket, hat. And a facemask of some sort.
Now, however, I get overheated. Its amazing what just a couple degrees
difference makes. Actually, I think this really circles back to problem one
more than the actual temperature difference in that walking is so much
slower and more difficult, you work up a sweat.
Today on my walk back from my beaches, normally about a 10 minute hike,
while struggling to pull each foot out of the snow with each step, I
realized that, more than being tired and wanting to get back to the cabin
to sit down, I was just getting bored... I was moving so slow that I would
look around thinking I must be almost there and realize I had barely gone
anywhere. Its amazing how hard you can work to get almost nowhere (like
Grad School... am I right?).
We also saw an adult leopard seal today hanging out on one of my beaches.
They are pretty ridiculous looking when you get up close. Their heads are
almost comically large while their lips get all wrinkly, making them look
like a really old lizard that wants to gum up a piece of lettuce. Except
instead of gum it up, they use their set of large, very sharp teeth. And
instead of lettuce, its a penguin, or baby seal, or adult seal for that
matter... or your face if its in the mood.
Last note before I go to bed. It will be about leopard seals because thats
the last thing we talked about here- Its very interesting (to me at least)
the dynamic of leopard seals in water vs out of the water. In water, they
are a fearsome killer. Just to clarify, I still think they are cool and
they are not mindless killers or anything, but they do kill to eat and they
eat a lot. They are also one of the only marine mammals that I know of that
has been known to intentionally kill a human in the wild. Killer whales
never have (documented at least), so keep that in mind. They have big
powerful jaws and teeth that allow them to take down even adult female or
juvenile fur seals that are not huge, but not tiny either. But when
leopards are on land, there is almost no fear of them by the tasty morsels
walking all around the Cape. Penguins walk right by without hesitation.
Fur seals allow them to share beach space with them. That being said, there
have been increasing numbers of reports here of leopard seals actually
taking pups while on land, but generally its rare. Usually the leopard
waits in the shallows for a naive pup to venture a little too far into the
deep end. So the whole relationship is different. Kevin, the other pinniped
tech here, said he has actually seen a penguin standing on top of a leopard
seal on shore! If a juice cheeseburger found its way onto my belly, I would
probably eat it, or at least take a good stab at it.
My guess is that leopards ("sea leopards" as they are often called in old
timey books, aka early 20th century even) are built for killing in the
water, so even though they could kill many things on land, they dont. Its
much easier to injure and drown your prey than to outright kill it on land
where there are rocks and pointy objects that could scratch your valuables
(like eyes...). So why chase down food that runs away when you can just
camp out and have room service deliver it to you? Thats my guess. Its still
funny to see though.
I know I said this would be short but I just thought of another comical
fact I learned yesterday about penguins (it relates to leopard seals
kinda). They are afraid of water. Makes sense to be weary about the ocean,
they get eaten there, so lining up and waiting for one brave sole to take
the plunge (or get pushed in), and then having everyone dash in at once
makes sense. However, apparently these ultra geniuses of the animal kingdom
will do the same thing with a stream that is maybe 3 feet wide and not more
than 6 inches deep. I haven't observed it first hand yet, but I am told
they will line up at the end of the stream and just wait until a large
group has amassed. Then when someone yells fire, they all run, dive, roll,
try to fly, and use any other means necessary to ford the raging river of
death where a 14' leopard seal obviously must be hiding...
Yet they will jump on top of an ACTUAL leopard seal if its on land.
Freakin' penguins...
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Brief Post Turkey Updates
These last two days have been very long with a lot of work, so I am
reasonably exhausted, so I am going to keep this short (actually short, I
feel like I usually tell myself these will be short then they suddenly get
all philosophical or something).
Friday was the first day I actually got to hold a penguin. It was pretty
exciting, kind of a life bucket list check mark there. I will say this
about penguins though- they have evolved to live in some of the harshest
environments possible. By losing their ability to fly they can swim and
dive to depths people can only dream of. Their little legs carry them for
miles across ice and snow and up extremely steep hills to get to their
breeding colonies, where they deliver relatively fresh fish to their young.
But man are they dumb. Evolution has sculpted their bodies to fit their
needs, but it definitely skipped a step moulding whats inside those goofy
little heads. As much as I try to ignore it, the fact remains, they are
still just stupid birds (sorry birders, I'm trying, I really am).
Penguins seem to have about 3 driving forces. Eat, collect rocks for the
nest, and sit on eggs. Notice I dont say produce young or reproduce,
because may of them fail at that little step. There are nests where the
eggs have been laid directly on a sharp rock and cracked. Nests where the
parents sitting on the egg in the snow have melted the snow down to where
the bird can barely see out of its little hole and the eggs are starting to
float away under the snow around it. Sometimes they try to steal each
others eggs, but less as a parental instinct and more because they think
it would look good with the rocks they have adorned their divot in the snow
with. Which comes to another interesting/ funny/ kind of sad behavior of
the penguin. Plenty of people have heard oh the male brings a female a
pebble and if she likes it, they bond, and mate, and raise offspring blah
blah blah. Maybe I just watched Good Luck Chuck too many times (mostly for
Jessica Alba, lets be honest). I dont actually know if thats true, but what
I do know is they incessantly collect rocks to make their nests out of. Its
kind of cute, and it gives truer meaning to the term "penguin mines" that
we call the northern tip of Cape Shirreff where all the penguin colonies
are.
That being said, they arent all stoic birds tirelessly collecting rocks to
protect their young and impress their mates. A good number of birds have
figured out, why walk all the way over there and search for just the right
pebble when I can just sit here and wait for my neighbor to not look and
steal his. It happens almost constantly. The work I was helping with was to
weigh male-female pairs and their first egg laid. This involved removing
birds (very temporarily) from their nests. Usually we tried to only remove
one bird at a time and give them a chance to have the mate there to take
over nest guarding duties, aka sitting on a rock stuffed inside a blue
latex glove that we used as a dummy for their white round egg... However,
despite our best efforts, there was inevitably some times where neither
bird was on its nest. Fittingly, we were doing this work on Black Friday,
because it became a mad dash to raid and loot the empty nest. Sometimes
with up to 4 or 5 birds standing around picking the best rocks (including,
at times, the one in the latex glove). At one point, a male we had just
released back to his nest was standing in his own nest, stealing pebbles,
then looking around trying to find his nest. His instinct to steal rocks
temporarily overpowered his instinct to sit on any egg-ish shaped object IN
HIS NEST. Silly birds. Its also pretty entertaining releasing them after
you are done working them up because they are flailing and slapping and
biting (naturally), but if you hold them above their nest and their egg for
about 10 seconds, they eventually see the egg and instinct kicks in and
they just calm down, waddle over, do their little mate head bobbing dance
(occasionally they do this to the egg even without their mate there), and
sit down. And its not like a oh they gave me back my egg, thank goodness,
everything is ok, I'm going to calm down. No. Its a ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK
ooo look an egg. Or at least some pebbles to steal.
Ok enough about penguins (I knew this wouldn't be quick).
In other news, I also held my first fur seal pup today (saturday). They
continue to be some of the cutest animals I have ever seen or worked with.
They have little bug eyes and kind of raccoony faces, with ultra soft fur,
and flippers they still haven't quite learned how to use yet. When you pick
them up, they often just keep waving those flippers around and look like
they are trying to take off out of your arms. The one I held was the
sweetest one of the day. It was only about a day and a half old. I think it
hadn't quite learned how to bite yet, so it kind of just hung out in our
arms. The first pup we caught today (we worked on 4 mom-pup pairs) was a
bit of a devil and did its tiny growl and tried to bite a lot, but after
about 5 minutes it got tired and fell asleep in McKenzie's arms. Could be
worse. Usually during these captures we get help from the penguin
biologists (McKenzie and Tony), who work on the pup as we work on the mom.
We recovered 4 GLS tags (see earlier posts) and 2 time-depth recorders,
which I am excited to see the data from. The plan is to recover another TDR
tomorrow. So far we have gotten 3 TDRS back and only lost one, which is
pretty good numbers considering they were deployed (epoxied onto the seals'
backs) in March.
Now I really am going to end it. Hopefully everyone had a good
Thanksgiving. I'm sorry I couldnt say it to each of you individually. We
are finally getting some nicer weather (it was 1C/~33F today!). The problem
now is the snow is starting to melt so walking around SUCKS. You sink to
your knees in places and just have to keep going. I did have some fun
skiing and am getting to the point where I can kind of turn going down
hills, so thats good. And just to be clear, we use telemark skis so its
harder than you might think!
K now I'm really done.
I need dinner ideas! Send some recipes, or leave them in the comments below
if you can figure out how to do so.
reasonably exhausted, so I am going to keep this short (actually short, I
feel like I usually tell myself these will be short then they suddenly get
all philosophical or something).
Friday was the first day I actually got to hold a penguin. It was pretty
exciting, kind of a life bucket list check mark there. I will say this
about penguins though- they have evolved to live in some of the harshest
environments possible. By losing their ability to fly they can swim and
dive to depths people can only dream of. Their little legs carry them for
miles across ice and snow and up extremely steep hills to get to their
breeding colonies, where they deliver relatively fresh fish to their young.
But man are they dumb. Evolution has sculpted their bodies to fit their
needs, but it definitely skipped a step moulding whats inside those goofy
little heads. As much as I try to ignore it, the fact remains, they are
still just stupid birds (sorry birders, I'm trying, I really am).
Penguins seem to have about 3 driving forces. Eat, collect rocks for the
nest, and sit on eggs. Notice I dont say produce young or reproduce,
because may of them fail at that little step. There are nests where the
eggs have been laid directly on a sharp rock and cracked. Nests where the
parents sitting on the egg in the snow have melted the snow down to where
the bird can barely see out of its little hole and the eggs are starting to
float away under the snow around it. Sometimes they try to steal each
others eggs, but less as a parental instinct and more because they think
it would look good with the rocks they have adorned their divot in the snow
with. Which comes to another interesting/ funny/ kind of sad behavior of
the penguin. Plenty of people have heard oh the male brings a female a
pebble and if she likes it, they bond, and mate, and raise offspring blah
blah blah. Maybe I just watched Good Luck Chuck too many times (mostly for
Jessica Alba, lets be honest). I dont actually know if thats true, but what
I do know is they incessantly collect rocks to make their nests out of. Its
kind of cute, and it gives truer meaning to the term "penguin mines" that
we call the northern tip of Cape Shirreff where all the penguin colonies
are.
That being said, they arent all stoic birds tirelessly collecting rocks to
protect their young and impress their mates. A good number of birds have
figured out, why walk all the way over there and search for just the right
pebble when I can just sit here and wait for my neighbor to not look and
steal his. It happens almost constantly. The work I was helping with was to
weigh male-female pairs and their first egg laid. This involved removing
birds (very temporarily) from their nests. Usually we tried to only remove
one bird at a time and give them a chance to have the mate there to take
over nest guarding duties, aka sitting on a rock stuffed inside a blue
latex glove that we used as a dummy for their white round egg... However,
despite our best efforts, there was inevitably some times where neither
bird was on its nest. Fittingly, we were doing this work on Black Friday,
because it became a mad dash to raid and loot the empty nest. Sometimes
with up to 4 or 5 birds standing around picking the best rocks (including,
at times, the one in the latex glove). At one point, a male we had just
released back to his nest was standing in his own nest, stealing pebbles,
then looking around trying to find his nest. His instinct to steal rocks
temporarily overpowered his instinct to sit on any egg-ish shaped object IN
HIS NEST. Silly birds. Its also pretty entertaining releasing them after
you are done working them up because they are flailing and slapping and
biting (naturally), but if you hold them above their nest and their egg for
about 10 seconds, they eventually see the egg and instinct kicks in and
they just calm down, waddle over, do their little mate head bobbing dance
(occasionally they do this to the egg even without their mate there), and
sit down. And its not like a oh they gave me back my egg, thank goodness,
everything is ok, I'm going to calm down. No. Its a ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK
ooo look an egg. Or at least some pebbles to steal.
Ok enough about penguins (I knew this wouldn't be quick).
In other news, I also held my first fur seal pup today (saturday). They
continue to be some of the cutest animals I have ever seen or worked with.
They have little bug eyes and kind of raccoony faces, with ultra soft fur,
and flippers they still haven't quite learned how to use yet. When you pick
them up, they often just keep waving those flippers around and look like
they are trying to take off out of your arms. The one I held was the
sweetest one of the day. It was only about a day and a half old. I think it
hadn't quite learned how to bite yet, so it kind of just hung out in our
arms. The first pup we caught today (we worked on 4 mom-pup pairs) was a
bit of a devil and did its tiny growl and tried to bite a lot, but after
about 5 minutes it got tired and fell asleep in McKenzie's arms. Could be
worse. Usually during these captures we get help from the penguin
biologists (McKenzie and Tony), who work on the pup as we work on the mom.
