I have been here before, so I feel a bit jaded about the whole Antarctica thing. It is pretty cool, though.
A few wrote asking to learn more about the facilities. I wrote a post describing some background on McMurdo in my first blog. Here's the link (don't be fooled by the dark lettering that I can't seem to change the color of - there's a link there in that seemingly blank space). In it I describe my fist impressions and some of the facilities, with pictures. Nothing much has changed, except the food is better, and there are more hiking trails available. You can also follow the McMurdo Station webcam link in the right hand column to see a live picture. The blue building in the center is the dining hall. I'm in the dorms that are light brown with dark roofs slightly to the right of the blue building in the picture.
I went to the Outdoor Recreation training after dinner tonight. It is required to take the long hikes out to Castle Rock and the Cape Armitage loop, which goes across the sea ice. The latter trail is the only trail I have not been on, so I am looking forward to taking it.
It was a really tough day today, and it is good to be back relaxing in the dorm room. I am grateful for the enforced end of day because of the shuttle schedule, otherwise my colleagues would want to stay out at LDB 24/7. They just must be built of sterner stuff. Tonight a band of some sort is playing in one of the bars (there are three bars here), so I'll check them out and call it an early night.
I heard a story on BBC today from a man who worked in Antarctica in the 60's. He said they were allowed a 100-word message each month, which was telegraphed in Morse code to their loved ones. At the mid-winter celebration, the BBC used to broadcast personal messages to them. And that was it for two-way communication. Otherwise, they just listened to the world service on the short wave.
ReplyDelete