A lot has happened…

2009 May 2

by jggoestoantarctica

Sorry for the long delay between posts. It happens for 2 reasons: 1 – we don’t hve internet while we’re on the ship so I can’t provide any realt-time updates and 2 – we have been super busy since we’ve been back at Palmer Station. Let me try to catch you up on what has been going on.

Saturday April 25th, 2009

After arriving at Palmer, unpacking, and doing some work, the ship’s crew came aboard for dinner at the Station and everyone gathered at the Bar/Lounge for some drinks, pool, and dancing… (pics of the Bar later)

Sunday April 26th, 2009

We departed Palmer Station promptly at 8 am and set sail for the fishing grounds in Dallman Bay about 8 hours sail North of the station. The weather was good, but the scenary was breathtaking. We traveled up the Gerlache Channel into the Neumayer Channel, which is probably the most amazing place I’ve had the good fortune to visit. It is said to be like a maze with no visible exits because of its inverted S-shape. Its entrance and exits both have sharp bends. It certainly appeared there was no way out… Here are just a few of the views from ship as we crossed this bit of water. Check out the Flickr photo feed on the right for a few more (Sorry there aren’t more, but I’m using up my Flickr room too quickly!!!)

Monday April 27th, 2009 through Wednesday April 29th, 2009

Let the games begin – we started fishing mid-afternoon on Monday. Lisa and Jody were working the noon to midnight shift, while Bruce, Megan, and myself were manning the midnight to noon shift. Both shifts were using Otter Trawls (you drag this net behind the boat and it collects fish off of the bottom) as well as fishing pots (just like Deadliest Catch, so see the video clip om the Flickr). There are some very special fish that live here – they have white blood (no hemoglobin or myoglobin) and some close relatives that have both. We are trying to get species from both groups and look at thermal tolerances, mitochondrial function, and oxidative damage. The fish started coming in right away… we certainly hadn’t hit the mother load, but slow and steady catches. Early Tuesday morning the weather started to pick up and was relentless pretty much the rest of the trip. Swells were estimated at 20-30 ft and winds were gusting over 60 knots. Needless to say it was an adventure working on deck in this weather, but on the upside for the midnight shift, it was so rough that hardly anyone on the boat was able to sleep. We were all up together!!!! Here are some pics of the fishing and some of the cool by-catch.

Wednesday April 29th, 2009

Back at Palmer Station it was FISH FIRST~!!!! You’ll see the large grey crates being hoisted by the crane… those are our on-board fish aquaria. Each one is picked up a fork lift on land and transported to the lab, then hand trucked to the aquarium at the lab, and then transfered to the tanks. The goal here is to handle the fish as little as possible. This approach allows us to handle the fish only once, which should help survival and health.

Since Wednesday...

Since Wednesday, everyone has been feverishly working to get their science up and running, because we’ve now got animals on-hand to use and 10 days until the boat comes for the next fishing trip. It has been a little frustrating trying to get going, because not all of the materials we requested were here, were here with all of their pieces/parts, or were set-up properly. So as a result, everyone is troubleshooting their respective science. No one ever said it was going to be easy.

We have a HS teacher, Megan O’Neill from Fairhope, Alabama on our cruise. She brought us Fairhope HS Pirate T-shirts so we all posed for a picture. For all of those interested in the playoff beard – this is week 2. Getting better all the time. Somehow we were one pirate patch short. I’m not getting fat, just lots clothes on.