Getting ready to leave Chile

Warehouse in Punta Arenas where we get our gear

Lots of options for Palmer Station attire

We are provided with all the cold weather and fishing gear that we need to wear in Antarctia.  At the dock there is a warehouse where we get a dufflebag with what we need and get a chance to try it all on to make sure it fits.  When we return to Punta Arenas we return it back to the warehouse.  We get long underwear, winter boots, coats, rubber boots, gloves, pants, and jacket for fishing, hats, gloves, and my favorite Carhartts!

Ooh-la-la... Kristin O'Brien checking out the latest in Palmer Station fashion.

Checking out our clothing

 The research vessel that we use is the Laurence M.Gould (or LMG) , which is named after the explorer Laurence McKinley Gould who was a member of Admiral Byrd's expedition to Antarctica in the late 1920s.  The boat was built in 1997 by the Edison Chouest Offshore out of Louisiana, and it replaced the Polar Duke. During my 1997 field season I was on the Polar Duke, so I have been lucky enough to be on both vessels. The LMG is about 230 feet in length and quite comfortable (if you are fortunate enough not to get seasick!). Pictures will be coming... so stay tuned.

Johanne Lewis and Amanda Reynolds walking along dock to LMG

LMG

Skipping ahead to Antarctica...

I still have a lot of pictures and information to post about the ship and traveling down to Palmer Station, but tonight I'm going to show some photos that I took on our walk up the glacier. Behind Palmer Station is a glacier that you can hike up, as long as you stay within the flagged area. Outside the flags are crevasses, which you really don't want to fall into.  To walk up the glacier you sign out on a board in the main hallway with the people who are going, where you are going, time out and the time you expect to get back, and you take a radio with you.  Anyway, Kristin, Lisa and I hiked up the glacier, which takes about an hour to walk up, and it's icy so we put Kahtoola microspikes that stretch over your boots and keep your from slipping on the ice, after all we are walking on a glacier.  Here's a top view of my feet, showing the microspikes on my boots, but it's not that good of picture.

It was a gorgeous sunny day and the temperature was probably around 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit (although I could be off), cold, but not super cold.  Below is a photo of Palmer Station I took when I was near the top of the glacier.

Can you find Palmer Station?

It has been cloudy around the station; some days it rains, other days it snows, and the other day it hailed.  The last time I was down here was in 2001, and over the past 13 years there are definite indications that the Antarctic Peninsula is warming. I'm going to ignore the decline of penguins around Palmer, and the issues we are facing keeping the water cold enough for our icefish in our aquarium lab (yes, the water around Palmer Station that we bring into our aquarium is on the verge of being too warm to maintain our fish. In the next few years we may need to use chilling units to keep the water at ~0.8 degrees Celsius). Since 2001, which was the last time I was here, glacier has retreated away from Palmer Station leaving a rocky "backyard", that is A LOT larger in size than what it used to be! The Antarctic Peninsula is warming extremely quickly causing loss of glacier ice and ice shelves (http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ngeo1787.html).  The warming of the ocean by even a few degrees has the potential of wiping out the plants and animals that cannot adapt to rapidly changing temperatures. The Adelie penguins rely on ice to serve as floating docks that they can rest on and then enter into the water to feed.  Since 1974 Adelie penguin populations along the western Antarctic Peninsula have declined by 84% (http://pal.lternet.edu/sci-research/transformational_science/). I have seen a few Adelie penguins on my way down this time (no pictures yet), but not as many as in previous years.

And on that note, here are some photos from today.

Rubbing the toe for good seas!

Main square in Punta Arenas.

 The main square in Punta Arenas is really beautiful.  Some of the trees have wicked huge trunks!

Walking to the square.

Large tree

In the square is a monument to Ferdinand Magellan, the explorer after whom the Strait of Magellan is named. Legend has it that if you rub to toe of the native you will have smooth seas, and when you cross the Drake Passage you need all the help you can get!  Rubbing the toe may also give you good luck, or ensure that you will return to Punta Arenas. We rubbed the toe every time we walked through the square!

Rubbing the toe for a smooth crossing!

A closeup of the native's foot---- it's SHINY from all the rubbing!

Here's the entire monument with Magellan on the top.

Shackleton Bar

In the hotel in Punta Arenas there is the Shackleton Bar, obviously named after Ernest Shackleton, an Antarctic explorer.  Although he was not the first explorer to reach the South Pole (that honor goes to Roald Amundsen), he set out to cross the entire continent through the South Pole.  His ship the Endurance became trapped in pack ice and eventually sunk, so he did not complete he goal, but the story of he and men surviving and being rescued is an amazing story. Anyway, this bar in Hotel Jose Nogueira is a nice place to relax.  There's intricate woodwork and paintings that depict Shackleton's expedition, and here we enjoyed pisco sours. The image below does not do the bar justice.

