16 June, 1992

Tuesday, 16 June, 1992:

Got off the ice about 0230 hrs, the chefs had held mid rats for us so we ate. Vicky had been having trouble getting all the data entered as quickly as it should have been; so I took all the data books. I know I irritated a few people, but that's OK. ALL the data was entered in a reasonable amount of time. In fact, before I went on watch at 0350 hrs, I lucked out. The Palmer would not move till the first light (1030 hrs), so I can get some much needed rest instead of standing watch. Tomorrow (17 June) is my 25th anniversary. Wow, I can't believe we've been married for one fourth of a century! I fell asleep typing to put together the past 25 years. I think I probably got to the first day before I fell asleep, for I'm exhausted. Got up at 1000 hrs and helped Dave and Vicky move cores off of the deck to the freezers. We were getting further and further north and the outside average temp was gradually rising. Since we were not real busy, I decided to take some time to look at some of the videos I've been shooting. Well, that was a mistake; first, I move too damn much and secondly, while I'm in the conference room looking at the videos, Vicky is putting together a mini-ice team for the next station which will be quite short. since she couldn't find me, she asked John. Oh, well....I did salinities, but looked bored. Vicky asked what was wrong. I asked, could I go along onto the ice and since I'm not needed, just take pictures? Of course, was the reply. GREAT!! I'm a happy camper! Best of both worlds - ice and pictures. WE finally got on the ice at 1900 hrs. I had packed both video and 35 mm cameras since all I was going to do was shoot pictures. WRONG. It seems that John had invited Richard to go down with the ice team and that they were going to take pictures. Hmmmmm, I thought I was. Well, I don't work that way so I put down cameras and started a snow pit. The temp was mild (-4 degrees); but the wind was high, in excess of 35 knots and by the time we got off the ice it was constant and in excess of 45 knots. I had my Gortex gear from Natick on and it worked perfectly, the only problem was the goggles kept fogging and freezing. Someone, one of the spectators, decided to move my cameras and put them on the windward side of the box. Well, you can guess what happened; the camera bag with the camera and all my lenses, though closed, filled with snow. I saw this and went nuts. Too late, so back to work. On top of the ice was 70 cm of snow that had to cleared for cores. So, here I am, the supposed observer, digging while those who were on the ice to work are taking pictures. Great. I am NOT a happy camper!! The only good part of all of this was the fact that I had a chance to experience a taste of Antarctica's famous wind. Boy, it was awesome! Oh, so you don't think things are getting too soft here, the temp had dropped to -19 by the time we got off the ice at 2330 hrs.