From the bottom of the world
Hi all,
I was going to wait and write this email once we had crossed the Antarctic Circle, and I was officially in Antarctic waters, but we had some technical delays yesterday which set us back about 12-15 hrs. We are at 64 degrees South, and the Antarctic Circle is 1 degree latitude away. That's 111km, or 59.9 nautical miles, or about 96 miles. There's been quite a few rumors as to what everybody's "initiation" will be for crossing this geographic landmark. For a little background, it is a long-standing tradition for mariners to be "initiated" when the cross a major geographic latitude for the very first time. That is, crossing the equator, the Arctic Circle, or the Antarctic Circle. Usually, the initiations are fairly harmless, such as singing and dancing a song in front of the scientists and crew, cleaning the bathrooms, or something else. Everyone is being fairly secretive about what the initiation might be, so I'm not really sure what to expect. It will probably be harmless, though. I've heard stories that on Coast Guard Cutters and Navy ships, they're a bit more cruel, but we shouldn't have to worry. Afterwards, they give you a certificate that says you've crossed the Antarctic Circle.
It has become chillier as well. We've spotted a couple icebergs off in the distance, but they are nothing compared to the famous "table icebergs" for which the Antarctic is known. It's also been snowing quite a bit lately, and the temperature has now become steadily below the freezing mark. Luckily, though, it has been very calm the past couple days. This means that when we're outside, the waves haven't been rough, and the cold wind hasn't been blowing in our faces and chilling us to the bone.
We saw a few more whales two days ago when the weather cleared a bit. They were waaaayyyy off on the horizon, but still gave quite a bit of excitement for anyone who had time to watch. Luckily, my shift had finished, so I was able to hang out on the deck and gaze.
In other news, we only have 14 more stations on our planned course. As I write, cast number 74 out of 88 is on its way down, currently more than 3,000 meters below the surface (it's going down to 5100!). If we have extra time at the end of the cruise, we're going to try to take some more samples to the west of 30 E, in hopes that we can take some samples along the continental slope. There is a pretty strong current that flows along the continental slope of Antarctica, and if we can get to a shallow enough place (without too much ice), then we will be able to make some measurements of the water masses within this current. Then, its about an 8-10 day steam back to Cape Town, where we will slow to take some samples at the major ocean fronts.
We've been planning some activities onboard to keep people excited and social. There will be a ping pong tournament, along with a cribbage tournament. The cribbage tournament is a $5 buy in, with the winner taking all. I've been told that the winner usually takes the pot to the bar, and everyone in our group gets "free" drinks until the money is gone. So, even if I go out in the first round, I'll likely get my money back once we're in port.
Speaking of in port, we plan to return to Cape Town on Monday, 17 March. I leave Cape Town on 22 March in the afternoon. In those few days, there's been a lot of talk about what activities to do. Some of the ideas are: Winery tours, hiking table mountain, seeing the penguins at the Cape of Good Hope, Cage Diving with sharks, Surfing the epic South African breaks, and some more. I won't have time for everything, so I'll just try to figure out when people are planning on doing each activity, and plan accordingly. I am excited about the idea of being back on land, but it is so great to be out here in the open ocean, seeing all the sights.
Austin
PS - If anyone is intersted in learning some more about the whole science of things, I encourage you to check out the website for the International Polar Year (www.ipy.org ). There should be something about the different cruises taking place, and you can learn about the importance of IPY. My cruise is the CLIVAR I6S cruise. I should also have a bio and some pictures on there.
Monday, February 25, 2008