Bonaparte

Finally, the weekend before Thanksgiving, the sea ice got blown out from around station and the boats were able to hit the water. Palmer's research is marine-focused, and there are a half-dozen scientists here who have been waiting out the sea ice so they can get out in boats to collect samples, count birds, and so on. But since there are boats, we can also use them for recreation purposes when the scientists don't need them...or if they don't need all the seats. 

Which is what happened the weekend before Thanksgiving. The BoatHouse guys were racing all over the place in the solas, dropping a group of "birders" (scientists here to count and study the bird populations on various islands around Palmer) off at one island and then moving them to another, in between trips to drop off emergency caches at various islands. And so with three other scientists, I was able to hitch a ride just across the little inlet at our dock to Bonaparte Peninsula. It was crazy how refreshing and amazing it felt to be just three minutes away from station and hanging out on the rocks for a couple of hours, appreciating the moss and lichen and seals and penguins swimming by, and the very lovely, mild day.

Recreation

We have a pretty small community here, so we don't have as many big social events going on as at the other stations I've been to. But I love Palmer's brand of recreation. Everyone is very playful and creative. One morning when the boat was arriving, we'd had a big snowstorm the night before and a bunch of people waiting to do their line-handling duties spontaneously built some of the most impressive snowmen I've seen!

There's also this AWESOME hut about a 10-minute walk from station where you can bring a sleeping bag and mat and sleep for the night with a stunning view over Arthur Harbor at the glacier. I haven't gone yet because I was soaking up the great luck of not having a roommate, but I'll start taking my turn now that that has changed.

One of the Marine Lab Technicians who comes here on a lot of the port calls introduced a game she used to play as a kid--Skittles--and then one of our community members actually built the game for us to play here!

We have also had some trivia nights, which involved a lot of confusing silliness when costumes were encouraged. I also took my first turn ever at hosting trivia, which was a lot of fun.

And, one of the best things ever  about Palmer--the hot tub!!! I love it and go in there several times per week. It has to be one of the best views of any hot tub on the planet!

And then there are the very Antarctic kinds of recreation, like this hang-out area behind the trades shop, which its frequenters like to call "Hobo Camp," and which sometimes involves them bringing out the smoker and preparing delicacies such as...Spam.

And then there's turning community chores into fun. Everyone takes a turn once/week doing the dinner dishes and kitchen clean-up. People tend to form teams and sign up together with the same group every week. I'm lucky to have gotten drawn into a group where we celebrate the end of our frantic cleaning with a shot of (alcoholic or non-alcoholic, per individual preference) shots and laughter. It makes even the chores around here feel fun.

But the BEST part of recreation at Palmer is rec boating, which we've had to wait a long time for since the sea ice stayed packed in around station for so long. But the next couple posts will be about that!

Visit from the NBP

In mid-November, a rare thing happened at Palmer. The Lawrence M. Gould (LMG) is our usual supply ship and the one that brought us down here in October. But the program also leases an even larger vessel, the Nathaniel B. Palmer (NBP) that typically traverses the peninsula with scientists whose projects require that they be on boats rather than using Palmer as a land base.

I posted a picture of both the vessels docked in a row on the pier at Punta Arenas when I was first coming down here. But it's been almost 20 years since they were both at Palmer at the same time. But due to the need to drop a couple of scientists off at Palmer at a time when the LMG happened to be here, we got a dual LMG/NBP visit. It was pretty cool to see.

The ships tied up to each other and put down a gangway between the two that we could cross to take tours of the NBP.

It's only a few dozen feet longer than the LMG, but it feels SO much bigger, and is definitely taller, so that it gave a really nice novel view of Hero Inlet.

 I guess I'm just really not great at staying in one place for a very long time, because it even felt jarring and amazing to me to look out at the same view that we can see from Palmer, but just be a little bit higher and out in the water than we are usually. At the time I had only been at Palmer for about six weeks, but it had been such a crazy six weeks it had felt MUCH longer, and even the smallest change in perspective at that point was very, very welcome!

Room with a view

Not too shabby! 

AND I had my room to myself for the first two months here, for which I'm crazy grateful.

It's a joy for me in the morning (or at night) to pull up the blinds and see what is happening in this little corner of the world today.

There's all these other windows around station, too, where you just walk by and it's breath-taking. You see this stuff, and no matter what work craziness is going on, realize: not a bad day!

Local friends

One of the fun things about still having so much sea ice around for the first few weeks here is that there were seals hanging out and about. With their babies!

Our most ubiquitous animal friends are sheathbills, very curious, white birds that hang out with us almost all the time, will eat anything we let them (from the cover of the hot tub to our poop as it comes out of the station outfall pipe), and leave their adorable footprints everywhere.

They tend to pair up and (at least when they have not been hanging out by the outfall and are wearing that evidence on their feathers) can be quite adorable as they bob around station, checking out all the action and bobbing their heads around everywhere.

Once the sea ice broke up a bit, the animal visits to station multiplied exponentially. Penguins started hopping up on the rocks down by the pier to hang out for a bit...

...a baby elephant seal decided the side of the boat house was fantastic place to rest for a weekend...

...and some sea stars were visible alongside the dock ramp.

I have to admit, predictable as it is, the penguins are my favorite. They are just so endlessly entertaining to watch. The way they move is so funny and endearing and awkward, and they just seem so cheerful and optimistic. I just love it.