We recovered 4 GLS tags (see earlier posts) and 2 time-depth recorders,
which I am excited to see the data from. The plan is to recover another TDR
tomorrow. So far we have gotten 3 TDRS back and only lost one, which is
pretty good numbers considering they were deployed (epoxied onto the seals'
backs) in March.
Now I really am going to end it. Hopefully everyone had a good
Thanksgiving. I'm sorry I couldnt say it to each of you individually. We
are finally getting some nicer weather (it was 1C/~33F today!). The problem
now is the snow is starting to melt so walking around SUCKS. You sink to
your knees in places and just have to keep going. I did have some fun
skiing and am getting to the point where I can kind of turn going down
hills, so thats good. And just to be clear, we use telemark skis so its
harder than you might think!
K now I'm really done.
I need dinner ideas! Send some recipes, or leave them in the comments below
if you can figure out how to do so.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
We are preppring 2 (smallish) turkeys down here to cook in our brand new
smoker. There will also be mashed potatos, green beans with panchetta
(since there was some confusion and we got that instead of bacon), pecan
pie, pumpkin pie, pisco sours (drinks native to peru and chile), and I'm
sure lots more food. Our resident chilean also is making sopapillas
(spelling?). Not sure what they are exactly but I'm sure a few of you
might...
We did our second capture the other day, this time on a female with a pup.
It was pretty exciting and the pup was freakin adorable. It was large, but
still only weighed about 7kg (maybe 16 lbs). Somehow those little guys
withstand subfreezing temperatures with gale force winds. We recovered
whats called a GLS tag. I want to say GLS stands for Global Location Sensor
or something like that. I feel like I have already mentioned
these, but basically, its this tiny tag that is smaller than a die. We can
clip it onto a flipper (for penguins they attach it to their leg) and the
sensor calculates sunrise and sunset each day and uses that to calculate
approximate lat/long of the animal. Even with how small they are, they can
work for over a year. The only tricky part is you have to get them back,
but with animals like fur seals and penguins that come back to the same
area year after year, its not too hard. They are also relatively cheap, so
these tags are awesome tools that provide a ton of data with relative easy
for relatively cheap.
In other news, wednesday finally showed a break in some extremely bad
weather we had been having for a couple days. Monday we actually called an
official storm day because it was consistently blowing over 40 mph with
gusts up to 59 (highest I saw at least). Tuesday wasn't much better, but it
was only in the 30s with gusts to the 40s. 40 is our official "danger"
cutoff, though I will tell you the difference between 39mph and 41mph is
pretty minimal...
Because of the nice weather we had an explosion of female fur seals and
pups showing up. One of my survey beaches went from having about 7 females
to having closer to 15, now with at least 7 pups and there will probably be
more when I go back out today to check on them all. Median pupping is
usually around Dec 7, so we expect to get a lot more in the next couple
weeks. This will keep us very busy catching animals. Oh I also learned how
to milk a female fur seal yesterday! We take a small milk sample to test
for persistant organic pollutants and plastics, as well as to see fat
content and other things. These are very important to see not only the
health of the seal, but to analyze what she is passing on to her pup.
Ok thats it for now, more to follow soon. We have a busy day of cooking and
doing dishes ahead of us here.
Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy the food and family around you, or at least make
the best of wherever you are.
We are preppring 2 (smallish) turkeys down here to cook in our brand new
smoker. There will also be mashed potatos, green beans with panchetta
(since there was some confusion and we got that instead of bacon), pecan
pie, pumpkin pie, pisco sours (drinks native to peru and chile), and I'm
sure lots more food. Our resident chilean also is making sopapillas
(spelling?). Not sure what they are exactly but I'm sure a few of you
might...
We did our second capture the other day, this time on a female with a pup.
It was pretty exciting and the pup was freakin adorable. It was large, but
still only weighed about 7kg (maybe 16 lbs). Somehow those little guys
withstand subfreezing temperatures with gale force winds. We recovered
whats called a GLS tag. I want to say GLS stands for Global Location Sensor
or something like that. I feel like I have already mentioned
these, but basically, its this tiny tag that is smaller than a die. We can
clip it onto a flipper (for penguins they attach it to their leg) and the
sensor calculates sunrise and sunset each day and uses that to calculate
approximate lat/long of the animal. Even with how small they are, they can
work for over a year. The only tricky part is you have to get them back,
but with animals like fur seals and penguins that come back to the same
area year after year, its not too hard. They are also relatively cheap, so
these tags are awesome tools that provide a ton of data with relative easy
for relatively cheap.
In other news, wednesday finally showed a break in some extremely bad
weather we had been having for a couple days. Monday we actually called an
official storm day because it was consistently blowing over 40 mph with
gusts up to 59 (highest I saw at least). Tuesday wasn't much better, but it
was only in the 30s with gusts to the 40s. 40 is our official "danger"
cutoff, though I will tell you the difference between 39mph and 41mph is
pretty minimal...
Because of the nice weather we had an explosion of female fur seals and
pups showing up. One of my survey beaches went from having about 7 females
to having closer to 15, now with at least 7 pups and there will probably be
more when I go back out today to check on them all. Median pupping is
usually around Dec 7, so we expect to get a lot more in the next couple
weeks. This will keep us very busy catching animals. Oh I also learned how
to milk a female fur seal yesterday! We take a small milk sample to test
for persistant organic pollutants and plastics, as well as to see fat
content and other things. These are very important to see not only the
health of the seal, but to analyze what she is passing on to her pup.
Ok thats it for now, more to follow soon. We have a busy day of cooking and
doing dishes ahead of us here.
Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy the food and family around you, or at least make
the best of wherever you are.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
The Puppies Are Coming!
So after our first fur seal pup was born last week (earlier than usual), we
have had a bit of a lull in births. It is actually a good thing probably,
since the weather has been less than pleasant. Tonight (friday night) is
probably the nicest it has been all week at 31F with only 6mph winds and no
snow coming down. It did snow off and on all day, but with less wind (less
being very relative, it was only in the teens and low 20s mph) it is not
too bad to deal with at this point. I have been adjusting to the cold and
can at least run out to pee or get food from the supply hut in just a long
sleeve shirt if needed, though much longer and it does still get pretty
cold...
Anyway, back to the pups. Our first one that was born just over a week ago
we actually though did not make it through the storms. We had not seen it
with its mother in several days, which were during the worst of the
blizzard. HOWEVER, just yesterday Kevin (another one of the pinniped people
here) found the pup, still alive, down the beach a little ways cuddling
with a block of ice. He returned the pup to its mom and they immediately
reunited, calling to each other, and rubbing and what not. We walked by
about an hour later and the little girls belly looked ready to pop it was
so full of milk. She probably had not eaten in several days.
I guess this brings up a little bit of a controversy when you live and work
in a place like this. Most people probably would not question the story I
have just told you, but some might, biologists especially. By returning the
pup to its mom Kevin directly changed the outcome of that animals life.
Typically biologists are supposed to remain at a distance from the things
they study. It can be extremely challenging at times, especially when their
subjects are so damn cute. There are people that would argue we should have
let nature take its course and let the pup die. In many ways they might be
right. Natural selection can be cruel, but it tends to favor those most
suited for the current environment. You could argue that, since this female
gave birth so early, her pup was subjected to the storm that other pups
avoided by being born late. If this pup survives, it may tend to give birth
earlier than other females, thus creating a positive feedback that may or
may not be beneficial to the species. At least that is usually the
arguement people make. Just like how saving a sick animal can weaken a
population as a whole and potentially add diseases to the group that
otherwise would have been weeded out.
That being said, when you are faced with a moral dilemna like that, it is
near impossible to say no, especially in a place like this. I dont
think have talked too much about the fur seals themselves we are studying
here so far. This island was recolonized by fur seals I believe in the 50s
or 60s. Their numbers had been driven way down by humans hunting them for
fur, meat, and over competition for food and whatever else people blame
animals for. They reached a peak abundance here in 2002 and 2003 when the
Cape was crawling with them. However, since then we have seen a decrease of
about 10% each year and it continues to get worse. Leopard seal populations
responded to the increase in fur seals (among several factors probably) and
are the main cause of death of these pups. Each year, the researchers here
will be subject to watching 60-90% of the pups they observe born and raised
die here before they ever go for their first foraging trip. It is the harsh
reality of the natural world and this is a place where fur seals are losing
the battle. It is the reason that penguins march by our camp everyday,
trekking probably over a mile, maybe more, instead of swimming around the
shallow bays and coves to get to their colonies from their hunting grounds.
Around here, leopard seals rule supreme.
So again, I will say I stand behind moving the pup and I would have done it
myself if I were there. We are here to study this group of animals, but I
think we are all hoping it recovers and survives. The pup was not sick or
weak, it got separated from its mother during a heavy storm. It may have
even found its way back eventually as the weather got nicer and calls could
be heard further away. And while I do not want to alter the breeding
behavior of animals here, climate change is in full effect here. Krill
populaitons have moved and gotten smaller (mostly the krill themselves are
smaller), peak pupping time actually has been getting earlier and earlier
for the fur seals. Contrary to most places in the world, Antarctica has
actually been getting colder these last couple years, but it doesnt mean
that the global changes will not directly affect the animals. So maybe its
good to have a few outliers, because if things do change suddenly (sudden
on an evolutionary scale), it is usually these outliers that become the
last hope of a species. If every single salmon returned to the stream it
was born in, or every sea turtle to the beach it hatched on, salmon and
turtles could never colonize new streams and beaches. If you put a damn on
that river or a hotel on the beach, you could wipe out a species. There is
a far greater than not chance that pup will not survive to its first
birthday, I say giving it a little boost early on is not the worst thing in
the world.
On a happier note, the weather seems to be lessening up a little and with
it more females have begun arriving and pupping. I now have 2 pups on my
beaches and was actually informed another was born after I had completed my
surveys. These tiny little things look like kittens with flippers and have
an adorable little trilly purr call back and forth with their mothers.
Pretty soon the beaches will be littered with them and then the real work
for us begins. We may not be saving every single one, but hopefully our
work here informs people on what is happening to their population and
allows managers to make decesions that will one day protect this species
here, and throughout the Antarctic.
have had a bit of a lull in births. It is actually a good thing probably,
since the weather has been less than pleasant. Tonight (friday night) is
probably the nicest it has been all week at 31F with only 6mph winds and no
snow coming down. It did snow off and on all day, but with less wind (less
being very relative, it was only in the teens and low 20s mph) it is not
too bad to deal with at this point. I have been adjusting to the cold and
can at least run out to pee or get food from the supply hut in just a long
sleeve shirt if needed, though much longer and it does still get pretty
cold...
Anyway, back to the pups. Our first one that was born just over a week ago
we actually though did not make it through the storms. We had not seen it
with its mother in several days, which were during the worst of the
blizzard. HOWEVER, just yesterday Kevin (another one of the pinniped people
here) found the pup, still alive, down the beach a little ways cuddling
with a block of ice. He returned the pup to its mom and they immediately
reunited, calling to each other, and rubbing and what not. We walked by
about an hour later and the little girls belly looked ready to pop it was
so full of milk. She probably had not eaten in several days.
I guess this brings up a little bit of a controversy when you live and work
in a place like this. Most people probably would not question the story I
have just told you, but some might, biologists especially. By returning the
pup to its mom Kevin directly changed the outcome of that animals life.
Typically biologists are supposed to remain at a distance from the things
they study. It can be extremely challenging at times, especially when their
subjects are so damn cute. There are people that would argue we should have
let nature take its course and let the pup die. In many ways they might be
right. Natural selection can be cruel, but it tends to favor those most
suited for the current environment. You could argue that, since this female
gave birth so early, her pup was subjected to the storm that other pups
avoided by being born late. If this pup survives, it may tend to give birth
earlier than other females, thus creating a positive feedback that may or
may not be beneficial to the species. At least that is usually the
arguement people make. Just like how saving a sick animal can weaken a
population as a whole and potentially add diseases to the group that
otherwise would have been weeded out.
That being said, when you are faced with a moral dilemna like that, it is
near impossible to say no, especially in a place like this. I dont
think have talked too much about the fur seals themselves we are studying
here so far. This island was recolonized by fur seals I believe in the 50s
or 60s. Their numbers had been driven way down by humans hunting them for
fur, meat, and over competition for food and whatever else people blame
animals for. They reached a peak abundance here in 2002 and 2003 when the
Cape was crawling with them. However, since then we have seen a decrease of
about 10% each year and it continues to get worse. Leopard seal populations
responded to the increase in fur seals (among several factors probably) and
are the main cause of death of these pups. Each year, the researchers here
will be subject to watching 60-90% of the pups they observe born and raised
die here before they ever go for their first foraging trip. It is the harsh
reality of the natural world and this is a place where fur seals are losing
the battle. It is the reason that penguins march by our camp everyday,
trekking probably over a mile, maybe more, instead of swimming around the
shallow bays and coves to get to their colonies from their hunting grounds.
Around here, leopard seals rule supreme.
