18 December, 2000

--============_-1234921424==_ma============

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Greetings,

The Research Marine Vessel Gould was supposed to arrive tomorrow morning to unload cargo and then depart on Wednesday, with me aboard, to Punta Arenas. The station manager received e-mail from the Gould that they were currently trapped in some ice and were awaiting an icebreaker or the weather to change and free them. The Gould was supporting a science team at Seymour Island. They could possibly be delayed for a day or two.

Today was a day out in the zodiacs collecting data. The water appeared fairly calm till we left our sheltered harbor and out into the open water. The wave height increased and the wind began to pick up. It made our work more difficult but at least we could see the mountains in the distance. We returned to Palmer Station to filter water, run calibrations on the ac9 and Ray Smith was examining a new piece of equipment that will be used in the field soon called an

FRRF. The FRRF is a Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer. This instrument might some day replace the need for running chlorophyll samples.

After dinner Ray, Doreen, Rick and I went to Torgersen Island to see how the penguin chicks were doing. While I was there I got to see Blonde, not the musician but a blonde penguin. It was incredible. I was told that she has been around for several years. I was glad I got to see her. There were quite a few penguins sitting on chicks. Some

of them were getting rather large. They looked like softballs. After about an hour on the Island we headed back to station. I still had water to filter.

So will the Gould show up? Stop back by tomorrow to see how much longer my adventure will continue.

C-Ya,

-- Bill

--============_-1234921424==_ma============

Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii"

<fontfamily>Times<bigger><bigger>Greetings,

The Research Marine Vessel Gould was supposed to arrive tomorrow morning to unload cargo and then depart on Wednesday, with me aboard, to Punta Arenas. The station manager received e-mail from the Gould that they were currently trapped in some ice and were awaiting an icebreaker or the weather to change and free them. The Gould was supporting a science team at Seymour Island. They could possibly be delayed for a day or two.

Today was a day out in the zodiacs collecting data. The water appeared fairly calm till we left our sheltered harbor and out into the open water. The wave height increased and the wind began to pick up. It made our work more difficult but at least we could see the mountains in the distance. We returned to Palmer Station to filter water, run calibrations on the ac9 and Ray Smith was examining a new piece of equipment that will be used in the field soon called an FRRF. The FRRF is a Fast Repetition Rate Fluorometer. This instrument might some day replace the need for running chlorophyll samples.

After dinner Ray, Doreen, Rick and I went to Torgersen Island to see how the penguin chicks were doing. While I was there I got to see Blonde, not the musician but a blonde penguin. It was incredible. I was told that she has been around for several years. I was glad I got to see her. There were quite a few penguins sitting on chicks. Some of them were getting rather large. They looked like softballs. After about an hour on the Island we headed back to station. I still had water to filter.

So will the Gould show up? Stop back by tomorrow to see how much longer my adventure will continue.

C-Ya,

-- Bill

</bigger></bigger></fontfamily>

--============_-1234921424==_ma============--

A blonde penguin.

A penguin chick is growing quickly.