Goodbye, winter overs!

I'm still way behind in time-line here since there was sooooo much to say about the trip here and the first week on station. So this so-long is two weeks late...but better late than never!

Back on Sunday, October 13, we completed our week of winter to summer turnover, the ship's crew called all-aboard for the LMG's northbound voyage back to Chile, the gangplank was craned onto the first deck...

...and the winter crew gathered on deck to wave goodbye to the summer crew standing on the pier as the ship started slowly motoring away through the loose sea ice.

If you can turn up the volume enough to hear this video, you'll hear someone on board yelling, "There's open water! Get in it!" That's because it's tradition here that when a ship leaves port, those left on station do a polar plunge as a goodbye to the departing passengers.

But even the die-hard polar plungers on station realized there is still far too much sea ice for that kind of send-off. The only open water we could see was that being created by the ship as it chugged away.

But since I'm so behind in posts, as this one is going live the LMG has already been up to Punta Arenas and made it all the way back to Palmer (with scientists on board!), and when all is said and done, there will be half-a-dozen port calls this summer--and just as many departures/opportunities for people to jump in the water with much less sea ice to contend with. Not sure I'm going to join that club, but we'll see.

For now, let's try to catch back up with real time and station goings-on as the summer gets into full-swing!