So again, I will say I stand behind moving the pup and I would have done it
myself if I were there. We are here to study this group of animals, but I
think we are all hoping it recovers and survives. The pup was not sick or
weak, it got separated from its mother during a heavy storm. It may have
even found its way back eventually as the weather got nicer and calls could
be heard further away. And while I do not want to alter the breeding
behavior of animals here, climate change is in full effect here. Krill
populaitons have moved and gotten smaller (mostly the krill themselves are
smaller), peak pupping time actually has been getting earlier and earlier
for the fur seals. Contrary to most places in the world, Antarctica has
actually been getting colder these last couple years, but it doesnt mean
that the global changes will not directly affect the animals. So maybe its
good to have a few outliers, because if things do change suddenly (sudden
on an evolutionary scale), it is usually these outliers that become the
last hope of a species. If every single salmon returned to the stream it
was born in, or every sea turtle to the beach it hatched on, salmon and
turtles could never colonize new streams and beaches. If you put a damn on
that river or a hotel on the beach, you could wipe out a species. There is
a far greater than not chance that pup will not survive to its first
birthday, I say giving it a little boost early on is not the worst thing in
the world.
On a happier note, the weather seems to be lessening up a little and with
it more females have begun arriving and pupping. I now have 2 pups on my
beaches and was actually informed another was born after I had completed my
surveys. These tiny little things look like kittens with flippers and have
an adorable little trilly purr call back and forth with their mothers.
Pretty soon the beaches will be littered with them and then the real work
for us begins. We may not be saving every single one, but hopefully our
work here informs people on what is happening to their population and
allows managers to make decesions that will one day protect this species
here, and throughout the Antarctic.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Quick Updates
First off, my computer still seems to be dead. Sad. RIP little macbook.
In warmer news, we are currently in day 2 of a bit of a blizzard/ storm
that has engulfed us pretty hard. I use the term "warmer news" because
maybe it will make you all feel warmer. I am, in fact, quite cold. It could
be worse, our cabin is pretty well insulated and the little heater keeps in
usually in the upper 50s most of the day. As I write this though, its 11am
and is currently 24F outside with 33+mph winds. When you combine those, the
windchill is down to -14F (that -24C for any non-Americans out there).
Thats cold, especially when the wind plays such a large part in it. Just
bitter cold is one thing- jackets, gloves, hats can help with that- but the
wind just finds its way into every unprotected nook and cranny on your
body.
To be honest, I was actually just fine outside from the next down, other
than maybe my fingertips and the occasional gust that finds its way down
your neckline. The problem is usually your face. While doing my rounds this
morning, I had on a beanie, goggles, and a relatively thin facemask (a
Buff for anyone interested). Having a facemask is a huge asset when the
wind kicks up, even a thin one will protect your skin from the worst
effects. The problem with them, however, is they trap moisture from your
breath. While normally this just provides an uncomfortable warm, sticky
feeling, with wind and cold like this, it can actually start to freeze
against your face. Its days like this that I am happy I have a bit of
facial hair to help provide a buffer, though I may have pulled a couple
beard hairs out by accident that had frozen to my facemask on my walk
back...
Another joy/ character building life experience blah blah blah that we have
been dealing with here is the constant build up of snow. Once again, I do
have a new respect for people who live in snowy climates. You definitely
learn a lesson in futility when you are shovelling a path and either A)
everytime you toss a shovelful of snow aside, the wind brings half of it
right back on top of you or B) You do manage to shovel out a walkway, only
to return 15 minutes later to find it covered in a fresh layer of snow...
It has been snowing a lot, but I also shouldn't give the impression we get
FEET of snow everyday. We have had some good, deep powder but a lot of it
is just a reorganization of the snow that is already here. The way the
cabin is set up, we get little wind tunnels that funnel any and all
available snow to places like, right outside our back door. This means that
most mornings, whether it has snowed hard or not, you must step over a
small wall built up against the back door that can be anywhere from 1-3'
high. Also, speaking of digging out paths and doorways, many of you have
probably dug out a car or driveway. I have mentioned this before and I
respect that. But I would ask you this, how many of you dug out your
toilet? How about dug out your toilet multiple times a day? Not to mention
your toilet is a terrible smelling 4 pieces of plywood with a room on it
that can get several inches of snow inside if you leave any of the air
vents open (keeping them closed of course makes it smell even worse). Its
like a portapotty without the blue chemicals that has been left inside a
walk in freezer and you know that one of these days it will get full and it
will be your job to empty it by hand into the ocean, when you can only hope
that the winds have shifted and are no longer blowing everything straight
in your face... Character. Or something.
So enjoy whatever weather you might have. If your car seat is cold or there
is snow on your walk to work, or the guy next to you on the bus/subway
smells bad, just remember, at least you didnt have to walk through the snow
and wind just to pee. If you woke up in the middle of the night and had to
pee, it didn't take you 5 minutes to don full foul weather gear before
venturing into the cold. And you thought your toilet seat was cold... HA.
-Freezing our buns off in Antarctica (but really I'm just being dramatic)
In warmer news, we are currently in day 2 of a bit of a blizzard/ storm
that has engulfed us pretty hard. I use the term "warmer news" because
maybe it will make you all feel warmer. I am, in fact, quite cold. It could
be worse, our cabin is pretty well insulated and the little heater keeps in
usually in the upper 50s most of the day. As I write this though, its 11am
and is currently 24F outside with 33+mph winds. When you combine those, the
windchill is down to -14F (that -24C for any non-Americans out there).
Thats cold, especially when the wind plays such a large part in it. Just
bitter cold is one thing- jackets, gloves, hats can help with that- but the
wind just finds its way into every unprotected nook and cranny on your
body.
To be honest, I was actually just fine outside from the next down, other
than maybe my fingertips and the occasional gust that finds its way down
your neckline. The problem is usually your face. While doing my rounds this
morning, I had on a beanie, goggles, and a relatively thin facemask (a
Buff for anyone interested). Having a facemask is a huge asset when the
wind kicks up, even a thin one will protect your skin from the worst
effects. The problem with them, however, is they trap moisture from your
breath. While normally this just provides an uncomfortable warm, sticky
feeling, with wind and cold like this, it can actually start to freeze
against your face. Its days like this that I am happy I have a bit of
facial hair to help provide a buffer, though I may have pulled a couple
beard hairs out by accident that had frozen to my facemask on my walk
back...
Another joy/ character building life experience blah blah blah that we have
been dealing with here is the constant build up of snow. Once again, I do
have a new respect for people who live in snowy climates. You definitely
learn a lesson in futility when you are shovelling a path and either A)
everytime you toss a shovelful of snow aside, the wind brings half of it
right back on top of you or B) You do manage to shovel out a walkway, only
to return 15 minutes later to find it covered in a fresh layer of snow...
It has been snowing a lot, but I also shouldn't give the impression we get
FEET of snow everyday. We have had some good, deep powder but a lot of it
is just a reorganization of the snow that is already here. The way the
cabin is set up, we get little wind tunnels that funnel any and all
available snow to places like, right outside our back door. This means that
most mornings, whether it has snowed hard or not, you must step over a
small wall built up against the back door that can be anywhere from 1-3'
high. Also, speaking of digging out paths and doorways, many of you have
probably dug out a car or driveway. I have mentioned this before and I
respect that. But I would ask you this, how many of you dug out your
toilet? How about dug out your toilet multiple times a day? Not to mention
your toilet is a terrible smelling 4 pieces of plywood with a room on it
that can get several inches of snow inside if you leave any of the air
vents open (keeping them closed of course makes it smell even worse). Its
like a portapotty without the blue chemicals that has been left inside a
walk in freezer and you know that one of these days it will get full and it
will be your job to empty it by hand into the ocean, when you can only hope
that the winds have shifted and are no longer blowing everything straight
in your face... Character. Or something.
So enjoy whatever weather you might have. If your car seat is cold or there
is snow on your walk to work, or the guy next to you on the bus/subway
smells bad, just remember, at least you didnt have to walk through the snow
and wind just to pee. If you woke up in the middle of the night and had to
pee, it didn't take you 5 minutes to don full foul weather gear before
venturing into the cold. And you thought your toilet seat was cold... HA.
-Freezing our buns off in Antarctica (but really I'm just being dramatic)
Monday, November 17, 2014
Good and bad news
Hello again,
As the title says I have lots of good news and a little bad news. The bad
news first- my computer hard drive may have just crashed in what I assume
is an irreparable manner. It has been reduced to a flashing folder icon
with a question mark in it. It kind of has a hint of mocking to it, like
shouldn't there be a folder or something here? You tell me computer, you
messed yourself up, you died, you tell me whats wrong. As I have said many
times when my internet (particularly in Humboldt) would die or other piece
of technology die- We can put a remote control car on Mars or put a man on
the moon (50 years ago) but we can't get a damn steady internet connection
(or now, a computer that works for more than a few years). Seriously
silicon valley, instead of making tinier and tinier chips so my computer
can weigh less than the paper its replacing, how about you make a computer
that lasts as long as my car at least (and yes I realize it is not
profitable to make things that actually last and you therefore design
technology to fail over time).
Rant over, the downside is this makes it more difficult for me to write
long, well-thought posts. I had been taking to writing them from the
privacy of my bunk at night when I could take the time to try to make them
seem witty or intelligent without actually saying anything, you know, the
fox news approach. However, now I will have to resort to just sitting at
the communal computer and writing whatever pops into my head (the fox news
field reporter approach).
So on to the good news:
We had our first fur seal pup of the season born a few days ago! She is
super cute and super tiny. I had been told they were small but had not
realized just how small that is. It looks like a small cat with flippers
and a weirdly shaped head. The poor little thing is currently sitting on a
beach, hopefully tucked VERY close to mom because it is about 26F outside
with winds reaching 35 mph. Somehow these little things survive this frigid
cold, only more often than not to succumb to the cold bite of Jack Leopard
Seal (instead of Jack Frost...). Either way, she is here and hopefully it
means we will be getting lots more pups soon. This pup actually arrived
very early considering we only have one other female on the beaches and she
isnt even pregnant, but still. Of course, once the others do arrive, my day
will get a whole lot busier.
We usually work on pups when they are only 1-3 days old. We like to mark
some individuals and measure how big they are before their mom takes her
first trip back to sea to feed, leaving the little one alone on the beach.
It takes a little teachwork and coordination to distract both mom and
whichever bull holds the territory she is in to swoop up the pup quickly,
but I guess we will get very good at it and the people I am working with
have years of experience. We do work fast with minimal disturbance to the
animals and mom and pup are reunited quickly with no lasting effects (mom
doesnt reject her baby if it smells funny or anything weird like that).
Many of the animals on our study beaches are so used to our presence anyway
that they barely even lift their head when we walk by and I am told that
even many of the territorial males have learned that if we catch one of
their ladies, we always bring them back.
We also had our first chinstrap penguin egg laid today. I haven't seen it
myself but I am told there will be many more soon. I will get to work with
the penguins a lot in January when the chicks are hatching. Until then, I
am holding on to my child-like innocence that penguins, unlike every other
bird ever, are gentle and loving and will come hang out with me if given
enough time to get used to my affections. If Youtube has taught me
anything, its that this is exactly the case ALWAYS. Unfortunately, the
naysayer "penguin biologists" seem to think that penguins are kind of
jerks. Evolution has given them extremely strong wings. While you might
think its to allow them to, I dunno, swim or fish or balance or survive in
some way, you would be wrong. Their wings are strong so they can slap the
hell out of each other all day long, as well as any human who might try to
get too close. Again, I have not witnessed this myself so I still regard it
as hearsay, but APPARENTLY its not uncommon for penguins to slap
their rivals, slap their mates, slap chick (particularly OTHER birds'
chicks), slap people, slap the ground, slap themselves... basically just
slap anything they can. We have one penguin here who is known by the
penguineros (penguin biologists) because he is particularly easy to spot.
In most penguin colonies, the birds are spaced maybe a foot or two apart.
They get into tussles, slap, bite, and sometimes it even leaves one or both
birds bloody from the battle, but they move on. This one bird has a halo
around him of several feet. No birds hangout inside that halo because he
will attack them. He is a man alone on an island (that he created)
surrounded by peers. He rarely has a mate, probably serves him right.
In other news, we had a crab-eater seal briefly stop by today (sunday) and
hang out for a little while outside our camp. He didn't mind me crawling
right up to him on my belly to snap some close up photos (its these photos
I was sorting when my computer died, luckily I had not deleted some of my
photos from here off the camera. Many are gone though...). We have also
continued to see weddell and elephant seals around the island. Not much by
way of leopard seals since that one young male, but they will show up in
bunches as more baby fur seals pop out.
Thats it for now. I made a well received homemade mac n cheese (courtesy of
my mom) for dinner the other night. Sidenote for anyone cooking for 6
hungry field biologists- cute the number of servings a recipe says it
produces in half at least. We polished off 1 lb of pasta with nearly 2 lbs
of cheese, brocolli, panchetta, and a side salad with ease. Luckily I had
also made some of my mom's famous chocolate chip cookies (with dough to
pick at over the next couple days) to solidify everyone for the night.