Hotel Jose Nogueira in Punta Arenas

In Punta Arenas the hotel we stayed at was Jose Nogueira, which was Bruce's (Bruce Sidell was my graduate advisor for both my Master's and Ph.D at the University of Maine), favorite hotel.  Below is a picture of the hotel from the sidewalk.  In Punta Arenas (or PA for short) there are A LOT of stray dogs, and you'll see one sleeping in the warm sun outside the hotel.  However, they may not be completely "stray" dogs; many businesses put out food and water for these dogs, and unlike most of the stray dogs in the United States that are terrified of people, these dogs will walk along with people, not begging, but sort of in a pack. I however still find it a bit sad, especially when I see one that is injured.  What is also exceptional about these dogs is that they know how to cross the street and they watch for traffic; just like people who are waiting for the light to change, so do the dogs.  They don't randomly cross in front of cars, but maybe the ones that do either don't survive or else they learn that cars are not their friends.  I did see one dog that walked on all four legs up to a street, waited for the light to turn and then limped across on three legs picking up is front left paw, and as soon as he had crossed the street he started walking normally again.  I wish I got a video.

Hotel Jose Nogueira in Punta Arenas

 The glassed in area in the picture above is the dining room (below) where we had breakfast which consisted of coffee, fruit, meats and cheeses, a typical South American breakfast. There were grape vines inside the dining room, but since it is fall in the southern hemisphere, no grapes.

My room in the hotel was nice with two twin beds and overlooked the street, a typical street, not much different than a street in the United States. The room had two twin beds

My hotel room in Punta Arenas.

Street view from hotel

The toilet paper was interesting, and probably geared towards young children.  There was a dog imprinted on the tissue and the word "Pare!", which means "Stop" or "Halt" in spanish. Cute, huh?

How to know how much toilet paper to use....

 Next..... the Shackleton Bar.

Valdosta to Atlanta to Santiago to Punta Arenas

First of all, it is amazing that I can leave Valdosta, Georgia, on a Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. and arrive in Punta Arenas, Chile at 5:30 p.m. the following day! If you don't know where Punta Arenas is, click on this link to see where Valdosta and Punta Arenas: Valdosta to Punta Arenas 

 So, if you ever have the option of flying Delta or American Airlines to Santiago, Chile, I would choose Delta.  I admit that I was lucky that my flight wasn't full, and I had the luxury of having 2 seats to myself!  But, on my plane I could watch movies, and so I chose to watch "What to Expect When You Are Expecting" and "Dinner for Schmucks", not great masterpieces, but when you are trying to get through a 10 hour flight, these movies helped pass the time.  I was the only one of the research team (who I will introduce later) that flew on Delta; everyone else flew American.  They apparently watched some movie that had both the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus in it (or something like that), and while Delta gave passengers water (or other drinks) ~8 times during the night, American airlines gave their passengers water only 2x!

Once in Santiago I was met by "Jimmy" who works with the contractor who gets all people and supplies to Palmer Station.  After a few words to the customs agents who look for illegal things, fruits, vegetables, etc. I was magically waived through, and they didn't search my bags.

In Santiago, I met up with the other members of the research team, and we all got on a plane to Punta Arenas, which is where we caught the boat to Palmer.  The airport in Santiago is very similar to other airports with this mainstay of coffee places....

Starbucks in the airport in Santiago, Chile.

The flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas takes 4 hours with a stop in Puerto Montt.  In 1997 when Kristin and I went to Palmer Station, we got off at Puerto Montt and traveled around this are of Chile for a few days.  Anyway, the flight to Punta Arenas was uneventful and I spent most of my time talking with a nice couple who were going to backpack and camp in Chile.  Anyway, here is the gratuitous image out of the plane one the way to Punta Arenas after our stop in Puerto Montt.

I was on the right side of the plane so I didn't get a good view of mountains in Torres Del Paine, but the view was still pretty impressive. And, once in Punta Arenas we were met in the airport and taken to our hotel, which was called Jose Nogueira.  I will post more about that tomorrow, but right now I have a game of ping pong to play.

Finally arrived...

This is the view from my room at Palmer Station.  We just arrived to Palmer yesterday and moved from the ship onto the station.  I wasn't able to post anything in Chile and while we were crossing due to internet/band width issues.  I will however backtrack and share photos and stories, which will begin tonight after dinner!

Here is the press release From VSU: Biology Professor Studies Icefish

Stay tuned...

I hope to begin posting on April 9 when I get on a plane and begin my trip.