Penguins and Evan's and More

We miss you Heather. Bad news down here is that my sledding buddy Heather will not be returning to the ice this year. After being evaluated by the doctors in CHCH they have determined that her injuries are much greater than originally thought and will be out of work for a while. I've heard a lot of the stories second and third hand so will not elaborate more than that. She is missed and we all hope she is doing well.
Boon·dog·gle a wasteful or impractical project or activity. This past Saturday night I went on a Boondoggle out to the ice caves and Cape Evans. At 6:15pm we loaded up the Deltas and headed out. The route we take to the ice caves takes about 1hr by way of a sea ice road. Just like it sounds this is a road built on about 2 meters (~6 feet) of frozen ocean. Last year I would travel this route frequently for profiling cracks for the sea ice report and for bringing fuel to the research camps. This year I only get to travel the road once and that was for my boondoggle. I should also back up a moment and explain that to get on this trip I had to stand in line for 1.5hrs to get my name on the list. So, after about an hour of driving we arrived at the tip of the Erebus Glacier Tongue (EGT) where the ice caves were found. Since they are made of moving ice, they are constantly changing. At some point I would like to write up a quick article for the Vermont Caver's Association on this trip.
The picture above is from the entrance to the cave. About 7 people at a time are allowed in and there is a fun snow-slide through the entrance. The cave isn't very deep, but the ice formations on the inside remind me so much of caving back in New York and West Virginia (yes, maybe even a little of the Vermont caves - cold and damp that is).

Before arriving at Cape Evan's we saw a couple, non-playful, penguins and a bunch of fat Weddell Seals. I was in Scott's hut last year so won't cover it too much but it is still an amazing place. The hut was first used by Captain Scott (the famous guy) back in 1911. It was later used (I think in 1913) by Shackleton's crew during the famous Nimrod expedition with the Aurora laying food depots from this side of the continent. For the full story read the book Shackleton's Forgotten Men and find out more.

The picture above is just a fun one of the Delta parked out on the sea ice. In the background to the right is Barne Glacier. Just around that point is Cape Royds where there are tons of penguins (our trip did not take us there).

On the way back home we had a cute little Adelie penguin come sliding down the road on its belly. We all stopped and got out of the delta. This little guy stopped for a moment, checked us out, then continued on his way just past us. I have closer up pictures, but this one was the cutest.

Work is going well and the weather has been great. On Sunday I made it out for a few hours to help with the annual trail crew day. There's nothing like shoveling a trail in Antarctica to make you feel old. The nice part is it took me back to my days of being a GA. Another GA from last year was on my trail crew and we ended up spending 15 minutes having a contest who could trundle large blocks of snow down Ob Hill the furthest.

The last point to make will be on my travel plans after the ice. They have already changed a bunch of times but here is the current plan... NZ-Australia-Vanuatu-Australia-Tonga-Samoa-NZ-Home. This sounds like an extravagant trip, but I've found tickets for about $1000usd. I've also looked into the costs of lodging, food, and extracurricular activities. Should be fun, but we'll see how many more times it will change before Feb.

Cheers, Skippy