Sunday, January 28, 2007
Like a School Field Trip
Earlier this week we found out that two morale cruises were going to take place this weekend, something that hasn't happened in something like 5 years or more. A sign-up was posted on Highway One (the main hallway in the main building), and almost 700 names were on the list by Saturday morning 7:30am. By Saturday afternoon three lists were posted. Two lists of 200 people each, one group for the 8am cruise this morning and one for the 2pm cruise in the afternoon. And the last list was the list of 100 alternates in case people didn't show up. Fortunately, I've been working as a line handler when the ships come in and go out so 10 spots on each cruise were reserved for us. (I'll post a separate entry about line handling this week, hopefully.)We sailed on the United States Coast Guard Polar Sea (WAGB-11) Icebreaker. Click on this sentence to go to the USCGC Polar Sea home page.
**All the pictures have been saved as they're original size. Click on the photo, and then click "All Sizes" to choose the larger size if you would like to see more detail.
I was able to skip the line as a line handler, and we were the first ones on board.
Then we were ushered into this big room where we had a quick briefing about safety onboard and where we could walk on the ship. It was exciting to see who was able to get on from the alternate list. Just as they finished taking on 200 passengers, the captain decided to take an extra 50 meaning that anyone who showed up to get on the afternoon cruise was able to go!
After the briefing, we were free to wander the ship, and everyone headed out to watch the lines being cast off by the line handlers.
Just as we were pulling out of Winter Quarters Bay (where all the ships dock, one or two at a time), I got this photo taken.
Erin, one of the janitors on my team and a good friend of mine, made the list for the cruise. Once we were on our way, we decided to go look for the ship's store and coffee nook before we started seeing any wildlife. We passed this lifesaver on the way.
I was so excited about being on the cruise, I was chatting with everyone we passed and jumping up and down. I told Erin I was so happy, I should have a note pinned on my chest like I was really on a school field trip. We found the store and coffee nook, and I was so happy to see Cherry Coke onboard, that I forgot to take any pictures. I also bought a pair of mesh basketball shorts to replace a pair that were lost in my luggage.
Nobody else was really excited either! Just kidding! Erin and I were discussing how we just traded places with the Coast Guard because they were so excited when they came into town the first time about two weeks ago. Now we were the ones running around like little kids, and they all understood how we felt.
Some Weddell seals lying on the sea ice as we passed by. Some of them started flopping away from us.
This is a view from below of the highest level we could walk up to. I ventured to this area towards the end of the cruise.
The crew onboard was really great about announcing when wildlife was spotted. There were lots of seals laying on the sea ice, but we spotted a few in the water too. I was really excited to see minke whales, and you can see the whales poking out of the ice chunks in the next two photos.
Our big sighting of the day included two emperor penguins which if you were on the port side of the boat (like I was), you saw them swimming under the surface of the water. It happened so quickly, but it was incredible! In this next photo, you can see the two emperors in the top right corner. I snapped the photo just as a skua flew by.
My favorite part of the day was seeing a minke whale swim out away from the ship. You will see it in this photo I took if you look in the bottom left of the pic. The water was so surprisingly clear.
We passed The Spirit of Enderby, a Russian expedition/tourist ship. The crew waved and took photos of us as we did the same to them.
The captain demonstrated the ice-breaking capabilities of the ship for us. The ship slides up onto the ice and crushes through. The ice they had to cut through to get into McMurdo was between 12 and 16 feet deep, I believe. This is a picture after the first time we went up on the ice.
We made a bigger impression our second time, but didn't break off as much ice.
These next photos are of the different chunks of ice. We were amazed to see how blue they were under the water. Every single one of them was different and unique in its own way. I don't remember talking very much during the cruise as I just sat and watched ice flow by.
The sun started to show in little patches, and made the area around Castle Rock glow.
I snapped this self portrait in the reflection of Bethany's sunglasses. Behind me you can see the big part of the ship.
The next two photos look very similar, but the first one shows more of the boat. The second shows more of the channel behind us and the clouds.
Looking down at the front of the boat from the highest level on the way back to McMurdo.
A seal floating by on an ice chunk.
The icebreaker only had to break ice along the sea ice edge. All of this in front of us was still fairly broken up or connected with very thin ice. I thought this big crack was really fascinating.
Read or Post a Comment
this is too awesome
wow, that is amazing. we didn't even have school today in westby. it's -24 right now. burrr. can't wait for april!
<3 carrie jo