Back to Work

Stacy writing...

We start a new site today - Turtle Rock. This low dome of rock is further north than Cinder Cones, and Jennifer and I rode the snowmobiles out this morning to meet the drill rig. That sounds so straightforward, but it really went like this: we both packed up all our dive gear and left it for the other group to bring out later. Then while I called around and got everything scheduled and arranged for the day (my morning ritual) Jennifer went and got one of the 2-person survival bags out of the Mattrack and took it to the Skidoos in the Pisten Bully (note involvement of several vehicles in one simple task). We used many bungies and much rope to securely lash the 60 lb survival bag to the front of one of the machines. We loaded 2 shovels, 2 dip nets, 4 marking flags on 8 ft bamboo poles, 5 - 3 ft drill bit sections, the Echo drill, and a meter tape onto the other machine. While Jen returned the Pisten Bully, I started the snowmobiles. One started easily, the other I pulled, and pulled, and choked, and yelled, and pulled, and pulled and pulled and pulled...and finally it started. Okay, we were ready to go...except a truck parked right in front of us and out got Vinnie and Jeff with our new front windscreen. We broke ours the other day and have been using the machines since, so this was the first time they had been able to catch us to replace it. A quick job (including hunting in the snow for the small rubber clips that hold the windscreen on) and we finally took off, after checking out with MacOps, who records all our movements and will notify the Search and Rescue team if we do not return on time.

It was a gorgeous day and the ride out was lovely, especially protected by the new windscreen, and despite the sastrugi (ridges of windblown snow) that created some bumpiness in the road. We had just finished locating the first site by GPS and were confirming the depth when the drill rig arrived (we will not mention how many pulls it took to get the Echo drill started). Then the real work began - shoveling. As the drill drives through 15-20 feet of ice, we shovel the huge pile of shavings away so that the seawater, when it bursts through, has somewhere to flow. Then there is dipping the slushy ice out of the hole and hucking it off to the side, leaving clear water. By the time the rest of the group arrived in the Pisten Bully (having gone by Cinder Cones to maintain the holes there and fetch our stove and food), Jen and I were flat on our back with exhaustion. The hut was dragged over the main hole and we waved goodbye to Steve and Thom as with chocolate bars in their pockets for thanks, they went off to Cape Evans to drill more holes for the Kiwis (New Zealanders). Then we all tried to gear up, eat food, and get warm at the same time to get some diving done.

	Jim and Dan demonstrate the Antarctic chip and dip.

	Two down, four still shoveling.

It is exciting to get back in at a place you have not seen for a year, especially when you have an experiment on the seafloor and want to know how it has turned out (or, indeed, whether it is still there). We are lucky here in that swell and other divers are not likely to disturb our experiments – the ice stops swell and the few others who dive here know not to touch our setup. Craig and I were first through the ice, and very happy to see white Laternula shells winking at us from the bottom -- there was enough light to see. The ice in shallow is folded and buckled into fantastic shapes, swooping curves constructed of sharp edged platelet ice crystals, all bright with the eerie blue glow of sunlight through ice. We could hear the Weddell seal’s otherworldly songs though we could see no seals in the water. But we had work to do. We swam to the small knoll nearby where the experimental array sits. Craig handed me lids and I sealed our experiments up as fast as I could, and he collected them in a bucket for return to the surface. We worked very smoothly together. Meanwhile, Jim and Jennifer had gotten in the water too and we could see them in the distance, streams of silver bubbles to the surface and flashes of light and puffs of mud on the seafloor as they videoed and collected animals. Finally, Jonna and Dan got in; Dan's ear finally behaving itself and allowing him a comfortable dive. Phil, our lone dive tender, did a marvelous job of having hot drinks ready for us and helping us with our cumbersome gear.

We had so many samples to put in the Pisten Bully for the ride home that Jonna rode double with me on the snowmobile, and Dan drove the other. Finally home, we washed our gear and then jumped right into sieving our samples, preserving them, and heading off for dinner (third day of freshies in a row, though Craig and Jen remain coffeeless as no personal mail has arrived yet).

So, we have achieved our mantra for the day – Shovel – Dive – Sieve. Now the wind is blowing snow across the ice, giving the frozen ocean a soft stripey look of white drift and blue ice in the low angle of the sun. Another Antarctic day ends with midnight sun.

	This is on the way out – when the back of the Pisten Bully WASN'T crowded!

Underwater sunlight and ice crystals.