If anyone wants to get in touch with me, please leave a comment and I will
try to make sure my information gets passed your way (email here is very
restricted so I do not want to just broadcast it out just yet).
Thanks for reading, hope everyone stays warm and dry and appreciates the
beauty and power (for better or for worse) of the computer you are reading
this on...
As the title says I have lots of good news and a little bad news. The bad
news first- my computer hard drive may have just crashed in what I assume
is an irreparable manner. It has been reduced to a flashing folder icon
with a question mark in it. It kind of has a hint of mocking to it, like
shouldn't there be a folder or something here? You tell me computer, you
messed yourself up, you died, you tell me whats wrong. As I have said many
times when my internet (particularly in Humboldt) would die or other piece
of technology die- We can put a remote control car on Mars or put a man on
the moon (50 years ago) but we can't get a damn steady internet connection
(or now, a computer that works for more than a few years). Seriously
silicon valley, instead of making tinier and tinier chips so my computer
can weigh less than the paper its replacing, how about you make a computer
that lasts as long as my car at least (and yes I realize it is not
profitable to make things that actually last and you therefore design
technology to fail over time).
Rant over, the downside is this makes it more difficult for me to write
long, well-thought posts. I had been taking to writing them from the
privacy of my bunk at night when I could take the time to try to make them
seem witty or intelligent without actually saying anything, you know, the
fox news approach. However, now I will have to resort to just sitting at
the communal computer and writing whatever pops into my head (the fox news
field reporter approach).
So on to the good news:
We had our first fur seal pup of the season born a few days ago! She is
super cute and super tiny. I had been told they were small but had not
realized just how small that is. It looks like a small cat with flippers
and a weirdly shaped head. The poor little thing is currently sitting on a
beach, hopefully tucked VERY close to mom because it is about 26F outside
with winds reaching 35 mph. Somehow these little things survive this frigid
cold, only more often than not to succumb to the cold bite of Jack Leopard
Seal (instead of Jack Frost...). Either way, she is here and hopefully it
means we will be getting lots more pups soon. This pup actually arrived
very early considering we only have one other female on the beaches and she
isnt even pregnant, but still. Of course, once the others do arrive, my day
will get a whole lot busier.
We usually work on pups when they are only 1-3 days old. We like to mark
some individuals and measure how big they are before their mom takes her
first trip back to sea to feed, leaving the little one alone on the beach.
It takes a little teachwork and coordination to distract both mom and
whichever bull holds the territory she is in to swoop up the pup quickly,
but I guess we will get very good at it and the people I am working with
have years of experience. We do work fast with minimal disturbance to the
animals and mom and pup are reunited quickly with no lasting effects (mom
doesnt reject her baby if it smells funny or anything weird like that).
Many of the animals on our study beaches are so used to our presence anyway
that they barely even lift their head when we walk by and I am told that
even many of the territorial males have learned that if we catch one of
their ladies, we always bring them back.
We also had our first chinstrap penguin egg laid today. I haven't seen it
myself but I am told there will be many more soon. I will get to work with
the penguins a lot in January when the chicks are hatching. Until then, I
am holding on to my child-like innocence that penguins, unlike every other
bird ever, are gentle and loving and will come hang out with me if given
enough time to get used to my affections. If Youtube has taught me
anything, its that this is exactly the case ALWAYS. Unfortunately, the
naysayer "penguin biologists" seem to think that penguins are kind of
jerks. Evolution has given them extremely strong wings. While you might
think its to allow them to, I dunno, swim or fish or balance or survive in
some way, you would be wrong. Their wings are strong so they can slap the
hell out of each other all day long, as well as any human who might try to
get too close. Again, I have not witnessed this myself so I still regard it
as hearsay, but APPARENTLY its not uncommon for penguins to slap
their rivals, slap their mates, slap chick (particularly OTHER birds'
chicks), slap people, slap the ground, slap themselves... basically just
slap anything they can. We have one penguin here who is known by the
penguineros (penguin biologists) because he is particularly easy to spot.
In most penguin colonies, the birds are spaced maybe a foot or two apart.
They get into tussles, slap, bite, and sometimes it even leaves one or both
birds bloody from the battle, but they move on. This one bird has a halo
around him of several feet. No birds hangout inside that halo because he
will attack them. He is a man alone on an island (that he created)
surrounded by peers. He rarely has a mate, probably serves him right.
In other news, we had a crab-eater seal briefly stop by today (sunday) and
hang out for a little while outside our camp. He didn't mind me crawling
right up to him on my belly to snap some close up photos (its these photos
I was sorting when my computer died, luckily I had not deleted some of my
photos from here off the camera. Many are gone though...). We have also
continued to see weddell and elephant seals around the island. Not much by
way of leopard seals since that one young male, but they will show up in
bunches as more baby fur seals pop out.
Thats it for now. I made a well received homemade mac n cheese (courtesy of
my mom) for dinner the other night. Sidenote for anyone cooking for 6
hungry field biologists- cute the number of servings a recipe says it
produces in half at least. We polished off 1 lb of pasta with nearly 2 lbs
of cheese, brocolli, panchetta, and a side salad with ease. Luckily I had
also made some of my mom's famous chocolate chip cookies (with dough to
pick at over the next couple days) to solidify everyone for the night.
If anyone wants to get in touch with me, please leave a comment and I will
try to make sure my information gets passed your way (email here is very
restricted so I do not want to just broadcast it out just yet).
Thanks for reading, hope everyone stays warm and dry and appreciates the
beauty and power (for better or for worse) of the computer you are reading
this on...
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Showers and Flurries
Mark your calendars (retrospectively), Wiley has officially taken his first
shower in Antarctica. I changed my underwear too for all of you who I know
were very concerned...
That's right, on Monday Nov 10 I took a shower. I believe Oct 30th was my
last shower before that. Its not good when you have trouble remembering you
last shower. Our shower system here actually isn't too bad. It is indoors,
a real shower with a curtain and everything. You just have to heat snow,
fill a 5 gallon bucket, walk outside through the snow to get to the shower
room, place a hose in that bucket that connects to a small pump, step in
the shower, flip on the pump, enjoy those first few bone chilling seconds
where the left over water from the previous shower that is now at near
freezing temperatures sputters at you like a series of icy sneezes, then
finally get your few minutes of warm water. Of course, 5 gallons goes
pretty damn quick, so you have to turn off the pump as you soap up if you
want to have any moments to enjoy the warmth. Otherwise its like a race to
the finish- Wiley vs. the shampoo. There can only be one victor. Luckily I
finished with a few moments to just sit and enjoy my not quite hot enough
water- its also a fine art to get just the right water temperature by
mixing near boiling and freezing cold water in a bucket. Its these little
skills you learn over time I guess. This is how old people built character
right? Beats showering outside at least.
Speaking of outside, the weather has really been hit or miss the last
couple days. Sunday was amazing and warm. Tuesday was similar. In between
Antarctica skipped a beat and decided to be cold, windy, and snow. Right as
I was getting over my stage fright of peeing outside in the snow while
penguins watched, the weather forces me to pee in the outhouse. No matter,
when the sun came back out, so did I and the penguins could get back to
their judgemental stares instead of just getting half buried in snow
(that's actually not a joke, many at the breeding colonies were actually up
their chubby little waists in snow. They become like lawn gnomes in a black
and white film with hats that have fallen over their faces. Or something
like thiat...).
When I took a journalism class in college, one of the things they taught us
was that paragraphs shouldn't be more than a few sentences long to keep
readers interest and not seem too daunting or something. If you have made
it this far, you have now read two unnecessarily long paragraphs about me
showering and me peeing. You're welcome.
In more scientific news, we set up 2 of our telemetry receivers on two of
the hilltops around the Cape today. One of these stations automatically
scans through a series of tag frequencies and records who is there, much
like I did for half of my masters. The other station is linked directly
into the project leader's room here at camp (also lovingly know as the Old
Fart's room). The tags have not gone out yet, but as animals start to show
up, we can put these VHF tags on them to see when they come and go and how
long they are gone for.
We also found a young male leopard seal today. We tried to put a tag on it,
but it was too awake and did not appreciate our attempts to get close. The
usual technique is wait for the seal to fall asleep, creep up behind it,
grab a flipper, throw a tag in, and run. It's a lot like your first kiss
where the girl looks at you and you pretend you aren't even looking at her,
but for some reason you keep drifting toward here, then suddenly it all
happens and all you can do is run away snickering. Except this time the
girl might literally rip your throat out if she had the chance. (I was
going to go with a stealing money from your dad's wallet after he has
fallen asleep on the couch analogy, but since I have obviously never done
such a thing, I went with the kissing. But kissing is also gross and should
only be done by professionals).
Alright that's going to wrap up this round of nonsensical rambling from me.
Oh we did get a report from the penguineros of a possible female fur seal
sighting this evening, so work might be picking up and we should be getting
puppy seals soon! I wish I could share photos because I got some GOOD ones
the other day. I guess those will just have to wait. Oh but also keep an
eye on the link below (can't remember which one exactly) that links to info
about the camp and our weekly "Sit Reps." We submit them every Monday and
they should get posted online not too long after that. They have lots of
technical info about the number of animals we've seen, camp maintenance,
etc. but they also will occasionally have photos and other things. So check
it out!
Shirreff out.
shower in Antarctica. I changed my underwear too for all of you who I know
were very concerned...
That's right, on Monday Nov 10 I took a shower. I believe Oct 30th was my
last shower before that. Its not good when you have trouble remembering you
last shower. Our shower system here actually isn't too bad. It is indoors,
a real shower with a curtain and everything. You just have to heat snow,
fill a 5 gallon bucket, walk outside through the snow to get to the shower
room, place a hose in that bucket that connects to a small pump, step in
the shower, flip on the pump, enjoy those first few bone chilling seconds
where the left over water from the previous shower that is now at near
freezing temperatures sputters at you like a series of icy sneezes, then
finally get your few minutes of warm water. Of course, 5 gallons goes
pretty damn quick, so you have to turn off the pump as you soap up if you
want to have any moments to enjoy the warmth. Otherwise its like a race to
the finish- Wiley vs. the shampoo. There can only be one victor. Luckily I
finished with a few moments to just sit and enjoy my not quite hot enough
water- its also a fine art to get just the right water temperature by
mixing near boiling and freezing cold water in a bucket. Its these little
skills you learn over time I guess. This is how old people built character
right? Beats showering outside at least.
Speaking of outside, the weather has really been hit or miss the last
couple days. Sunday was amazing and warm. Tuesday was similar. In between
Antarctica skipped a beat and decided to be cold, windy, and snow. Right as
I was getting over my stage fright of peeing outside in the snow while
penguins watched, the weather forces me to pee in the outhouse. No matter,
when the sun came back out, so did I and the penguins could get back to
their judgemental stares instead of just getting half buried in snow
(that's actually not a joke, many at the breeding colonies were actually up
their chubby little waists in snow. They become like lawn gnomes in a black
and white film with hats that have fallen over their faces. Or something
like thiat...).
When I took a journalism class in college, one of the things they taught us
was that paragraphs shouldn't be more than a few sentences long to keep
readers interest and not seem too daunting or something. If you have made
it this far, you have now read two unnecessarily long paragraphs about me
showering and me peeing. You're welcome.
In more scientific news, we set up 2 of our telemetry receivers on two of
the hilltops around the Cape today. One of these stations automatically
scans through a series of tag frequencies and records who is there, much
like I did for half of my masters. The other station is linked directly
into the project leader's room here at camp (also lovingly know as the Old
Fart's room). The tags have not gone out yet, but as animals start to show
up, we can put these VHF tags on them to see when they come and go and how
long they are gone for.
We also found a young male leopard seal today. We tried to put a tag on it,
but it was too awake and did not appreciate our attempts to get close. The
usual technique is wait for the seal to fall asleep, creep up behind it,
grab a flipper, throw a tag in, and run. It's a lot like your first kiss
where the girl looks at you and you pretend you aren't even looking at her,
but for some reason you keep drifting toward here, then suddenly it all
happens and all you can do is run away snickering. Except this time the
girl might literally rip your throat out if she had the chance. (I was
going to go with a stealing money from your dad's wallet after he has
fallen asleep on the couch analogy, but since I have obviously never done
such a thing, I went with the kissing. But kissing is also gross and should
only be done by professionals).
Alright that's going to wrap up this round of nonsensical rambling from me.
Oh we did get a report from the penguineros of a possible female fur seal
sighting this evening, so work might be picking up and we should be getting
puppy seals soon! I wish I could share photos because I got some GOOD ones
the other day. I guess those will just have to wait. Oh but also keep an
eye on the link below (can't remember which one exactly) that links to info
about the camp and our weekly "Sit Reps." We submit them every Monday and
they should get posted online not too long after that. They have lots of
technical info about the number of animals we've seen, camp maintenance,
etc. but they also will occasionally have photos and other things. So check
it out!
