Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 23:42:36 +0000 From: "Coronesi, Stephanie" Subject: Message 15 20:40 (2002.01.22) 66 Degrees 54.496' South Latitude 72 Degrees 00.700' West Longitude (Bellingshausen Sea) Air Temp: 1.6 Degrees C SST (Sea Surface Temperature): 0.961 C Wind Speed: 20 knots 147 Degrees Air Pressure: 986.7 mBar Hey All! And now we conclude our day at the British Antarctic station, in: ROTHERA, PART II ;) I eventually tore myself away from the seal (I am attaching a picture of her snoozing) and caught up with the rest of the group to conclude our exploration of the base. The last stop on our tour was the memorial at the top of the hill. There are a simple wooden cross and plaques honoring two men who were lost in a terribly deep crevasse in the 1980s, three scientists who were traveling back to Rothera from their satellite research station and never made it (though one of their dogs did... it was presumed that they fell through the sea ice) and four people who perished when their plane failed to get high enough off the runway and crashed into an iceberg in the bay about five years ago. We sat up there quietly for a while, absorbing it all, and taking in the marvelous landscape before beginning our descent back to the base..... We took some time to warm up in their eating area, sipping tea and mingling with the residents, who were all wonderfully friendly with fabulous accents. It was then that the CHOCOLATE supply was discovered, something that we don't have stocked here on the Gould! Though we were encouraged to help ourselves, we managed to show some restraint and share a couple of candy bars around the table. One effusive Brit approached us later and told us to stop being so polite and just shove our pockets full of them! This was apparently part of the unofficial trade. We gave them a couple of boxes of "freshies," (fruits and vegetables which are very hard to come by at an Antarctic station) and they gave us jars of honey, tubs of fruit jam and grapefruit juice. After lunch we had a couple of hours to spend doing pretty much whatever we wanted. We were told not to go skiing though because even the designated "safe" area of the glacier wasn't guaranteed to be crevasse free. Everyone living at Rothera had taken part in a three-day training course on how to get themselves out of a crevasse, should they have the misfortune of falling in. As we lacked this training, our hosts felt it would be best if we avoided the area all together. Rob told us about a crevasse he had discovered earlier in the month in the glacier (not far from the ski area). Though it had a fairly narrow mouth up top, as it went deeper the open space suddenly increased until it was approximately was the size of their cafeteria (which was plenty big, trust me). Oh how I wanted to go down and see it!!! Rob told us that although nearly everyone on base had gotten a chance to go down and explore, the policy unfortunately didn't apply to visitors. Again, they were basically concerned about us breaking our necks. They wanted to save THAT for the soccer game. ;) At 2:30 there was a "footy" game scheduled outside. (For those of you who are younger and might not know this yet, the entire rest of the universe calls the game that we call "soccer" "football," which actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it, seeing as that you use your feet and all). Unfortunately almost all of the Americans had inappropriate footwear for playing; big heavy Sorrel boots which are great for trudging through snow and keeping the feet warm, but not so good for fast-paced athletic activity. Not ones to be discouraged, our players took to the pavement and proceeded to play a heartfelt game of "football," stumbling and tripping over their huge boots and spending a large portion of playing time sprawled out on the concrete. Everyone had a lot of fun, and both teams claimed good-naturedly to have won in the end. I spent an hour or so curled up in a chair in their library, digging through piles in corners, checking out old newsletters from thirty years ago. They were all hand-typed, as computers were still in the earlier stages of development. One newsletter actually went into some depth describing computers and how they worked, running things called "programmes," and explained that some much larger computers could handle several "programmes" at once. It definitely put some perspective on how far we've come and how fast, especially where communication is concerned. Thirty years ago these guys couldn't just sit down and write an email to their loved ones back home; they had to wait weeks and months for mail to travel back and forth. I can imagine how much more isolated the base must have seemed back then. We had a lovely barbecued dinner with the Brits, and stuck around to hear the local band play. According to Rob, most members of the band hadn't ever picked up instruments before they got there. Though they were a little rough around the edges, they played a lot of crowd favorites which certainly did the trick. We danced with our hosts until 11PM when it was time to get back to the Gould. We were reluctant to leave and they seemed genuinely sad to see us go. I think it's safe to say that a really fabulous time was had by all. So that's it for our visit to Rothera! We have one more opportunity to spend time on the continent this weekend when we arrive back at Palmer. We just found out that the crossing ceremony is the day after tomorrow!! Agh! I hope they're merciful with us newbies!! Off to sample water now... you know, science stuff. ;) Keep well! -Miss C (Steph ;)