Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! This picture is our family portrait taken at the sunset this morning. Then we started It's a Wonderful Life at 0045. I don't know who's idea that was, but because of it I didn't get to bed until after 3 (for the 3rd night in a row, this christmas thing down here is a crazy 4 day dance party...). Like no other Christmas I have ever had, this is shaping up to be one of the more interesting. And it's not over yet. Tonight is the much anticipated gift exchange where people have spent many hours sawing, sanding, welding, drinking guinness, and drawing, gluing and cutting to create the best gift. Mine can hardly compare, but it is wrapped in tinfoil, so at least it's shiny. One of the best things about Christmas here is it is supposed to be 2 days off, tho we still had a lot of work that carried over into yesterday, and a little today. Science doesn't sleep, and apparently it doesn't get days off either.

On my "day off" yesterday, a few of us took a boat to DeLoca Island to hike around. DeLoca is a really cool island because it's like a huge rock jungle jim. Plus there are a some nesting Antarctic terns, skuas and one giant petrel that make for some interesting siteseeing. Like the sight of seeing someone get booted in the back of the head by a dive bombing skua. I took this picture before napping on a rock, in the sun, in Antarctica.



After we left the island, we drove by the Bahia Paraiso, a 400 something foot Argentine naval ship that ran aground and sank about 15 years ago. The side of the ship sticks out of the water, even though it sank in 60 feet of water, and a number of penguins were hanging out on it (both Adelie and Chinstrap). We stopped to check them out, when all of a sudden, a chinstrap missile launches out of the water straight towards me, but bounces off the side of the zodiac. Then he made two more attempts to board us before giving up. For some reason those guys really like to ride in zodiacs... Then, possibly the high point of the day, we went to see a huge (like 11 feet long) Leopard Seal. Later that day the birders saw one attack and kill a penguin. Wild place. And it will only get wilder. The krill are here, the schools are getting bigger, and that can only mean the whales are on their way. We spotted more Minke whales the other day, but no sign of the humpback or killer whales that come through here. So in the meantime, we will stay busy sampling.

It's time for eggnog. Merry Christmas, everyone!