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:

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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.