Shirreff out.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Week 1 in Review
It has been a busy week. Its weird, the days feel like they go quickly, but
the week has felt very long. I left home almost 3 weeks ago, so maybe that
is contributing to it, but its still a strange phenomenon.
Things are starting to settle in here. The female fur seals still haven't
arrived so our workday is varied, but I am starting to get the swing of the
general routine. I have gotten used to peeing outside in the snow, often in
wind that brings the real feel temp down to below zero (Fahrenheit), with
teams of penguins watching and judging me. Though I will admit the last
couple days the wind has shifted in a way that makes peeing difficult to
say the least, so I have been using the outhouse more for that. On that
note, I have gotten used to our outhouse, which I am sad to say is little
more than a small shack with a bench with two holes cut out of it- one for
peeing, one for #2. Below the bench are buckets. Yes buckets, 5 gallons,
standard buckets. Human waste is one of the only things we are allowed to
dump here and it must go into the ocean, so we cannot have any kind of deep
hole or composting toilet. Plus, digging a deep hole when the ground is
frozen is tough and decomposition requires microbes and bacteria, which do
not typically work well at freezing temperatures. So we are stuck with a
bucket.
I am also starting to get a handle on just how much food we have here. Our
camp could feed the 6 of us for many many months, possibly years. We are
never short of food. That being said, it has also been an eye opener to
have to cook for 6 people. Parents with kids, or just people who entertain
a lot, I have a new respect for you because its crazy how much food and
time it takes to feed 6 hungry people. I made a stir-fry last night and
almost ran out of room in the giant wok just trying to mix it all together.
There will be days in January when the Chilean camp is full also and we
often have them over for dinner, which could mean cooking for up to 12
people. That should be interesting.
On Saturday I completed my first hike around the entire cape. We do weekly
phocid (again that's the true seals- weddell, leopard, crabeater, elephant)
to count all the seals on the cape. There weren't many out there since it
is still early in the season, but we did see more crabeater seals than they
ever have at this time of year. If anyone is interested in this kind of
thing, I highly recommend looking up what crabeater seal teeth look like
because they are really cool and crazy looking (they mostly eat krill, not
crabs from my understanding). Normally we divide and conquer the peninsula,
but since two of us are new here, the experienced pinniped technician
(that's our job title) took us around to show us the beaches and where
seals hide and what not. Remembering all the beach names and where they
start and end is challenging. Every little curve in the coastline or rocky
point or hilltop has its own name. Its like driving down Hwy 1 in
California and trying to name every curve in the road (in Spanish) for
several miles. Plus then the tide changes, or snow shifts, and it all looks
different. That being said, I am picking up the important ones pretty
quickly. My specific study beaches will likely be Chungungo ("sea otter")
and Cachorros (cant remember what it means...).
In other news, we tagged a few elephant seal pups the other day. As a
disclaimer, and I will likely say this a lot, everything we do here has
been highly scrutinized for safety, necessity, and effectiveness. We can
barely leave camp without a series of permits, let alone approach or touch
an animal. Most of the work we do here is non-invasive. Tagging involves
just clipping a tag onto the flipper of an animal and is little more than
piercing an ear. Plus these animals have evolved in a world where they are
constantly being bitten, scraped, sat on by other seals, etc so they have
very high pain tolerances and heal remarkably quickly. OK so that being
said, we tagged some elephant seal weaners. These ellies are only about a
month to a month and a half old but already can weigh several hundred
pounds, which makes subduing them (manually) very interesting and frankly
kind of fun. It becomes a rodeo as you pounce on their back with a small
net and try to keep them still while other people measure them and then tag
them. The seals are used to having other pups, which are much larger than
me, climbing all over them so they eventually kind of calm down and it
causes no harm to them, but they can definitely take you for a ride the
first few seconds. They are fat enough that its rare that you are able to
get both knees on the ground as you straddle them. One of our penguin
techs, Tony, is only about 5'6" and weighs about 115 lbs. He was dragged a
good 10-15 feet before subduing his pup (with a little help from the rest
of us). I wish I had video taped it because watching a little ball of fat
(sometimes their eyes almost get covered in fat rolls when then tuck their
head in) drag around Tony was one of the funnier sights I have seen so far.
During our circumambulation of the cape I also got my first full taste of
the penguin colonies at the north end of the peninsula. There are hundreds
of gentoo and chinstrap penguins (oh we also saw a lone Adelie penguin
outside the cabin the other day!) that have come to prepare for the
breeding season. They are generally smart enough to wait until the snow
melts before laying eggs. The penguineros (penguin techs) call it the
penguin mines and I can see why. They have to work their way through all
the birds looking for any with numbered bands on their wings. Several birds
were also outfitted with GLS tags, which are barely larger than a jelly
bean, but can use sunrise and sunset times, as well as angle of the sun and
a bunch of other crazy (and proprietary) measurements to tell you exactly
where the bird was for upwards of a year. All in that tiny package small
enough to attach to a penguin without causing any change in its ability to
swim or walk. Crazy.
I may have said this before, but I will say it again. There are a lot of
places that, before you visit, you look at postcards and photos and videos
and form an image of what that place will be like before you go.
Unfortunately, more often than not, those places do not actually look like
what you expected. That amazing tropical beach with palm trees and
sprawling red, orange, pink sunsets also has a 15 story hotel and strip
club next to it or something like that. Well so far Antarctica is not one
of those places. It has proven to be almost exactly what I expected. Jagged
rock outcroppings, snow covered everything, beaches with seals resting
everywhere, hundreds of birds flying overhead, penguins pretty much
everywhere you go, waves churned up by the winds and currents, and just a
general grey, overcast, windy climate. Its beautiful and kind of haunting
at the same time. You start reading or hearing stories about people who
have had to survive here with little to no resources and realize just how
amazing and difficult that is. If anyone is interested in those kinds of
stories (and a precaution, they aren't always pretty) there are several
books about Shackelton (I just started reading South) and one called Alone
on the Ice about the Australian explorer Mawson.
Ok I realize that wasn't really a week in review, more just a continuation
of thoughts and occurrences. The week has been good. I have made risotto
and stir-fry on my cooking days. Plans for mac n cheese and pizza in the
future. If anyone wants to share recipes, feel free to leave them in the
comments below. We have pretty much any ingredients and cooking tools you
could think of. You may need to sign in with a Google account to comment,
just a heads up. Thanks for the support from everyone so far. Its going to
be a long few months, but I think it will be good.
the week has felt very long. I left home almost 3 weeks ago, so maybe that
is contributing to it, but its still a strange phenomenon.
Things are starting to settle in here. The female fur seals still haven't
arrived so our workday is varied, but I am starting to get the swing of the
general routine. I have gotten used to peeing outside in the snow, often in
wind that brings the real feel temp down to below zero (Fahrenheit), with
teams of penguins watching and judging me. Though I will admit the last
couple days the wind has shifted in a way that makes peeing difficult to
say the least, so I have been using the outhouse more for that. On that
note, I have gotten used to our outhouse, which I am sad to say is little
more than a small shack with a bench with two holes cut out of it- one for
peeing, one for #2. Below the bench are buckets. Yes buckets, 5 gallons,
standard buckets. Human waste is one of the only things we are allowed to
dump here and it must go into the ocean, so we cannot have any kind of deep
hole or composting toilet. Plus, digging a deep hole when the ground is
frozen is tough and decomposition requires microbes and bacteria, which do
not typically work well at freezing temperatures. So we are stuck with a
bucket.
I am also starting to get a handle on just how much food we have here. Our
camp could feed the 6 of us for many many months, possibly years. We are
never short of food. That being said, it has also been an eye opener to
have to cook for 6 people. Parents with kids, or just people who entertain
a lot, I have a new respect for you because its crazy how much food and
time it takes to feed 6 hungry people. I made a stir-fry last night and
almost ran out of room in the giant wok just trying to mix it all together.
There will be days in January when the Chilean camp is full also and we
often have them over for dinner, which could mean cooking for up to 12
people. That should be interesting.
On Saturday I completed my first hike around the entire cape. We do weekly
phocid (again that's the true seals- weddell, leopard, crabeater, elephant)
to count all the seals on the cape. There weren't many out there since it
is still early in the season, but we did see more crabeater seals than they
ever have at this time of year. If anyone is interested in this kind of
thing, I highly recommend looking up what crabeater seal teeth look like
because they are really cool and crazy looking (they mostly eat krill, not
crabs from my understanding). Normally we divide and conquer the peninsula,
but since two of us are new here, the experienced pinniped technician
(that's our job title) took us around to show us the beaches and where
seals hide and what not. Remembering all the beach names and where they
start and end is challenging. Every little curve in the coastline or rocky
point or hilltop has its own name. Its like driving down Hwy 1 in
California and trying to name every curve in the road (in Spanish) for
several miles. Plus then the tide changes, or snow shifts, and it all looks
different. That being said, I am picking up the important ones pretty
quickly. My specific study beaches will likely be Chungungo ("sea otter")
and Cachorros (cant remember what it means...).
In other news, we tagged a few elephant seal pups the other day. As a
disclaimer, and I will likely say this a lot, everything we do here has
been highly scrutinized for safety, necessity, and effectiveness. We can
barely leave camp without a series of permits, let alone approach or touch
an animal. Most of the work we do here is non-invasive. Tagging involves
just clipping a tag onto the flipper of an animal and is little more than
piercing an ear. Plus these animals have evolved in a world where they are
constantly being bitten, scraped, sat on by other seals, etc so they have
very high pain tolerances and heal remarkably quickly. OK so that being
said, we tagged some elephant seal weaners. These ellies are only about a
month to a month and a half old but already can weigh several hundred
pounds, which makes subduing them (manually) very interesting and frankly
kind of fun. It becomes a rodeo as you pounce on their back with a small
net and try to keep them still while other people measure them and then tag
them. The seals are used to having other pups, which are much larger than
me, climbing all over them so they eventually kind of calm down and it
causes no harm to them, but they can definitely take you for a ride the
first few seconds. They are fat enough that its rare that you are able to
get both knees on the ground as you straddle them. One of our penguin
techs, Tony, is only about 5'6" and weighs about 115 lbs. He was dragged a
good 10-15 feet before subduing his pup (with a little help from the rest
of us). I wish I had video taped it because watching a little ball of fat
(sometimes their eyes almost get covered in fat rolls when then tuck their
head in) drag around Tony was one of the funnier sights I have seen so far.
During our circumambulation of the cape I also got my first full taste of
the penguin colonies at the north end of the peninsula. There are hundreds
of gentoo and chinstrap penguins (oh we also saw a lone Adelie penguin
outside the cabin the other day!) that have come to prepare for the
breeding season. They are generally smart enough to wait until the snow
melts before laying eggs. The penguineros (penguin techs) call it the
penguin mines and I can see why. They have to work their way through all
the birds looking for any with numbered bands on their wings. Several birds
were also outfitted with GLS tags, which are barely larger than a jelly
bean, but can use sunrise and sunset times, as well as angle of the sun and
a bunch of other crazy (and proprietary) measurements to tell you exactly
where the bird was for upwards of a year. All in that tiny package small
enough to attach to a penguin without causing any change in its ability to
swim or walk. Crazy.
I may have said this before, but I will say it again. There are a lot of
places that, before you visit, you look at postcards and photos and videos
and form an image of what that place will be like before you go.
Unfortunately, more often than not, those places do not actually look like
what you expected. That amazing tropical beach with palm trees and
sprawling red, orange, pink sunsets also has a 15 story hotel and strip
club next to it or something like that. Well so far Antarctica is not one
of those places. It has proven to be almost exactly what I expected. Jagged
rock outcroppings, snow covered everything, beaches with seals resting
everywhere, hundreds of birds flying overhead, penguins pretty much
everywhere you go, waves churned up by the winds and currents, and just a
general grey, overcast, windy climate. Its beautiful and kind of haunting
at the same time. You start reading or hearing stories about people who
have had to survive here with little to no resources and realize just how
amazing and difficult that is. If anyone is interested in those kinds of
stories (and a precaution, they aren't always pretty) there are several
books about Shackelton (I just started reading South) and one called Alone
on the Ice about the Australian explorer Mawson.
Ok I realize that wasn't really a week in review, more just a continuation
of thoughts and occurrences. The week has been good. I have made risotto
and stir-fry on my cooking days. Plans for mac n cheese and pizza in the
future. If anyone wants to share recipes, feel free to leave them in the
comments below. We have pretty much any ingredients and cooking tools you
could think of. You may need to sign in with a Google account to comment,
just a heads up. Thanks for the support from everyone so far. Its going to
be a long few months, but I think it will be good.
Friday, November 7, 2014
Snow, snow, and more snow...
