14 Days Until Departure
October 20, 2008
I leave for Antarctica in two weeks. The past months have been a sludge of paperwork, planning, and packing, but it’s almost time to go!
Maybe I should explain a bit, by way of introduction. From November through February I will be working at Cape Crozier, Antarctica, on a research project focused on population dynamics of Adelie Penguins. Antarctica is earth’s coldest, windiest, most southern, least populated, and driest continent, which few people ever experience firsthand.
I will live in a 12×20′ hut on the ice with two other field crew members. We can’t leave for three months, and will have few to no visitors. There will be no shower. Severe windstorms may keep us pinned inside the hut for days at a time. I will spend up to 8 hours each day reading penguin band numbers through binoculars. There will be no days off.
I applied for this internship last spring and was hired out of more than 100 applicants. Since then, it’s been something of a process to get all my penguins in a row before deploying south. Two months ago, I had a full physical, blood test, tetanus shot, and dental x-rays taken (quite a feat on short notice in Hawaii, where I am working this summer, and which has a shortage of health services), and was “personally qualified” for the program. I have signed, faxed, and mailed enough paperwork to build a papier-mache ice-breaker ship. And I’ve been shopping: Mountaineering boots, hiking socks, chocolate, long underwear, glacier glasses, max sunblock, waterproof gloves, rechargeable batteries, goggles, travel scrabble, baby wipes, headlamp, towel. I bought an extra 20D camera body to pack as a backup to my regular optic gear. Today’s addition was a Leatherman tool, which we will need for field work.
With two weeks until departure, it was nice to finally get my plane tickets issued from Raytheon Polar Services just a couple days ago. I depart Eugene, Oregon, in the afternoon on November 3 and arrive in Christchurch, New Zealand, on the morning of November 5. I’ll spend a couple days in New Zealand getting issued with cold-weather gear before deploying to McMurdo Station via military cargo jet. McMurdo Station is a “city” of 1,200 people during the southern summer, and ninety percent of people who visit Antarctica pass through McMurdo at least briefly. There, I’ll spend a week training in “snow school” and “ice safety” classes before loading gear onto helicopters and shipping out to our little hut at the Cape Crozier field camp.
I am so excited–14 days is short, yet so long to wait before heading south! I am writing now from the Big Island of Hawaii, where I have spent the last four months working with endangered Hawaiian birds at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center (another story). Within spitting distance of palm trees and tropicbirds, it’s difficult to imagine the change to ice and penguins. Today marks my first blog posting (thanks Dad for your help setting it up!). I will keep this blog current throughout my Antarctic experience. I look forward to icy adventures ahead.
Noah in Hawaii, Fall 2008