Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 16:26:10 -0400
Subject: visit with an Adelie!
Pictures: Adelie view1, view2, view3, view4

We are still at the same ice station, continuing research on the same ice, which has the advantage of showing changes and variations from one day to the next. The temperature has been like a yo-yo, going up and down between minus 6 and minus 18 degrees centigrade. The wind has also been quite changeable, and last night we got a couple of inches of snow. Today, the landscape is an infinity of white, soft and velvety surfaces where before we could see definite ridges of ice. It is quite amazing how different everything looks! Not far from the ship, there is a wide open stretch of water which also happened overnight, and though the sun did not appear today, the shine of the light, reflecting of the water, made a very nice contrast with the matte quality of the snow, under a grey sky barely tinted by pink and mauve. We live in pastels, and it's becoming difficult to visualize a world of bright, contrasted colors: my Santa Barbara garden with all its flowers is hard to remember (though I hope it's surviving my absence)!

A little while ago, we had a fire alarm: everyone dropped what they were doing, rushed to get their equipment in their rooms, and gathered in the conference room where roll is taken. It took us all less than four minutes (a gain of more than one minute over last week!) including people who were out on the ice, and did not know whether they were supposed to come back or not, so they did. It turned out that it was not a planned drill, but an alarm for which, at first, there was no explanation. As it turned out, I just found out from Tom, the first mate, that it was caused by dust coming from cleaning a dirty dryer! That amused me, since dust had also been responsible for a number of false alarms at school last year: different environment, same problems! But it is good to know that the alarm system works well and is so sensitive.

But the most exciting part of the past couple of days, for me at least (but I think for many others too), has been the visit from an Adelie penguin, which occured yesterday toward the end of the afternoon. I had just gotten off the ship to go join Ray, Jinro and the rest of the group who were taking an ice core toward the far end of the transect line, and for the first time, had decided to leave the camera behind, since I had already taken pictures of that process. As I got near the group, I suddenly became aware of their little tuxedoed visitor, who was standing a few feet away, waving his "arms" and loudly squawking back at Ray, who seems quite fluent in penguinese!. I was torn: go back and get the camera, and risk that he would disappear in the meantime, or just look at him? I opted for the latter, and admired the little black and white creature, who did not show any fear of these strange orange people, but seemed to want to communicate and become acquainted... After a while, work being over, people started going back to the ship, and our little friend just followed us, waiting for a few seconds then running after us, lying down in the snow, where he suddenly looked like a little balloon, then following some more... It was the cutest thing! While I stayed to observe him, Ray got the camera and brought it back to me, so I was able to get several pictures. In my eagreness, though, I'm afraid I did a poor job of centering him on several of them: oh well!

The little penguin stayed there for quite a long time, despite a continuous flow of photographers: worse than a Hollywood star! At some points, there were a dozen people with cameras, some on hands and knees, some lying on the ice to get their best shot! Later, he apparently went into one of the divers' holes, but later popped back out: luckily, the leopard seal was not around. It is interesting that, yesterday, for the first time, the divers found quite a bit of krill under the ice: maybe that is an indication that we may expect to see more penguins in the near future. At least, I can always hope! This little fellow really made my day!

It has occurred to me that I'm not sure if I have ever given my e-mail address in one of my web pages, and that therefore there might be some people out there reading it but unaware that they can (and are very welcome to) contact me to ask questions or make comments. So here it is: e-mail me at Sonierdo@nbp.polar.org I'll be glad to answer any inquiries you might have on anything relating to the cruise, the ice, life on board, etc... Domi