Category: Zena in Antarctica
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all alone now
Yesterday the ARSV Gould left the pier, taking most of the winter crew northbound. I’m usually the one leaving on the Gould – either on my way farther south for a research cruise or heading home – so it was strange to be left on land while the ship pulled away. That’s it! Those of…
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Home Sweet Antarctica
We made it! Greetings from the pier at Palmer Station, Antarctica. The last few days have consisted mostly of sitting around in the ship’s lounge (my eyeballs are going to explode if I watch another movie) punctuated by one action-packed morning at Copacabana. Copa is a tiny two-room beachfront hut, whose only neighbors are several…
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Ice in sight
We just crossed over 60 degrees South latitude, and are seeing ice for the first time! I don’t care how many times I come down here… sea ice never gets boring. It’s hypnotic, watching it rise and fall with the waves, listening to it scrape and slush against the ship’s hull. For now it’s just…
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Flying South for the Winter: I’m Going to Antarctica!
I write to you from a ship in the middle of the ocean, somewhere off the tip of Chile. Later tonight, my boat will be in the Drake Passage: notoriously the roughest seas on Earth. I left my home in North Carolina on Tuesday, and some 30 hours later I was standing on a pier…