Catching up - Sarah's having too much fun to post!

(A research diver coming up out of the icy waters!)

 So Sarah will not be able to make posts - she's too busy having tons of fun.  I've already tried to write this post once but the photos were not working.  I'm going to be posting photos on here and trying to describe them with some of Sarah's words.  I've got lots of catching y'all up!  I'll try to do my best, especially if the darn blog cooperates and posts these deals.  Sorry for the wait and any confusion on the last post.  More to come!!

(Sheathbills - Sarah loves them and thinks they are hilarious but other people find them to be annoying and stupid)

(This Gentoo kept hopping from piece of ice to piece of ice.  Too cold to get in?)

(The pic of the day - this fur seal hung out on the boat ramp all day.  He just looked like he really wanted to play with someone)

One Last Full Day On Land

March 19

Breakfast at the Dreams hotel was a great start to an exciting day.  I focused on the smoked salmon and fresh cheeses, and hydrated with four varieties of fresh juice - melon, strawberry, mango, and orange.  They say hydration is key for preventing sea sickness.  We checked out of the hotel, sadly, and went to pick up our ECW (extreme cold weather) gear, joyfully. I have been looking forward to this gear for a long time.  The warehouse is at the pier, just down the street from the hotel.  I might have been skipping down the sidewalk on the way there.

We were each given a pre-packed bag of gear in the appropriate sizes. We had to try everything on for size and to check that everything was in working order, swap out what didn't work, and then ask for the extra things we wanted. Again I was so obviously the new kid on the block. The more experienced people knew exactly what they needed, often very little because they have a lot of their own stuff, while I had to keep asking 'what's this for?', 'when would you wear these pants instead of those?', and other similar questions. I went on previous advice to just Get It All, and in the end had two full ECW bags of sweet gear, including the big red puffy jacket I have been dreaming about for years. It is finally mine!  At least for a few months.  Fortunately we just left the bags there to be loaded onto the ship, and then were on our own for a couple hours until we could board the ship.

A few of us ate a small lunch and then walked around town looking for the yarn store, that when we finally found it, had just closed for lunch.  The walking around was nice itself though: pretty city, beautiful weather, and especially pleasing with several days on a ship coming up.

At 2pm it was time to board the Laurence M Gould, home for the next several days, and my ticket to Antarctica!  I would actually get on and off the ship several more times over the next 21 hours before departure, checking in and out at the guard shack for the boat and the pier each time, but it was still exciting to cross over onto the deck for the first time. We had an orientation meeting and some computer training, and then we moved our bags to our rooms. Most people are sharing tiny 2-person rooms, but since there is currently not a Chief Scientist on board (this vessel is mostly used for science and research), I get the Chief Scientist roomS to myself. I have the usual 2 bunks and a bathroom, but also my own sitting room, with a couch, table, desk, computer, and monitors showing the ships direction, speed, etc.  I feel like such a diva, but maybe previous doctors were snobs and now I get the benefit.  The top bunk seems dangerous but the bottom doesn't have room to sit up, and the porthole window is on the top, so that's where I naturally chose to take up residence.

Across the pier from us is docked a Spanish Navy training ship, Juan Sebastian de Elcano, named after the first circumnavigator of the globe. What about Magellan?  Apparently he died before they finished and Elcano led the surviving 17 to complete the course.  It's a beautiful ship, a four-masted sailboat, white outside and dark wood on the decks.  One of my teammates also found the sailors to be visually appealing and I thought for a moment we might lose her, but more than a Spanish sailor she wanted an alpaca sweater. *Comment from Brett - I believe Sarah has started speaking of herself as "teammates" and "friends" for my benefit.  Doesn't it make the story better for everyone else if she's the one that almost got on the Spanish boat anyway? I'm laughing anyway*

Our cook Mike has been wearing the alpaca sweater that he bought in Punta Arenas on a

(This is clearly not Sarah and this
is not a purple Alpaca sweater.
But it does look somewhat how
I pictured it from her description
and since she has yet to send me
pictures I could not resist
looking for one to post)

previous trip, and lots of us have been wanting one as well, so next we ventured back into town, to a store with said alpaca sweater, and each bought one in different colors. A few others on our team went separately later and bought them too, so it's now the unofficial uniform of the Palmer Winter 2015 team.  I should clarify, they are supposedly made of alpaca wool, but also, they have little alpacas in the design- some a single stripe of alpacas and some completely outrageously alpaca'd all over. They are ridiculous...ly awesome, and make me smile every time I see one. Which is constantly since about 15 people have one.  Mine is purple.

After the alpaca store we went by the grocery store for last minute boat necessities, of which I have few: Chocolate and Coke Zero.

We checked in at the pier guard shack and at the boat guard shack, met up with some others on board, checked back out at the boat guard shack and at the pier guard shack, and went back into town for dinner.  I think the pier check is for security and the boat check is in case the ship sinks they'll know who to come looking for, but still it seems a little silly.

