Kubb!

So what happens when your on a small island at the bottom of the world and need a good distraction? You play Kubb!!! Kubb is a game that dates back to the Viking Ages and originated in Sweden. It is a lawn game just like horseshoes however the objective is to knock over all your opponents wooden blocks by throwing wooden sticks at them. Once all your opponents blocks are knocked over you then have to knock over the King which stands in the middle of the field. To simplify you throw shortened broom stick handles  at 2x2 blocks. It turned out to be a really fun game however at points it almost felt like dodgeball trying to avoid wooden sticks being thrown at you as hard as possible. Get ready folks I plan on starting a Kubb trend once I am back in the states!

Happy Holidays!

On Christmas Eve we were all lucky enough to be faced with a beautiful day. The prior weeks had been filled with clouds, precipitation and very high winds but when we woke up on Christmas Eve we had bluebird blue skies, winds around 4 knots and the temps right around 40 degrees F which is down right balmy in Antarctica. So Alex, Brian and myself decided to take full advantage of this moment so we took some holiday photos. Essentially what we did was wrangle an iceberg. This was a small bergy bit about 5-6 feet from shore so Alex waded out to it and climbed aboard. He then attached an ice screw and threw Brian and I a rope and we pulled the bergy bit a bit closer to shore. Brian and I really had no desire to get as wet as Alex. After we were all on the iceberg we celebrated the victory with some great photos. Alex has a nice blog post showing the steps we used to make this photo shoot possible as well as the unfortunate after shots of me not staying so dry once it was time to go back to shore. Ice Wranglers

Polar Plunge!

There is a tradition here at Palmer that when fellow station members leave or when the boat that brought you to Palmer leaves you do a Polar Plunge from the pier. Well I didn't plunge when the boat that brought me here left because it was far to early in the morning. So the next opportunity that presented itself was when our station manager left which also happened to be the same day RU27 successfully crossed the Atlantic. With Scarlet's success it was definitely a day for celebrating so I decided to take the plunge!

No comment on my jump position!

Rex collecting style points!

PQ diving right in!

It was by far the coldest experience of my life. The water was right around 0 degrees Celsius and instantly your body is numb and prickly. The worst part is that in order to get out of the frigid water you have to climb a ladder that seems to never end. Then you get to run barefoot through the snow to the hot tub. The hot tub sounds good in theory but initially your so cold and the water is so warm its actually rather painful until you get used to it. I am not sure if I will partake in this event ever again but at least I can say I have done it once!

Ahhh nice and warm in the pickle barrel!

Halloween on Station!

Like the old adage says "A picture is worth a thousand words", so here are some photo's from Halloween at Palmer Station.

I was the one of course dressed like a glider. My roommate was the Joker from "The Dark Knight" when he dressed like the nurse.

Maggie was a settler from the game Settlers of Catan. Her she is representing with longest road.

Dan was Danger Mouse!

Alex sported his authentic costume from his travels in Pakistan.

And lastly we have a glider encountering some biological interactions with Jenn the jellyfish!

Drake's Passage!

So in the past two months I have been back and forth across the USA and on 4 different continents. Life has been busy but thats what brought me to my current location of Antarctica.
On October 10th I departed Newark International Airport with a final destination of Punta Arenas (PA) Chile. It was about 24 hours of straight travel which is never really that fun but I was fortunate enough to get quite a bit of sleep on my various flights. On Sunday the 11th around 5pm Chile time I finally landed, met up with a bunch of other Antarctica folks and then started weaving my way through security and customs. On the outside I was greeted by screaming winds and a wintery mix of precipitation. We all funneled into various vans and set off for our respective hotels. Most of us met up that evening for dinner and drinks. For the newbies it was time for introductions, not only to others but to Pisco Sours.
The next day Alex, Brian and myself ventured down to the dock where the Gould was stationed. We checked to make sure everything arrived safely and then we were issued our cold weather gear. Afterwards we had some time to kill so we wandered around PA. There is an old legend that says in order to make safe passage you have to go to the center of town and touch the toe of Ferdinand Magellan. A little history lesson... Magellan was a Portuguese explorer and the firt European to enter the Pacific from the eponymous Straight of Magellan, which he discovered. He also conducted the first successful attempt at circumnavigating the earth. Unfortunately, he died in 1521 but 18 other crew members carried on the mission successfully. So anyway, we felt it neccessary to honor the tradition and touch the toe! That night we left our hotels and spent out first nght on the Gould tied to the dock.
The next day shortly after lunch the Gould set sail. The weather had calmed since we arrived and made for smooth sailing down around Cape Horn and then we entered Drake's Passage. To be honest I was actually surprised at how well I handled the crossing of the Drake. We definitely had days where moving wasn't really an option without being thrown across the room. So for the most part a lot of us just setup camp in the lounge and had endless movie marathons. Including a 12 hour spectacular of watching all three Lord of the Rings straight through! Once in the safety of the first set of islands along the Antarctic peninsula things calmed down a bit. We spent two days opening up field camps, Copa on King George Island and Cape Sheriff on Livingston Island. It was a lot of manual labor and long tiring days but it felt so good to use your body and move around after almost of week of being confined on a boat. Finally, on October 20th I finally saw what I am now calling home until February... Palmer Station!

