Base camp - March 21, 2009

It was windy periodically during the night, but not too cold in the tent. Outside the tent was a whole different matter. It was forcing my body to get up and go out about 2:00 am when I had the sudden urge to go thebathroom. It is never enjoyable getting up during the night to relieve one's self, but it even more excruciating mentally when it is sub-zero. Once I was awake, I knew there was no turning back . I didn't take the timeto put on additional layers. I slipped on my cold wet boots and looked likea polar bear as I wandered to the latrine in my white long johns. I turned my head lamp on, so I wouldn't surprise or be surprised by any wildlife. As I approached the designated area, I could hear a couple of seals start to growl. Doesn't make one real comfortable when you are trying to relieve yourself and get back to the warmth of the North Face sleeping bag. Feeling better and not so full, I noticed something I had missed out the way out of the tent, the beauty of the evening sky. The stars, planets and MilkyWay were spectacular in their brightness. I have gazed at the stars while camping in Idaho and in Colorado, but I have never seen anything so spectacular. I forgot how cold and windy it was and wished I had a camerato capture this picture for my family. It was not just the stars, but the reflection of whites, grays and blues from the water and glaciers. It willbe an image I carry with me forever. Words cannot capture how insignificant I felt at that moment as a creation in God's universe. About 5:00 am I started to hear other members of the expedition up and walking around camp. I didn't pull myself out until about 6:30 am. We are now headed for a new expedition site. I need to hurry and close. Our communications expert is getting ready to upload the satellite and send messages across the globe. My blog will be one of those. I'm not sure what we will see or encounter, but the beauty makes me pause in reflection and grateful for all I have been given.

Whilamena Bay - March 21, 2009

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 camera 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..