Leaving the Ice

I just finished my last House Mouse (saturday station clean up), and surprisingly, I didn't have kitchen duty. Now I just have 40 hours or so to sit around and wait for the ship to leave. I woke up today to calm water with blue skies and a bright sun shining over station. Interestinly, this is how I will likely remember Antarctica. Most days the white glacier is accented by black rocks amongst grey sky and water, but occasionally the sun comes out and the low-nutrient water shines a deep tropical blue, and the whole landscape changes from tones of grey to hues of blue. Deep blue ocean offshore, turquoise blue nearshore from the glacial till, light blue glacier with intense violet in the cracks. Simply amazing.

Before I came to Palmer I imagined Antarctica as a great white lanscape with almost no precipitation, and lots and lots of wind. The picture in my head was more of South Pole or McMurdo, with flat ice caps or sea ice stretching miles from the open ocean to the coastal mountains. But Palmer changed that view, located on one of the few spots of exposed land it is surrounded by water, ever changing weather and calving glaciers. The life is what strikes me most. Compared to other locations around the continent, this place is a Babylon (the hanging gardens are under the water though). Within our 2 mile radius we have seen humpback, minke and killer whales, crabeater, elephant, weddell and leopard seals, cape, storm, snow, and giant petrels, gentoo, chinstrap, adelie and king penguins, as well as starfish, rockcod, seaweeds, soft corals, ticks, midges, sponges, limpets, skuas, terns, and thousands of krill. The abundance here is awe-inspiring. This is Antarctica. It may not have storms with 200 mph winds (I slept in my tent during 60 mph, and that was enough), it may not get to -80 here (-18 C windchill was the coldest I heard), but as far as the things that make Antarctica unique and interesting, the Peninsula has got it all.

It will be hard to leave this place, but I checked off everything on my Antarctic to do list (from licking an iceberg to seeing a leopard seal attack a penguin) and I am ready to move on to the next adventure... ALEXINARGENTINA!!! Though all this nice weather makes me nervous about what is coming next week when I will be crossing the drake.