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Another beautiful and relatively balmy day on the ice. The weather has been warming up as we become more tolerant, with the result that a temperature of -10C (14F) and no wind qualifies as a warm day. My last time here I discussed the drilling operations, and today would have been a beautiful day for diving but for the fact that the drill, overworked and in need of maintenance, has fallen behind on the list of holes.
Stacy and Jen pulled off a quick dive in the morning, another project dependent on an overworked piece of equipment, as any dive around town now requires we tow the Polar Haven anywhere we go, then bring it back for other people to use. We tried a dive outside of shelter on Sunday, and I can fairly say that while it wasn't bad in calm weather, I'd not want to try it in any kind of storm!
After the dive, we piled into the Pisten Bully, with Jim and Stacy zooming ahead on Skidoos and me driving, to get a CTD cast at the ice edge. This year's ice edge is already much farther south and closer to the station than this time last year, and the edge heralds the arrival of spring, and penguins! The drive out was typically bumpy and uneventful, we turned off the road to our current meter and CTD deployment site, and headed out across the sea ice. The crossing tracks of other skidoos told us we weren't the first here, and the Pisten Bully labored under the load of 6 people and all their gear, trying to keep up with the faster skidoos.
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Ice Edge |
 | The two poses, scooting and waddling, of an Emperor Penguin. |
We soon pulled up to a quarter mile from the line of low ice chunks that marked the edge of the sea ice, where Stacy and Jim had parked. Stacy made the universal penguin signal, looking suspiciously like the chicken dance she uses to stay warm on our safety stops! We pulled in behind them and all of us were soon sitting on the ice as a pack of about ten penguins tobogganed on their stomachs toward us. When they're in a hurry, they lie on their stomachs and skid along using their legs to push, and these were awfully excited to see us, scooting in and standing up to get a better view about ten feet away.
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| (Above) Take me to your leader!
(Left) Penguins. |
Of course, we were excited to see them, too! Since getting here the only animals we'd seen above water were a few very slow-moving seals and a lot of people. These Emperor Penguins are beautiful and fascinating birds in any location, and here they made our whole day. They trundled up, stood around in committees and held long squawking conversations with each other and with us. We sat there somewhat awed by their naive curiosity and complete lack of fear. In this harsh environment, completely lacking in terrestrial predators, they had absolutely no reason to fear us. Additionally, they seemed fairly at ease with each other, with little of the squabbling and competition I've seen among other birds. Since they spend the long winter night huddling together for warmth while incubating their eggs, cooperation is definitely a necessity!
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| (Above) The penguin gang.
(Left) Penguin. |
The day was capped by the magical supply... FRESHIES! I.e. more fresh vegetables. We'd been watching the galley for days as the salads had more and more pasta and less and less green stuff. Yesterday was the first day we saw a salad, and today we headed to the galley especially early to make certain. Combine the salad with Mexican shredded beef tacos with guacamole, and a truly auspicious day was at hand for all!