Mid Week Updates:
The last few days have been nicely calm, at least work-wise. I have mostly
continued to help set up camp, shovel snow, chip away ice, unpack totes,
etc. Since its still only bull fur seals on the beaches staking out the
best spits of frozen beach or the best snow drifts, our work is pretty
light. Today we did hike over to the south western side of the cape to
scout for any breeding elephant seals, as well as any other kinds of
phocids that might be out there. (Quick terminology note- fur seals are
otariids, or "eared seals" aka sea lions. All "true seals" like weddell,
elephant, leopard, harbor, etc seals are phocids) Most of our work is with
fur seals, but we also do a Cape-wide phocid census (counting totals of
each species) once a week and we tag as many pups as possible to track them
opportunistically as they grow up. While over there, which I believe was
called Playa Santelmo or something similar... I should look it up... We
did in fact find one elephant seal mom with a pup that had probably been
born only hours before we arrived. There were also two male elephant seals
there, one of which was still relatively young, but still quite large as
far as fat slugs of animals go. With the ellies (elephant seals) on this
one little spit were also a couple weddell seals and several fur seals.
Elephant seals are some of the strangest, funniest, and most entertaining
animals ever. When they aren't making some of the most ridiculous noises
you've ever heard (I recommend youtubing it), they are doing this "silent
scream" where they have their mouth wide open and stare at you. It feels
like they are trying to yell at you while they slowly spin to track with
you or slink away slowly rolling hundreds of pounds of giggling blubber
over the snow while their little pups cackle and screech at their moms to
not leave them. Its hard not to just start laughing, even though they are
just trying to be good moms. Meanwhile, the weddell seals less than 10 feet
away couldn't care less what you are doing. They might lift their head,
maybe give you a few snorts, but are not up for the effort of changing
positions to keep you in sight or out of arms reach. I did watch one pee
today, but I don't think it was in response to my standing next to it, it
just had to go.
Yesterday we also hiked to a beach just south of us called Media Luna
("Half Moon") where the other group of ellies hangs out- the ones we have
visited a few times over the last week. We did a little work with them and
got lots of growls, screeches, and what sounds like the females just
belching at you for minutes on end. I almost ran home, grabbed a Coke, came
back, chugged it, and belched right back. Think of me as the seal
whisperer, but with belching. And not knowning what I am saying... On the
way home we saw a crabeater seal with scars from a leopard seal attack that
were pretty gnarly. The seal seemed to be ok though, so that's good.
Apparently its rare to see crabeaters around here, even though they are
very abundant in the Antarctic. I'm glad I've gotten to see a few so far,
including a pup that was clearly lost and hanging out on one of our fur
seal beaches.
The animals here never cease to amaze me with how accepting they are of our
presence. Arguably, most in this area have become pretty habituated to us
walking amongst them, but still. Most of the phocids you could actually
walk up and touch before they even noticed you are there. The fur seals are
a little more aware, but even then they often don't wake up until you are
walking right by them. The most cautious tend to be the penguins, but they
have this hilarious little move they do. I don't know if their eye sight
isn't great or if they just are really hopeful of friends, but as you walk
along they will often come waddling towards you. I think they believe you
are another penguin and they want to come check you out. But then they get
within about 15-20 feet (depending on the lighting), realize that you are
in fact not a 6' penguin, and do this very skeptical stare where they turn
sideways to get a better look at you. Soon after that you see them make the
final decision that you are indeed not what they had hoped and they quickly
go waddling away as quick as their little legs will carry them. It is even
better when they are on a hill, in which case they often start hopping with
both legs to get away quicker. And in case you were wondering, they do
slide on their bellies, but not as much as I expected. It still takes a
fair amount of effort to slide through powdery snow.
A couple other little notes about where I am because I have heard some
confusion still... I am at an American field camp on Livingston Island in
the South Shetland Islands just northwest of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Basically if you drew a line straight south from the tip of South America,
the first land you hit would be right around where I am. Also of note, I am
not (somewhat disappointingly) inside the Antarctic circle, nor will I get
the full 24 hours of sunlight at any point during my time here. It is
actually very similar to when I was in Alaska, where it doesn't necessarily
get dark at night, but its not sunny either. We might see some stars our
last week or two here, otherwise its pretty rare (weather doesn't help). If
you want to learn more, you can check out some of the links at the bottom
of this page, or else there is a Wikipedia page on the Cape Shirreff.
Google Maps also knows where Livingston Island is. If you want to follow
weather, not all weather websites will have my exact location, but I think
accuweather might. Weather.com has base Arturo Pratt, which is a Chilean
base not too far away, but you can probably find a closer one if you work
at it.
The last few days have been nicely calm, at least work-wise. I have mostly
continued to help set up camp, shovel snow, chip away ice, unpack totes,
etc. Since its still only bull fur seals on the beaches staking out the
best spits of frozen beach or the best snow drifts, our work is pretty
light. Today we did hike over to the south western side of the cape to
scout for any breeding elephant seals, as well as any other kinds of
phocids that might be out there. (Quick terminology note- fur seals are
otariids, or "eared seals" aka sea lions. All "true seals" like weddell,
elephant, leopard, harbor, etc seals are phocids) Most of our work is with
fur seals, but we also do a Cape-wide phocid census (counting totals of
each species) once a week and we tag as many pups as possible to track them
opportunistically as they grow up. While over there, which I believe was
called Playa Santelmo or something similar... I should look it up... We
did in fact find one elephant seal mom with a pup that had probably been
born only hours before we arrived. There were also two male elephant seals
there, one of which was still relatively young, but still quite large as
far as fat slugs of animals go. With the ellies (elephant seals) on this
one little spit were also a couple weddell seals and several fur seals.
Elephant seals are some of the strangest, funniest, and most entertaining
animals ever. When they aren't making some of the most ridiculous noises
you've ever heard (I recommend youtubing it), they are doing this "silent
scream" where they have their mouth wide open and stare at you. It feels
like they are trying to yell at you while they slowly spin to track with
you or slink away slowly rolling hundreds of pounds of giggling blubber
over the snow while their little pups cackle and screech at their moms to
not leave them. Its hard not to just start laughing, even though they are
just trying to be good moms. Meanwhile, the weddell seals less than 10 feet
away couldn't care less what you are doing. They might lift their head,
maybe give you a few snorts, but are not up for the effort of changing
positions to keep you in sight or out of arms reach. I did watch one pee
today, but I don't think it was in response to my standing next to it, it
just had to go.
Yesterday we also hiked to a beach just south of us called Media Luna
("Half Moon") where the other group of ellies hangs out- the ones we have
visited a few times over the last week. We did a little work with them and
got lots of growls, screeches, and what sounds like the females just
belching at you for minutes on end. I almost ran home, grabbed a Coke, came
back, chugged it, and belched right back. Think of me as the seal
whisperer, but with belching. And not knowning what I am saying... On the
way home we saw a crabeater seal with scars from a leopard seal attack that
were pretty gnarly. The seal seemed to be ok though, so that's good.
Apparently its rare to see crabeaters around here, even though they are
very abundant in the Antarctic. I'm glad I've gotten to see a few so far,
including a pup that was clearly lost and hanging out on one of our fur
seal beaches.
The animals here never cease to amaze me with how accepting they are of our
presence. Arguably, most in this area have become pretty habituated to us
walking amongst them, but still. Most of the phocids you could actually
walk up and touch before they even noticed you are there. The fur seals are
a little more aware, but even then they often don't wake up until you are
walking right by them. The most cautious tend to be the penguins, but they
have this hilarious little move they do. I don't know if their eye sight
isn't great or if they just are really hopeful of friends, but as you walk
along they will often come waddling towards you. I think they believe you
are another penguin and they want to come check you out. But then they get
within about 15-20 feet (depending on the lighting), realize that you are
in fact not a 6' penguin, and do this very skeptical stare where they turn
sideways to get a better look at you. Soon after that you see them make the
final decision that you are indeed not what they had hoped and they quickly
go waddling away as quick as their little legs will carry them. It is even
better when they are on a hill, in which case they often start hopping with
both legs to get away quicker. And in case you were wondering, they do
slide on their bellies, but not as much as I expected. It still takes a
fair amount of effort to slide through powdery snow.
A couple other little notes about where I am because I have heard some
confusion still... I am at an American field camp on Livingston Island in
the South Shetland Islands just northwest of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Basically if you drew a line straight south from the tip of South America,
the first land you hit would be right around where I am. Also of note, I am
not (somewhat disappointingly) inside the Antarctic circle, nor will I get
the full 24 hours of sunlight at any point during my time here. It is
actually very similar to when I was in Alaska, where it doesn't necessarily
get dark at night, but its not sunny either. We might see some stars our
last week or two here, otherwise its pretty rare (weather doesn't help). If
you want to learn more, you can check out some of the links at the bottom
of this page, or else there is a Wikipedia page on the Cape Shirreff.
Google Maps also knows where Livingston Island is. If you want to follow
weather, not all weather websites will have my exact location, but I think
accuweather might. Weather.com has base Arturo Pratt, which is a Chilean
base not too far away, but you can probably find a closer one if you work
at it.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Made it!
So I have officially arrived in Antarctica. The first 4 hours here were
amazing- sunny, light breeze, penguins watching us offload gear, a fur seal
hanging out on the beach, and a leopard seal apparently cruising the
shoreline (I didn't see the leopard seal but was told it was there). The
nice weather encouraged other people on the ship to come help us move gear,
which was a huge help. However, that weather quickly changed and went to
typical Antarctica.
There are a lot of places you see in magazines or on postcards that you get
to and realize are completely different from what you expected. This is not
one of them. There are mountains and valleys covered in snow. Most days
everything is some sort of shade of grey. The wind has been averaging in
the high 20s to mid 30s mph. Its also cold. Not unbelievably cold, but
cold, and the wind does not help. Right now at 10:30am it is actually
fairly sunny, but its 31F and feels like -2F with the wind chill.
At the same time, its beautiful. When you get around the snow belting you
in the face, you realize this really is a crazy, amazing place. For one
thing, we get a little train of gentoo and chinstrap penguins marching by
our camp every afternoon on their way back to their breeding colonies from
their foraging grounds. They have made the decision to hike several miles
in the snow rather than swim through leopard seal territory. Rough break
for them, but for me I get my own little march of the penguins everyday and
watching their little wobbly steps or them sliding on their bellies is
pretty entertaining even in the worst of weather. I even had the surprise
yesterday of opening the front door to the cabin and seeing a penguin
hiding from the wind only about 3 feet from where I stood. I think he was
about as surprised as I was. I felt bad when he eventually got scared off
by our activities and had to go face the wind and snow again.
We also did a walk two days ago to check out some elephant seal haul outs.
There were about 13 seals down there with two large males and several pups.
Anyone who doesnt know elephant seals, they are huge, squishy, and make
some ridiculous sounds. There were also a handful of fur seal males
sprinkled in along the way.
In other animal news, we also saw a couple snow petrels, which means very
little to me, but I am told that they are one of the birds that people who
pay up to $10,000 to take a cruise down this way look for and want to see.
And I saw it on my second day, so thats fun. We also had a sheathbill
(bird) come tapping on our cabin window yesterday morning at about 5am,
which was not ideal. We are going to do some scouting today or tomorrow if
the wind dies down to look for any tagged weddell seals and leopard seals,
as well as counting male fur seals along our study beaches. The female fur
seals should be showing up relatively soon. We may even try to go tag some
of the elephant seal pups.
More to come soon. We have been uber busy unpacking everything and
shovelling snow. Anyone who has ever said I am a wimp for living in
California and never having do deal with shovelling a driveway... I am
making up for it now. Everything is covered in about 4-5' of snow. We live
in the snow. The outhouse (unheated) is surrounded in snow. All you see is
snow. So my debt is paid.
Cape Shirreff over and out.
amazing- sunny, light breeze, penguins watching us offload gear, a fur seal
hanging out on the beach, and a leopard seal apparently cruising the
shoreline (I didn't see the leopard seal but was told it was there). The
nice weather encouraged other people on the ship to come help us move gear,
which was a huge help. However, that weather quickly changed and went to
typical Antarctica.
There are a lot of places you see in magazines or on postcards that you get
to and realize are completely different from what you expected. This is not
one of them. There are mountains and valleys covered in snow. Most days
everything is some sort of shade of grey. The wind has been averaging in
the high 20s to mid 30s mph. Its also cold. Not unbelievably cold, but
cold, and the wind does not help. Right now at 10:30am it is actually
fairly sunny, but its 31F and feels like -2F with the wind chill.
At the same time, its beautiful. When you get around the snow belting you
in the face, you realize this really is a crazy, amazing place. For one
thing, we get a little train of gentoo and chinstrap penguins marching by
our camp every afternoon on their way back to their breeding colonies from
their foraging grounds. They have made the decision to hike several miles
in the snow rather than swim through leopard seal territory. Rough break
for them, but for me I get my own little march of the penguins everyday and
watching their little wobbly steps or them sliding on their bellies is
pretty entertaining even in the worst of weather. I even had the surprise
yesterday of opening the front door to the cabin and seeing a penguin
hiding from the wind only about 3 feet from where I stood. I think he was
about as surprised as I was. I felt bad when he eventually got scared off
by our activities and had to go face the wind and snow again.
