Date: 01 Jan 2002 From: Coronesi, Stephanie [mailto:Stephanie.Coronesi@lmg.polar.org] Subject: Message 2 23:46 (2002.01.03) 55 Degrees 38.837' South Latitude 64 Degrees 58.036' West Longitude (Drake Passage) Air Temp: 7.1 Degrees C SST (Sea Surface Temperature): 6.328 Wind Speed: 12 knots 240 Degrees Air Pressure: 1005 mBar Hello Everybody!! First, a brief introduction from me to all of you and some clarification of who exactly is on this crazy mailing list! This is Stephanie Coronesi; Miss Coronesi or "Miss C" to many of you, Steph to others, and the proud bearer of a whole myriad of other nicknames and titles as well. I will be corresponding with four schools which are, in alphabetical order, Cambridge Friends School, Cambridge, MA (Kathryn Powell's 7th Grade homeroom); Great Hollow Middle School, Nesconset, NY (Tim Power's 7th Grade Science classes); Mt. Pleasant Elementary School, Smithtown, NY (Victor Castigliola's 5th Grade Social Studies classes); and Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, Malden, MA (Catherine Keane's 7th Grade Science classes). Also on this list are my wonderful family and friends who have professed an interest in hearing about my journey. Oh, and it is a journey on many levels; geographically, educationally, and personally. I'm an English teacher who will spend the next four weeks immersed in an area of learning that I haven't really explored since college. I have been granted the amazing privilege of traveling to Antarctica on the Laurence M. Gould. The "Gould" or "LMG" is a scientific research vessel that holds about 40 crew, scientists and volunteers. It is currently filled with some of the warmest, brightest, kind-hearted people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, never mind working with. I am here as a volunteer with the Phytoplankton group processing chlorophyll samples, but my work here won't really start until this Saturday, January 5th when we make a stop at Palmer Station. Five or six people currently aboard will be disembarking for stays of various duration, and we'll be picking up the rest of the Phytoplankton group and all of our equipment. From what I understand my life will become fairly hectic on Saturday with getting all of the equipment set up on board and ready to go. I'm excited to learn though, and I look forward to playing my part in the process. The journey began on Saturday, December 29th when my good friend Rich and I flew out of Newark, NJ and began our trek to Punta Arenas, Chile, where the LMG was docked. Rich is an oceanographer and this is his fourth trip to Antarctica, so he's been a really big help in getting me set up and acclimated to ship life. It took twenty-four hours for us to get to Punta Arenas, where we spent some time getting our issued cold-weather gear; boots, liners, thermal underwear, flannels, coats, waterproof gear, pants, overalls, several pairs of gloves, socks and goggles. We had a day or so to do some exploring around Punta Arenas and we spent several hours in a bumpy old tour van headed to a penguin rookery. We saw hundreds of adult penguins and their furry little gray babies and got a lot of pictures which I'll show you all upon our return. They are such funny, beautiful animals with their tipsy walks, outstretched wings and loud oinking cries. They let us get really close to them, some within two feet, and there were several who just seemed to love the camera. One came running up and pushed himself in front of another penguin in a seeming attempt to become the focus of our picture! We knew we were leaving Tuesday morning, so Monday night we went to Punta Arenas' town square to rub a toe for good luck. There's a statue of Magellan in the middle of the square, and one of the figures on the statue has a toe which is notoriously lucky for sailors. The figure is totally tarnished with age, but his big toe is bright and shiny from years of rubbing. So far our crossing has been relatively calm, so maybe the old toe did its thing! My corresponding classes should have all received a package with some information regarding the Long Term Ecological Research project that we're taking part of, but I will go into detail for all of you tomorrow in a journal entry answering the burning question "What the heck are you DOING down there?" Also, please go to the LMG website, www.lmg.polar.org for more info about the ship itself. Attached is a picture of me on the dock in front of the Gould, taken with a digital camera. It's the yellowish ship behind the gray one, and that's me, your tour guide! There is a limit to how many photos I can send due to size restrictions, but I'll get as many out to you as I can. Off to catch some z's. The austral summer and its 21 hours of daylight is messing with my sleep schedule! More tomorrow.... Steph (AKA "Miss C")