Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 22:06:55 +0000 From: "Coronesi, Stephanie" Subject: Message 12 19:05 (2002.01.18) 68 Degrees 01.833' South Latitude 69 Degrees 17.043' West Longitude (Bellingshausen Sea) Air Temp: 1.9 Degrees C SST (Sea Surface Temperature): 0.033 C Wind Speed: 10 knots 350 Degrees Air Pressure: 981.5 mBar Hi Everyone! Fortunately the weather has been merciful today. It's definitely been rockin' and rollin' a bit, but not enough to mess with the old belly. We did have a bit of a setback though. As we traveled through Marguerite Bay on our way to Avian Island we came upon sea ice again and it soon became obvious that it was getting too thick for the ship to handle. The little Adelie penguins were everywhere, and they didn't even have to hop from floe to floe. The general slushy ice was so thick that they could just waddle across it, no problem! Rich and I stood outside and watched them scuttle away from the ship. There was one little guy who must have been napping and he woke up, pretty much just in our path. He hustled his cute little self to the right as fast as he could, slipping and sliding and squawking until he was out of harm's way. I felt bad for him, seeing how freaked out he was, but for the most part the Adelies just stood at a safe distance, watching us intently. Anyway, the ice was so thick that we had to turn around and unfortunately the birders couldn't make it to Avian island, which is a setback to their research and the comparison data that they take from season to season. A few hours later (in open sea) it was decided that they would take a zodiac (a small inflated motor boat) to another island called Faura Island to see if there were any penguins there. It was a little crazy getting into the zodiac in the rough weather, but they all made it on safely, and last we saw them they were zipping away towards the island. (I've attached a picture of them all; Jordan, Wendy, Karen, Heidi, Pete, Brett and Karie, right before the zodiac pulled away from the boat.) We go back to pick them up in a couple of hours, and hopefully they will have had success! We saw a whole lot of icebergs today too, and a couple of them had huge ice caves in them. We didn't get close enough to any of them to get an adequately impressive picture of the caves, but if you guys can, you should go on the web and see if you can find pictures of ice caves somewhere online. They are truly breathtaking formations. Tomorrow will be an action-packed day, as we're expected to arrive at Rothera at about 8AM and then spend the day exploring. (I heard we might even get the chance to do some skiing!!) After the big dinner, we're expected to re-board the Gould and head out again some time between 11PM and midnight. I'm looking forward to meeting a whole bunch of new people and seeing tons of great stuff to tell you all about! We're in the middle of a CTD cast right now, and after I'm done filtering my water samples I'm going to be a good girl and go to bed early tonight, so I can be ready for whatever tomorrow brings. I hope you all have fabulous weekends! -Steph (Miss C!)