First of all, I want to wish my daughter a BIG Happy Birthday. She was not real happy when she found out I was going to be in the Antarctic on her birthday, but how often do you receive birthday wishes from the bottom of the globe.We were up early this morning which would turn out to be a long day for some. It was extremely cold as we boarded the Zodiac boats for shore. Welanded on King George Island which is part of the Shetland Islands. Then a freezing wet wind and fog set in as we climbed to the e-base.Bellingshausen, the Russian base here in Antarctica is right next to the e-base. They have twenty 23 people manning the base. One woman film maker arrived ten days ago to do a documentary. She will be the only woman here for a year. We then separated into team as we hiked into a glacier. We have all been instructed on how and when to layer our clothing. On our hike, many people started to get hot, so they took off layers to cool down. The best way to regulate your body temperature is to first, walk at an even pace. Don't go too fast or hard. Otherwise you will overheat and sweat. If you stop, the wind instantly cools your body down and you could swear ice is forming onyour body. This is dangerous. Second, use your hat to release heat. Seventy percent of your body heat escapes through your head. We have learned that you take your hat off for a bit and your body will cool down. During our hike, we heard something that sounded like a sonic boom. Laterwe found out it was part of the ice field that had broken off and fell into the southern ocean. Members of the team who were higher on the mountain could see the large wave created by the breakage. At the glacier we found a few
penguins waddling on the beach and playing in the water. My daughter wanted one for her birthday. Honey I'm sorry, but this picture will have tobe enough. They keep their distance, but seem afraid of human presence.It was a pretty good hike and many in the team struggled. One of the bestparts of the hike was the discussions we entered into. We have a very international expedition team represented by members from China, Spain, England, Scotland, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, South Africa and other countries including the United States. It is fascinating to learn aboutother people. You talk about families, social norms, language differences,travel and many other topics. In our situation, barriers are lowered because we are all in a new learning environment.After we finished the hike, I walked into the ocean to clean off my boot sand gaiters. The water was bitterly cold at 5 degrees C. My Sorel Conquest boots have been awesome. Very warm, good traction and water proofand would recommend them to anyone who will be in extreme cold environment. Tonight we are on our way to Iceberg alley and the continent of Antarctica. About an hour ago I was in the captain's bridge looking at the radar. He showed me the radar used to spot icebergs. I was amazed. On the screen Icounted 18 icebergs. I asked how large these were, but I don't think hewanted to answer. You can constantly feel the ship changing directions to avoid the path of the bergs. It is also an uncomfortable feeling knowing weare traveling through an iceberg field during the night.
The captain hasslowed the ship and we are only using one engine. I've been told the designated wake time tomorrow morning is 5:30. At this time we will beofficially in iceberg alley. Then we head to the continent and disembark.We will have photo opportunities with our corporate flags (I will have two.One for HP and one for the state of Idaho) and then the team will be underthe direction of Robert Swan as we head to the ice fields and glacier.
The weather continues to be cold, windy and snowy. Team members are wearing so many layers they look like little kids who have moms that won't let them out of the house without wearing every piece of winter clothing possible. Then they over heat after moving around and end up taking half their layersoff in order to cool down.Today, we spent time in Whilamena Bay and from what I understand; Whilamena was a queen in Holland. We were able to observe a number of hump backwhales, fur seal, penguins and a leopard seal. As I have mentioned before,when we need to cross water, we use Zodiac boats. The bay was full offloating ice and you could hear it grind against the propeller when we hit asubmerged piece. As we went around the corner of the bay and entered a small inlet, part ofthe glacier crumbled. The zodiac driver told everyone to hold on as he quickly maneuvered out danger from the oncoming wave of ice and freezingwater. Everyone braced themselves as he turned the bow of the boat to take the impact.It is now evening; around 11:00 pm Antarctic time and 8:00 MST. I'm in our tent typing this posting as everyone is preparing for bed. You can hear idle chatting coming from other expedition member's tents, but it is muffledagainst the wind. The wind has started blowing a bit harder (I wish I couldgive the exact temperature, but I don't have it) and we are expecting tohave another storm hit during the night. The sides of our tent areflapping around like a kite and my expedition partner thinks it is quitefunning that I have my Hewlett Packard (HP) laptop powered up to continue making blog postings. My laptop is functioning quite well in the coldweather and battery life has been decent even with the draining affect thatcold usually has on batteries. My Nikon camer
a batteries are also holding up well. As we entered our planned camp site tonight, we had penguins roaming the area and a leopard seal came off the shore and has made its present right outside our camp area. We have been instructed to be very careful because these seals are quite mean and aggressive. They are fairly large and Iwouldn't want to get to close. It is interesting to me to watch the penguins walk near it. Tonight it was also announced that the Drake Passage is having a majorstorm. Winds at gale force 60 knots. That made quite a few people worried about the trip home. Time for bed..
