3 November, 1998

Well the end is here. At least the end of my Antarctica adventure. It was finished off in style, mostly. I took two snowmobile trips out to Cape Evans today, one this morning and one this evening. It is now 1:45 am and I am not the least bit sleepy. I am going to enjoy my last night in Antarctica so I do not plan on going to bed for a while yet.

This morning three of us went fishing at Cape Evans and caught several fish. At the time we thought it was to be my last trip out so I had to say goodbye to the area. When I got back I had to go check in and get weighed with my gear for the return flight. That took less time than we thought so four of us decided to go back out and fish some more. This time we took the Spryte (not sprite as I have spelled it in the past) and 3 snowmobiles. We pretty much raced out on the snowmobiles. For the first time people had to try and keep up with me. I had the fastest snowmobile and I let Mr. Hyde come out. I flew out to the Cape.

It got pretty cold out there this evening and a breeze was blowing so hard that the snowmobile was being pushed to the side of the route. I nearly got blown into the flags a couple of times but I kept on going I was really enjoying this trip. I finally had to stop to let the others catch up to me.

We caught several fish at the hut and had a temporary holding basket set up to hold the fish. Right before we decided to go one of the others decided to take a picture of us fishing. He accidently knocked loose our holding pen and we watched all of our fish slowly sink out of sight. We ended up bringing back 5 of the 20 fish we caught. Oh well another fish story.

You can never visit paradise without a minor mishap occurring. While we were strapping the cooler with the fish in the Spryte for transport a bungee cord came loose and hit me right below one of my eyes. I will probably have to have a couple of stitches but what the heck I consider it a badge to take back with me. A little black eye and stitches never hurt anyone, much. Coming back was a little difficult. I could only see out of one eye. The Spryte was too slow and I needed to have my eye looked at so I had no choice but to drive the snowmobile back. Naturally I was not speeding back but it was diffcult to keep the snowmobile steady so naturally when I hit the bare ice I had a spin out but I was ready for this one and it did not scare me like the first time.

I almost forgot before the mishap while I was fishing outside of the hut in the divers hole a large seal stuck his head up and stared at me as if to say goodbye. It was such a neat way to end my stay. I am beginning to get sad about leaving but still I want to go home. It is just that I know that I will never be able to return. We had a visitor at the hut today. He told us what he does here but it escapes me. He has been coming here to work every year for 20 years. He made the statement that he does not know what he will do when he can no longer return to the ice. It is a big part of him. I can sympathize with him in some small way. This place will be hard to get out of my system. The beauty and magic here entwines you. It is something I will never forget. It has been a wonderful trip.

Well this is probably the last journal entry I will be able to make since I leave tomorrow. It has been a fun and exciting trip. I hope those of you reading this will get the opportunity to visit Antarctica and experience the magic. You will never regret it. I know I won't. I guess this is my farewell to you readers also. I hope my experiences peaked your interest in this place. I really do not know how to finish this journal. I guess I will just say goodbye.