Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 01:13:43 +0000 From: "Coronesi, Stephanie" Subject: Message 14 Cc: "Iannuzzi, Richard" 21:10 (2002.01.21) 66 Degrees 34.912' South Latitude 69 Degrees 58.588' West Longitude (Bellingshausen Sea) Air Temp: a balmy 3.8 Degrees C! SST (Sea Surface Temperature): 1.378 C Wind Speed: 13 knots 190 Degrees Air Pressure: 978.4 mBar Yay!!!! Oh, it's so lovely to be feeling better. The weather was pretty rough right through this morning. I was convinced I was going to get pitched sideways out of the bunk last night. The seas are still a bit vigorous, but compared to yesterday it's a lovely little oasis. Towards the beginning of the trip I kept hearing people saying "I wouldn't mind seeing some really rough weather just to know what it's like." Hopefully yesterday adequately satisfied their curiosity. ;) So I promised details of our day at Rothera! It turns out that there are SO many details, I'm going to divide the message up into two parts. Authors used to publish stories in installments all the time actually. So in defiance of all that 21st Century "Now, Now, NOW!" mumbo jumbo, I present you with.... ROTHERA, PART I (very, very dramatic. I like it. ;) At 8AM on Saturday, 1/19 we pulled into port at Rothera, the aforementioned British Antarctic base. About fifteen of us headed for shore while twenty-something British scientists boarded the Gould for six hours of cruising and experiments out at sea. It was too shallow to go back and forth via gangplank, so we had to travel by way of "Man Basket." (Rich was just reading over my shoulder and informed me that on the other research ship, the Nathaniel B. Palmer, they call it a "People Basket." ...much more PC of them.) I think I'll attach a picture of this fun little contraption to give you a better idea of how it works and what it looks like. We have to wear float coats while we're being transported, in case we fall off the basket and wind up in the drink. Once we were safely on land we walked en masse to the main building to have some hot tea and meet our tour guides. We split up into two groups and sat sipping our hot drinks and chatting until about 9:30, when the informal tour began. Our tour guide Rob started by taking us around the buildings and showing us the improvised labs the biologists have been working out of since the main lab building burnt down. (We had passed by the remains of the building, still being dug up and removed by the company contracted to get rid of the debris.) The Brits are hoping to start reconstruction of the lab building next year. There is also an airstrip next to the base, which receives Twin Otters and Dash-7s, fairly small planes that fly in and out almost daily, weather permitting. We were warned not to cross the airstrip, lest we have a Dash-7 land on our heads. We stopped to look at the photos of the sledge dogs that used to live on base (they say "sledge" instead of "sled," and since it's their dogs I'm talking about, I'll defer to their lingo). These dogs were an active and important part of transport and recreation at the base for years until the Antarctic Treaty was re-worked about ten years ago and the doggies had to go. They were beautiful powerful animals, but despite their affection for humans, they often fought each other and it was apparently quite a job to get them all lined up and on their way without fights breaking out. There are still a couple of old dog sledges on base and we got a chance to look at them while touring around. Led by Rob, the six of us began our walk around the outer rim of the point, skirting the edge of the "SSSI," an area of land that's been sectioned off to measure the effect that the human inhabitants have had on the wildlife in the area. Only two of the sixty people on base have a permit to enter the area, and they do so periodically to make specific observations and ensure that the base is not having a detrimental effect on the land and its native creatures. We soon came upon an Adelie penguin who was sitting calmly and curiously on some rocks near the sea, seemingly quite content to be the subject of a whole slew of pictures. A little farther on we came upon two more Adelies who appeared to be similarly minded. One of them is featured in that photo I sent you all yesterday. Still farther on around the point we encountered a Weddell seal, who was too blissfully asleep to pay us any notice, though we were all about five feet away from her taking photos. Eventually she acknowledged our voices and sleepily opened her eyes and turned to look at us. She had the sweetest brown eyes, and was achingly cute in that way that bumbly little puppies are cute; almost like you can't TAKE the cuteness anymore without scooping the source of the cuteness up into your arms for a great big hug. While this is generally acceptable with puppies, there were some obvious hugging limitations involved with the seal, so I settled for taking about twenty pictures and hurried to catch up with the group..... Join me tomorrow for the somewhat exciting conclusion! : ROTHERA, PART II Until then..... -Steph (Miss C!)