11 June, 1992

Thursday, 11 June, 1992:

I got up at 0932 hrs. Wow, 7 hrs of sleep!! The engines of the Palmer were taking us in an East, Northeast direction. Billy-Bob said I had a lot of E-mail. Great, I can't wait to read it. It was from Tara Devarakonda. She had collected messages from many of my students and some of my peers. THANKS to one and all; the notes meant MEANT A LOT!!! Thanks to Tara, "Dizzy" Liz, Kathleen Powers, Julie Bernier, Marissa Cunane, Andrew Sullivan, Kerri Canavan, Ally Martin, Stacy Friedman, Saar Crawford, Kelly Turner, Jason Rossman, Karyn Lomuscio, Mike Bernard, "Goofy," Matthew Kewriga,, Autum Dumas, Mike Johnson, Shannon Blaney, Rocky, Cidhinnia Torres Compos, Robyn Stagg, David Eck, Lynette, Angela Temple, Jen Penkauskas, Erica Lewis, Nicole Telage, Chris Cesnek, Amy Guyon, Santina Masters, Andrew Simon, Kerrin Eck, Maribeth Davis, Colleen Amrock, Sheryl Koval, Kristen Hedrick, Jill Mossman, Mike Vonder Hyde, Kyle Taylor, Jim, Will Howard, "Dimples" Sara Hadden and my friends Barbara (I will be back to haunt you) and Doug.

As I read on further, I found a letter from my wife. Wow!! I'm thrilled; especially since the report from the "Home Fires" is that all is well. Not only well, but great! I just learned our oldest son has graduated with a 3.05 from U of Mass. Congratulations, Erik! I'm so proud of you. N.B., Erik, we will party when I get home as I promised! I want to respond right away but I'm exhausted. Got 1 and 1/2 hrs of sleep and go the the computer room and reread Ingrid's letter and respond when Javier says to me that the Palmer is stuck and that the Federov is turning around to come and help us. I dress and go out on deck. Sure enough, Antarctica has once again decided that the Palmer should stop; and needless to say, we did. By about 1615 hrs it is obvious, for we can see the Federov's bow lights, that she has made a large circle and was coming back to free us. By the time she got to us, however, we had worked our way free. The Federov made a wide turn around us and we jumped in immediately just to her stern. We need the Federov; not so much her size but rather the eyes her helos provide. If the Palmer is to function successfully in these waters in the winter, she will need her own helicopter.

1930 hrs we enjoyed a fire drill. During it we were shown a video of life raft safety. Not that it was unimportant or boring; but I'm exhausted and almost fell asleep! Got out of drill at 2035 hrs and decided to go to bed for we are supposed to be doing a station around 2400 hrs.