We also did a walk two days ago to check out some elephant seal haul outs.
There were about 13 seals down there with two large males and several pups.
Anyone who doesnt know elephant seals, they are huge, squishy, and make
some ridiculous sounds. There were also a handful of fur seal males
sprinkled in along the way.
In other animal news, we also saw a couple snow petrels, which means very
little to me, but I am told that they are one of the birds that people who
pay up to $10,000 to take a cruise down this way look for and want to see.
And I saw it on my second day, so thats fun. We also had a sheathbill
(bird) come tapping on our cabin window yesterday morning at about 5am,
which was not ideal. We are going to do some scouting today or tomorrow if
the wind dies down to look for any tagged weddell seals and leopard seals,
as well as counting male fur seals along our study beaches. The female fur
seals should be showing up relatively soon. We may even try to go tag some
of the elephant seal pups.
More to come soon. We have been uber busy unpacking everything and
shovelling snow. Anyone who has ever said I am a wimp for living in
California and never having do deal with shovelling a driveway... I am
making up for it now. Everything is covered in about 4-5' of snow. We live
in the snow. The outhouse (unheated) is surrounded in snow. All you see is
snow. So my debt is paid.
Cape Shirreff over and out.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Nearly to Antarctica
First off, sorry all 3 updates came at once. I was accidentally sending
them to the wrong email address that auto updates the blog, so that's
why they came as one lump of additions... Anyway:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We are on day 3ish of our epic journey across the Drake. As of right
now, we should be coming into the Cape Shirreff area sometime late
tonight. We will begin our massive unloading process in the morning. As
of right now, it looks like we should get a fair amount of help from
other people on the boat, which is awesome because we have a ton of gear
PLUS we have to shovel the cabin out of the snow... It will likely take
6- hours in total to unload everything. We have a shipping container
pretty much full of stuff. Plus hundreds of pounds of food to be taken
with us as well.
I'm excited to get there. The boat ride has been interesting, but
mostly consists of watching movies, reading, sleeping, and eating.
Especially the last two. Most of the albatross have left us but we have
a very dedicated group of Cape Petrels (also called Painted or Pintado?
petrels) escorting us like fighter jets around Air Force One. Or I like
to think so at least. These little birds are actually really cool
looking. They look a little like a murre, which looks kind of like a
small flying penguin, but have white patches on the tops of their wings.
They also glide over the water like albatross or pelicans, swooping just
above the water with wings stretched out wide to catch the up drafts. I
also saw what I think/ have been told was likely a Wandering Albatross,
which is pretty cool too. Another huge bird that rarely needs to flap
its wings.
In addition to birds, I also saw a spout from a whale off in the
distance just now. I have no idea what kind of whale, but the blow was
pretty big, so it is unlikely to be from anything small like a minke or
killer whale. We also passed by a HUGE iceberg floating by, which kind
of put things in perspective and also made me feel like we are getting
close. That and the fact that it is now very cold outside, even on a
nice day like today with plenty of sun. Last night, while I was helping
drop some probes that measure water temp down to 900 meters, it was -0.8
degrees Celsius outside, but with the wind-chill the real feel was
closer to -19 degrees. That's cold. That's hands and face numb in a
couple minutes cold.
That's about all I have to add for now. People are watching Spawn, so I
might join. Its been a long time since I have seen the movie, and I
already know its pretty terrible, but there isn't much else going on. I
did learn that Big Bang Theory actually is pretty fun (sorry to everyone
who already knew that).
I'm excited to get on land and see some animals! We may have to move
gear through some fur seals and penguins soo... that's normal right? 4.5
months here I come. It might be a little while before I send another
update since we will be incredibly busy, but Happy Halloween to
everyone. I will be dressing as the abominable snow man. Or maybe a
penguin. Or just someone too tired from moving gear all day to care. Eat
lots of candy for me and someone let me know what the best costume they
saw was and/or what you personally were.
Over and out.
them to the wrong email address that auto updates the blog, so that's
why they came as one lump of additions... Anyway:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We are on day 3ish of our epic journey across the Drake. As of right
now, we should be coming into the Cape Shirreff area sometime late
tonight. We will begin our massive unloading process in the morning. As
of right now, it looks like we should get a fair amount of help from
other people on the boat, which is awesome because we have a ton of gear
PLUS we have to shovel the cabin out of the snow... It will likely take
6- hours in total to unload everything. We have a shipping container
pretty much full of stuff. Plus hundreds of pounds of food to be taken
with us as well.
I'm excited to get there. The boat ride has been interesting, but
mostly consists of watching movies, reading, sleeping, and eating.
Especially the last two. Most of the albatross have left us but we have
a very dedicated group of Cape Petrels (also called Painted or Pintado?
petrels) escorting us like fighter jets around Air Force One. Or I like
to think so at least. These little birds are actually really cool
looking. They look a little like a murre, which looks kind of like a
small flying penguin, but have white patches on the tops of their wings.
They also glide over the water like albatross or pelicans, swooping just
above the water with wings stretched out wide to catch the up drafts. I
also saw what I think/ have been told was likely a Wandering Albatross,
which is pretty cool too. Another huge bird that rarely needs to flap
its wings.
In addition to birds, I also saw a spout from a whale off in the
distance just now. I have no idea what kind of whale, but the blow was
pretty big, so it is unlikely to be from anything small like a minke or
killer whale. We also passed by a HUGE iceberg floating by, which kind
of put things in perspective and also made me feel like we are getting
close. That and the fact that it is now very cold outside, even on a
nice day like today with plenty of sun. Last night, while I was helping
drop some probes that measure water temp down to 900 meters, it was -0.8
degrees Celsius outside, but with the wind-chill the real feel was
closer to -19 degrees. That's cold. That's hands and face numb in a
couple minutes cold.
That's about all I have to add for now. People are watching Spawn, so I
might join. Its been a long time since I have seen the movie, and I
already know its pretty terrible, but there isn't much else going on. I
did learn that Big Bang Theory actually is pretty fun (sorry to everyone
who already knew that).
I'm excited to get on land and see some animals! We may have to move
gear through some fur seals and penguins soo... that's normal right? 4.5
months here I come. It might be a little while before I send another
update since we will be incredibly busy, but Happy Halloween to
everyone. I will be dressing as the abominable snow man. Or maybe a
penguin. Or just someone too tired from moving gear all day to care. Eat
lots of candy for me and someone let me know what the best costume they
saw was and/or what you personally were.
Over and out.
Weather Update
We still have not reached Drake's Passage. I am currently off the
eastern coast of South America near Tierra del Fuego. In a few hours we
will turn, cut through a pass at the southern tip of the continent, then
head into Drake's. I am told we are lucky because right now there is a
low pressure system sitting in the Pass that is creating gale force wind
and 30 foot seas! 30 feet. That's big. So we are lucky, because that
system is supposed to be moving on tonight leaving us with less than 16
foot seas. This get to what I was talking about yesterday- to me, 15
foot swell is big. To people who do this all the time, its not that bad.
I have been told I will likely need a rubber matt under my plate when I
eat to keep my food from running away. So that will be interesting.
Sleeping becomes tough because you get rolled out of your bunk or
bounced against the wall. On the plus side, its not 30 foot seas...
Tonight I also have my first shift with the XBTs, or something like
that. I don't know what it stands for or even if that is the correct
acronym, but its basically a piece of scientific equipment that we drop
off the side of the ship periodically throughout the Drake and get
measurements of things like salinity, plankton, and a bunch of other
stuff at various depths. Should be interesting enough I guess. I did
volunteer for the midnight to 4am shift, which I am beginning to regret
a little, especially since tonight we may catch the tail end of that low
pressure system and get some decent boat rocking. Although I feel fine
now, I plan on taking some enhanced sea sickness meds. This ship is also
known for being particularly unstable (don't worry, its not in a
dangerous way, just a less comfortable way). Even now, we are only in
maybe 4-5 foot seas and we are rocking at least 5 degrees in each
direction. It might not seem like much, but you can definitely feel it.
I am actually sitting in an office chair with a loose or broken back
support mechanism and every few seconds I have to stop typing as I am
slowly rocked backwards and my fingers are left wiggling over thin air,
stretching for the appropriate keys...
I sat up on the bridge for a while today as well, hanging out with the
3rd mate who was on watch and a biologist doing predator monitoring (sea
birds and marine mammals) along the way. I learned a lot about the ship,
the trip, and some of the craziness that can happen. ALSO I have now
seen black-browed (I think that's the right name) albatross, giant
petrels, Magellanic penguins, South American terns, and some other kind
of bird I cant remember. So that is fun. Apparently there were some
dolphins riding the bow earlier, but I did not get up there in time to
see. Next time.
Ok time to go do whatever I might need to do before tonight. Hopefully
my food stays in one place (both before and after I eat it) and I am
able to sleep a little before my midnight shift.
Enjoy your lives and be thankful your bed doesn't try to throw you out
of it.
eastern coast of South America near Tierra del Fuego. In a few hours we
will turn, cut through a pass at the southern tip of the continent, then
head into Drake's. I am told we are lucky because right now there is a
low pressure system sitting in the Pass that is creating gale force wind
and 30 foot seas! 30 feet. That's big. So we are lucky, because that
system is supposed to be moving on tonight leaving us with less than 16
foot seas. This get to what I was talking about yesterday- to me, 15
foot swell is big. To people who do this all the time, its not that bad.
I have been told I will likely need a rubber matt under my plate when I
eat to keep my food from running away. So that will be interesting.
Sleeping becomes tough because you get rolled out of your bunk or
bounced against the wall. On the plus side, its not 30 foot seas...
Tonight I also have my first shift with the XBTs, or something like
that. I don't know what it stands for or even if that is the correct
acronym, but its basically a piece of scientific equipment that we drop
off the side of the ship periodically throughout the Drake and get
measurements of things like salinity, plankton, and a bunch of other
stuff at various depths. Should be interesting enough I guess. I did
volunteer for the midnight to 4am shift, which I am beginning to regret
a little, especially since tonight we may catch the tail end of that low
pressure system and get some decent boat rocking. Although I feel fine
now, I plan on taking some enhanced sea sickness meds. This ship is also
known for being particularly unstable (don't worry, its not in a
dangerous way, just a less comfortable way). Even now, we are only in
maybe 4-5 foot seas and we are rocking at least 5 degrees in each
direction. It might not seem like much, but you can definitely feel it.
I am actually sitting in an office chair with a loose or broken back
support mechanism and every few seconds I have to stop typing as I am
slowly rocked backwards and my fingers are left wiggling over thin air,
stretching for the appropriate keys...
I sat up on the bridge for a while today as well, hanging out with the
3rd mate who was on watch and a biologist doing predator monitoring (sea
birds and marine mammals) along the way. I learned a lot about the ship,
the trip, and some of the craziness that can happen. ALSO I have now
seen black-browed (I think that's the right name) albatross, giant
petrels, Magellanic penguins, South American terns, and some other kind
of bird I cant remember. So that is fun. Apparently there were some
dolphins riding the bow earlier, but I did not get up there in time to
see. Next time.
Ok time to go do whatever I might need to do before tonight. Hopefully
my food stays in one place (both before and after I eat it) and I am
able to sleep a little before my midnight shift.
Enjoy your lives and be thankful your bed doesn't try to throw you out
of it.
Entering Drake's Passage
I have finally moved onto the boat and a few hours ago we left Punta
Arenas headed for Drake's Passage and Antarctica! We are taking a route
that goes east out of PA toward Argentina and then down the eastern
coast of the continent. When we reach the end of South America, we
officially enter Drake's Passage, which is known for being a
particularly nasty stretch of water. Everything onboard must be strapped
down extremely well and seas can get up to 14+ feet. While that may not
seem huge to some people, its pretty big. Its like trying to drive an RV
up a ramp onto a one story house, then quickly careening off the other
side of the roof. As you sit and try to drink your juice or eat the
surprisingly good food made by the Chilean cook on board, the food and
juice start trying to run away from you mid-bite. So far I have not had
to experience this and I hope I don't have to. Admittedly, part of me
would like some kind of thrilling ride where you are looking up at the
opposite wall before it plunges to your feet on your heroic voyage
aboard a 200 something foot ice breaker venturing to the great frozen
continent. Part of me also would like to keep food INSIDE my stomach,
drinks securing in their respective cups, and my legs not feeling like
jelloas they struggle to keep up with the bobs and weaves of the
floorboards perpetually trying to dodge my already stinky feet (I did
shower today!).
Lucky for me, the forecast calls for a pretty smooth crossing. However,
now that its been said, it will probably get crazy again. There is also
a little test here of how my definition of "calm" compares to that of a
seasoned crew used to going back and for to Antarctica multiple times a
year. For me, calm is seas of a few feet max, maybe with some wind.
However, if your "normal" is 14 foot swells with wind that anywhere else
in the world (except the Arctic maybe) would be defined as hurricane
force gales, calm might take on a whole new meaning. Oh ya, its only
going to be 10 foot seas with 50-60 mph wind, piece of cake. We got
this.