We went to dinner at the restaurant we tried for last night at El Remezon (click here for the trip advisor review and so you can plan your own trip down here).  They eat so late here, the restaurant doesn't even open until 8pm.  It was worth the wait, the wait for tonight, for 8pm, and for the very laid-back service. We didn't finish until 11pm. But good company, good food, fun atmosphere, why rush.  I ate a sampler platter called Earth, which included rhea (similar to an ostrich; probably my favorite, tasted a lot like cooked tuna), beaver (most people's favorite, I liked it as well though I can't describe it at all), llama (a pate maybe, I did not like it at all), wild goose (pretty good, similar to raw tuna but hopefully just chilled and not actually raw, who knows), and hare (also good).  I also had Chilean Sea Bass, which an environmentalist at the table gave me a hard time about, but it was called The Best Chilean Sea Bass Antarctican. I'm in Chile, how could I resist?  It was the best I've ever had for sure.  I had a local beverage as well, with berries, that I liked a lot more before someone pointed out that it had eggs in it.  I guess I should have just ordered juice because there's something weird to me about drinking eggs.

Back to the ship, checking in twice of course.  I made a couple phone calls from the ships Iridium phone (satelite phone of sone sort) that sometimes works well and sometimes sounds really far away, which I guess I am.  I'm somewhere around 4.7 thousand miles from home, but only about 800 away from Palmer Station, Antarctica!  We are sleeping on the ship tonight though we won't set off until tomorrow afternoon. We get one more morning in Punta Arenas and then we set sail (or motor really, no sails on the LMG) for Antarctica!

*Brett comment - Sarah has safely reached Antarctica at this point but for obvious reasons has not written posts about each leg of her journey yet.  I did want everyone to know, however, no need to worry about the treacherous crossing of Drake Passage  as it has already been made.  MORE POSTS TO FOLLOW!! Feel free to add your e-mail on the right so that the posts will shoot directly to your inbox.  It will prompt you to put in a code to ensure you actually want to join that it will send to your e-mail address.  I've also been asking for more photos.  We will see if she can send them from Palmer Station.*

Finally On My Way

(Punta Arenas!!  Finally ready to launch off into the seas towards Antarctica,
but not until after exploring the town a little bit first)

Well I am finally on my way to Antarctica. It has been 10 months since I signed on for this job, and about 10 years since I first got the idea in my head that I needed to get to Antarctica. It is hard to believe it is actually, finally, really happening. I left from the Memphis airport yesterday evening, after making all my final goodbye phone calls, then had a short stop in Dallas, where I made my final final calls, and met one member of my team after I noticed the Antarctica patch on his backpack.

On the flight to Santiago Chile I got little sleep - I could fall asleep in the middle of a crowded grocery store no trouble, but for some reason I cannot sleep on a plane- but two decent meals and a good start on my current reading material The Mammoth Book of Antarctic Journeys, thank you Simon.  Two of my team members were actually sitting across the aisle and behind me, but I didn't realize it until we had landed in Santiago, Chile and they were talking about the espresso machine breaking last winter, and I figured they must be talking about the station.

(Hope you like my new ride! The orange boat on the right
will be my new home for the voyage down)

I met several more team members as we were escorted through customs and to our next gate by a local agent that made the whole process very easy.  I possibly have the most personal luggage of anyone, though a few people have research gear and other packages that fortunately make my load seem within the normal range, but I am obviously a first-timer. It seems about a third of us are first-timers, about a third are first-time-to-Palmer but have been to the ice before, and a third have been to Palmer before.

It was chilly on the flight to Punta Arenas, and I felt silly, knowing where I'm headed, but had to ask for a blanket. It was a comfortable flight from there.  We were met again by local agents and taken to our hotels. Most of us are at Dreams. A few requested a different place though I can't imagine it is any nicer than here.  I have a great view of the city from my 8th floor room, and from the window by the elevator I can see the Laurence M Gould, where I'll be for the next few nights after this last taste of luxury here at Dreams. The bathroom is all glassed in, but with remote control blinds in case I want privacy from the bedroom, and the shower has that rain shower from above as well as side sprayers.

I did get confused on the time, for some reason the iPhone is an hour behind, so I missed cocktail hour, but I met up later with the group headed for a wild game restaurant. It was closed and we went to a steak place instead. It was certainly no Tim steak, but it was ok, especially the scallops which were delicious.  The wild game place was open later and so we might try for it again tomorrow. Then we went to a local bar, where the six of us met up with the group that had gone out for pizza instead of game. There are enough people in the group that have been here before, so that everyone knows the best places to go. I had some local concoction that included pineapple sorbet and grenadine, a sugary dessert in a glass I suppose.

Tomorrow I will take a final long hot shower before we meet at 10 till 10, to walk to the Warehouse where we will get our issued clothing-I'm so excited for my red parka- and then load onto the ship.  We will then apparently be free for the afternoon, and I have plans to go to a yarn store and a local clothing store where some people last year bought alpaca fleece jackets.

So far, those I have met seem like fun people to spend a long isolated time with.  It's going to be a great winter.