1 November, 1998

Today was probably my last chance for more adventure so I took advantage of the day. We went back to Cape Evans and Cape Royds took the research team studying algae and foraminifera. We went in both sprites and snowmobiles. We all had a very exciting day.

We started off the day at Cape Evans. I had to drive the sprite out today. I must have been given the worst sprite on the station because it was terrible to drive. It roared, was slow, and constantly pulled to the left. I took Fred, the other teacher with me. It was his first experience out away from McMurdo and he was excited. I think it made the trip that much more fun for me.

On the way out to Cape Evans we passed by several seals and so we stopped to get more pictures. Fred was as excited as I was when I first saw the seals. When we got to the fishing hut we got it set up so that the divers from the algae group could go down our hole and collect algae at different depths below the ice. It was interesting watching them work. Even though the water was about 60 feet deep I could watch them moving about from where I stood above the hole in the ice.

After we finished up at Cape Evans a group of us took the snowmobiles and headed up to Cape Royds. This time I was the experienced person. No one knew the way there except me so I took the lead. Fred rode behind me on my snowmobile. It was his first time on one so he was a little apprehensive especially after reading about my spinout but he was fine and survived the trip to the Cape with no mishaps.

The numbers of penguins at Cape Royds had tripled since I was last there. Fred was in heaven. He is a bird lover. It was hard to pull him away to visit the hut built by the explorer Shackleton back in 1908.

On the trip back to McMurdo Fred had to ride with me on the snowmobile. Going back I got going a little fast for Fred. He was not holding on as tightly as I thought he was. When we hit a series of bumps I nearly through him off of the snowmobile. He had to pound me on my back to get my attention. I slowed down the rest of the trip before I killed the poor guy. He was none the worse for the wear when we returned and said he even enjoyed the ride back once I slowed down.

As I said this was my last big adventure. The experimenting is done and all I have to do now is catch the plane out of here on Wednesday. I will always remember my adventures here. I will miss this place but like I said previously I am ready to go home and back to my students. I will continue the journal until I leave. Perhaps there is something new in store before I leave. You never can tell. After all this is magical Antarctica. Bye for now.