So long story short, I have tried to post this earlier rather than
later (before Drake's), as well as do things like shower, do some
laundry, and eat as much food as possible. So far so good. I am
considered "green" here because I am new. On the plus side, it means
nobody expects much of me. On the downside, I am pretty sure someone
somewhere is taking bets on who will be the first to puke with an
betting scheme broken down to the minute. Or maybe I am just
overthinking. Its definitely done by the hour.
Arenas headed for Drake's Passage and Antarctica! We are taking a route
that goes east out of PA toward Argentina and then down the eastern
coast of the continent. When we reach the end of South America, we
officially enter Drake's Passage, which is known for being a
particularly nasty stretch of water. Everything onboard must be strapped
down extremely well and seas can get up to 14+ feet. While that may not
seem huge to some people, its pretty big. Its like trying to drive an RV
up a ramp onto a one story house, then quickly careening off the other
side of the roof. As you sit and try to drink your juice or eat the
surprisingly good food made by the Chilean cook on board, the food and
juice start trying to run away from you mid-bite. So far I have not had
to experience this and I hope I don't have to. Admittedly, part of me
would like some kind of thrilling ride where you are looking up at the
opposite wall before it plunges to your feet on your heroic voyage
aboard a 200 something foot ice breaker venturing to the great frozen
continent. Part of me also would like to keep food INSIDE my stomach,
drinks securing in their respective cups, and my legs not feeling like
jelloas they struggle to keep up with the bobs and weaves of the
floorboards perpetually trying to dodge my already stinky feet (I did
shower today!).
Lucky for me, the forecast calls for a pretty smooth crossing. However,
now that its been said, it will probably get crazy again. There is also
a little test here of how my definition of "calm" compares to that of a
seasoned crew used to going back and for to Antarctica multiple times a
year. For me, calm is seas of a few feet max, maybe with some wind.
However, if your "normal" is 14 foot swells with wind that anywhere else
in the world (except the Arctic maybe) would be defined as hurricane
force gales, calm might take on a whole new meaning. Oh ya, its only
going to be 10 foot seas with 50-60 mph wind, piece of cake. We got
this.
So long story short, I have tried to post this earlier rather than
later (before Drake's), as well as do things like shower, do some
laundry, and eat as much food as possible. So far so good. I am
considered "green" here because I am new. On the plus side, it means
nobody expects much of me. On the downside, I am pretty sure someone
somewhere is taking bets on who will be the first to puke with an
betting scheme broken down to the minute. Or maybe I am just
overthinking. Its definitely done by the hour.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Punta Arenas, Chile
Punta Arenas- the "middle" of Chile. The town itself is moderate sized, but filled with Chileans and tourists alike. It took nearly 28 hours of traveling across 4 flights to get here, but so far the town has been impressive. And windy. And apparently its an "unusually warm" spring.
So how is one of the southern most towns in South America the middle of Chile? Well apparently, though not recognized by any other country in the world, Chile claims territory all the way down to the South Pole. Therefore, if you draw it out on a map, PA is pretty much right smack-dab in the middle of Chile. Chile has a few other quirks, that maybe match many other countries but are different from the US. Its a land where most drivers will stop for pedestrians, but seat belts appear to be entirely optional. The light switch for the bathroom always seems to be OUTSIDE the bathroom door, which always leads to some very personal stop and frisk moves on the bathroom wall only to be left in the dark cursing yourself for being fooled once again. Dogs roam the street, but it is near impossible to tell which are someone's pet and which are stray. Its hard to know whether to pet them, feed them, or run like hell when they cross the street toward you. They're always interested but rarely appear aggressive or even venture too close to people. Still though, they are almost all very large and hairy, unlike the mutts you often see in warmer areas, and present a very possible threat if they wanted to be. Chile is a land where anything they make is better than the Argentinians and DEFINITELY better than anything Peru could ever produce. Its an area where you tip your bagger at the grocery store and the check at a restaurant always tells you how much to leave to include 10% tip. They also include the tax in all prices, which makes life just that much easier. Currently, the exchange rate is about 600 Chilean pesos to 1 US dollar, which makes me feel incredibly rich and powerful without actually adding anything to my bank account.
Food here is something of a mix of flavors. The traditional drink is the Pisco Sour, which by most accounts actually originated in Peru, but the Chilean form of Pisco is obviously much better. So far I've seen menus with shrimp, ceviche, pork, chicken, lamb, rabbit, guanaco (which is basically a small llama), salmon, various other kinds of fish. And that was all at one place- La Marmita (The Mermaid). It appears to be the best place in town, especially for Pisco Sours, and so far we have eaten there twice already. We've also had awesome sandwiches, pizza, empenadas, and a bunch of candies from the hotel lobby. I've also eaten almost a whole bag of cookies from my mom, which barely made it through Chile's insanely strict customs restrictions.
So, onto the project. We have spent most of the last few days just getting all our gear together and checking that personal gear fits. The project is outfitting me with several thousand dollars worth of equipment just to keep me warm, from ski boots to about 7 pairs of gloves. Weirdly they do not provide hats or socks, but luckily I brought several for myself. We have also been repacking everything into a large shipping container to prep it for transfer to the boat. We spend our first night on the boat the night of the 26th before shipping out on the 27th. I am definitely a little nervous about the crossing. Not in the OH MY GOD IM GOING TO DIE IN FREEZING COLD 14+ FOOT SEAS! More in the- I might be hurling for 3 days kind of way. Apparently this boat is known for having a bit of a listing problem (rocking back and forth) and if sea are rough its one heck of a ride. As you can probably tell from the photo below as well, there are not a lot of large windows to look out either, which never helps combat Poseidon's revenge. So it could be a long trip. That being said, sometimes its nice out and sometime you see cool stuff like dolphins, whales (including stories of a Right whale one year), birds, icebergs, and who knows what else. Once we get to Cape Shirreff, which should be on the 31st (Halloween!) if all goes to plan, we have thousands of pounds of gear to unload via 2 medium sized zodiak boats. Our best hope is that a few people from the boat will volunteer to help us set up. Otherwise its get everything off the boat, start shoveling snow, and start moving the tons of gear the ~quarter mile to the camp. That being said, penguins and seals. Enough said.
Thats all I will include for now. I will try to update this in the next few days, even though I have yet to send out the link to anyone. I will have one email address on the boat and another at camp (my own at camp, but it's super restricted for how much I can send/receive). Future posts therefore will probably not be this long and unfortunately will not include pictures because of the data restrictions. Do let me know what you think though. I'm not sure how since right now comments are not set up to forward on to my email, but leave them anyway. Someone will pass them along to me. And if I dont respond to anyone, I apologize. From the sound of it I am going to extremely busy for the whole season and with weather and technology limitations I will do what I can, but I cannot promise much.
So how is one of the southern most towns in South America the middle of Chile? Well apparently, though not recognized by any other country in the world, Chile claims territory all the way down to the South Pole. Therefore, if you draw it out on a map, PA is pretty much right smack-dab in the middle of Chile. Chile has a few other quirks, that maybe match many other countries but are different from the US. Its a land where most drivers will stop for pedestrians, but seat belts appear to be entirely optional. The light switch for the bathroom always seems to be OUTSIDE the bathroom door, which always leads to some very personal stop and frisk moves on the bathroom wall only to be left in the dark cursing yourself for being fooled once again. Dogs roam the street, but it is near impossible to tell which are someone's pet and which are stray. Its hard to know whether to pet them, feed them, or run like hell when they cross the street toward you. They're always interested but rarely appear aggressive or even venture too close to people. Still though, they are almost all very large and hairy, unlike the mutts you often see in warmer areas, and present a very possible threat if they wanted to be. Chile is a land where anything they make is better than the Argentinians and DEFINITELY better than anything Peru could ever produce. Its an area where you tip your bagger at the grocery store and the check at a restaurant always tells you how much to leave to include 10% tip. They also include the tax in all prices, which makes life just that much easier. Currently, the exchange rate is about 600 Chilean pesos to 1 US dollar, which makes me feel incredibly rich and powerful without actually adding anything to my bank account.
Food here is something of a mix of flavors. The traditional drink is the Pisco Sour, which by most accounts actually originated in Peru, but the Chilean form of Pisco is obviously much better. So far I've seen menus with shrimp, ceviche, pork, chicken, lamb, rabbit, guanaco (which is basically a small llama), salmon, various other kinds of fish. And that was all at one place- La Marmita (The Mermaid). It appears to be the best place in town, especially for Pisco Sours, and so far we have eaten there twice already. We've also had awesome sandwiches, pizza, empenadas, and a bunch of candies from the hotel lobby. I've also eaten almost a whole bag of cookies from my mom, which barely made it through Chile's insanely strict customs restrictions.
So, onto the project. We have spent most of the last few days just getting all our gear together and checking that personal gear fits. The project is outfitting me with several thousand dollars worth of equipment just to keep me warm, from ski boots to about 7 pairs of gloves. Weirdly they do not provide hats or socks, but luckily I brought several for myself. We have also been repacking everything into a large shipping container to prep it for transfer to the boat. We spend our first night on the boat the night of the 26th before shipping out on the 27th. I am definitely a little nervous about the crossing. Not in the OH MY GOD IM GOING TO DIE IN FREEZING COLD 14+ FOOT SEAS! More in the- I might be hurling for 3 days kind of way. Apparently this boat is known for having a bit of a listing problem (rocking back and forth) and if sea are rough its one heck of a ride. As you can probably tell from the photo below as well, there are not a lot of large windows to look out either, which never helps combat Poseidon's revenge. So it could be a long trip. That being said, sometimes its nice out and sometime you see cool stuff like dolphins, whales (including stories of a Right whale one year), birds, icebergs, and who knows what else. Once we get to Cape Shirreff, which should be on the 31st (Halloween!) if all goes to plan, we have thousands of pounds of gear to unload via 2 medium sized zodiak boats. Our best hope is that a few people from the boat will volunteer to help us set up. Otherwise its get everything off the boat, start shoveling snow, and start moving the tons of gear the ~quarter mile to the camp. That being said, penguins and seals. Enough said.
Thats all I will include for now. I will try to update this in the next few days, even though I have yet to send out the link to anyone. I will have one email address on the boat and another at camp (my own at camp, but it's super restricted for how much I can send/receive). Future posts therefore will probably not be this long and unfortunately will not include pictures because of the data restrictions. Do let me know what you think though. I'm not sure how since right now comments are not set up to forward on to my email, but leave them anyway. Someone will pass them along to me. And if I dont respond to anyone, I apologize. From the sound of it I am going to extremely busy for the whole season and with weather and technology limitations I will do what I can, but I cannot promise much.
Most of our gear in "fish boxes."
The Laurence M. Gould- our transportation to the Cape. I recommend googling it.
Side of the boat. Its a NSF and US Antarctic Program ship that operates year-round in this area, primarily traveling between PA and Palmer Station, Antarctica.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Trial Run and Pre-Departure
Hi all,
I am starting this blog up as a way to keep people informed about my trip to Antarctica, and anywhere else, I might end up after. For those of you who do not know, I will be spending nearly 5 months at Cape Shirreff on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. I leave Oct 21 for Chile and the boat across Drakes Passage. I will return mid March, but will likely do some traveling while I am down in South America.
Unfortunately, while I am gone, I will have no real access to the internet. I will be limited to only the most basic email once a day, with no attachments or photos allowed. Therefore, while I can update this blog via email, I cannot send photos along the way. I will try to post photos as soon as possible when I get back and anytime along the way that I can.
Feel free to check in whenever you want, either by reading this or emailing me directly. When I know my camp email address I will pass it on. You can also subscribe to email updates for this blog, which should email you everytime I post something new. Knowing how these things go, I would expect a lot more posts early on, and I will likely dwindle off a little later on. That being said, it is always nice to know that people care and are interested in what I am doing, even if I am unable to talk to you in person.
I hope my stories prove to be entertaining and as exciting as people seem to think they will be!
-Wiley
I am starting this blog up as a way to keep people informed about my trip to Antarctica, and anywhere else, I might end up after. For those of you who do not know, I will be spending nearly 5 months at Cape Shirreff on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. I leave Oct 21 for Chile and the boat across Drakes Passage. I will return mid March, but will likely do some traveling while I am down in South America.
Unfortunately, while I am gone, I will have no real access to the internet. I will be limited to only the most basic email once a day, with no attachments or photos allowed. Therefore, while I can update this blog via email, I cannot send photos along the way. I will try to post photos as soon as possible when I get back and anytime along the way that I can.
Feel free to check in whenever you want, either by reading this or emailing me directly. When I know my camp email address I will pass it on. You can also subscribe to email updates for this blog, which should email you everytime I post something new. Knowing how these things go, I would expect a lot more posts early on, and I will likely dwindle off a little later on. That being said, it is always nice to know that people care and are interested in what I am doing, even if I am unable to talk to you in person.
I hope my stories prove to be entertaining and as exciting as people seem to think they will be!
-Wiley
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