The Long Lost Blogger Returns!

Yes it has been an insanely long time since I last updated on what's been going on and yes a lot has been going on, so lets see if I can cover the main events since March...

RUCOOL - I started working full-time at the Rutgers University Coastal Ocean Observation Lab. I work with Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV's) called Gliders. One of our big projects in the lab was the deployment of RU27, a 200m glider that is attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean. RU27's mission is actually the focal point of a documentary so we have had a film crew following our every footstep. Should be interesting to see the final product!
Miami - In May I took a short trip to visit Kelsey. It had been a long time since I had been in heat like that. (90+ degrees with high humidity) But Kelsey showed me a good time and we had fun at the beach and teaching her dog Sesi how to swim.
Azores - Working with gliders sometimes means traveling so at the end of August I was sent to the Azores to meet up with RU27 and check on her progress out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I set sail on a 50ft sailboat and went 200 miles offshore after Hurricane Bill had gone through. It was a rough trip but quite the adventure.
Arizona - After the Azores I decided I needed some down time and personal travel time. So in mid-September I flew out to Arizona where I met some new people and explored a desert for the very first time. It was one of best trips I have ever gone on. Went hiking and camping at the Grand Canyon, horseback riding in Sedona, and spent two unforgettable nights at a B&B in Prescott. The B&B had a picturesque background with beautiful sunsets and was very cozy. The trip ended with a whirlwind roadtrip to and from LA in the course of three days. All in all it was pretty relaxing and exactly what I needed.
Yankees - Three days after getting back from Arizona I attended my very first professional baseball game. Myself and a bunch of other co-workers went to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees play the Kansas City Royals. It was a cool experience and a definite highlight was eating a Carmel coated apple that was bigger than my fist! :)
Longwood Gardens - The first weekend in October I was finally able to connect with my good friends Sadie and Sean. We were having some amazing fall weather and ended up picking a perfect day to visit the gardens. The displays were beautiful and the colors vibrant.
Antarctica - Now I am on my next work assignment... I am here at Palmer Station in ANTARCTICA!!! I will be here until February as part of this years LTER (Long Term Ecological Research). I will be updating this blog as well as a work blog pretty frequently. So if your interested in more of the science check out this blog.

Fun with Friends!

In early March, I was lucky enough to get to see a bunch of different friends who I hadn't seen in a while. The excitement started when Sadie and Sean came up to New Brunswick for a brief visit. I gave them a little taste of Rutgers by going to Stuff Yer Face for dinner. Afterwards I introduce Sadie to bubble tea which we both enjoyed. We chatted for a bit and then it was time for them to hit the road and continue their adventure. Later in the week Sadie was able to come back down and stay the night. We went to game night at a friends place where we played Risk as well as Rock Band. We then stayed up way too late chatting away! It was so great to have some Alaskans back in my life! Then the weekend of the 13th I did a little road trip up north. First I stopped in Waltham, Massachusetts to see Cody and help him move to a different apartment. There were some beautiful swans I had the pleasure of stalking and the weather was amazing. I spent two days with him and then headed north a little more to Durham, New Hampshire. An old roomie of mine lives there and it was great getting to see her and catch up. Vicki and her boyfriend Andy are quite crafty and they taught me how to screen print my own t-shirts. Very Cool!! On Sunday Andy took us to Boston to see his mom's bakery where we got some very delicious treats and then went on a nice walk near Walden Pond in Concord Mass. After an eventful weekend I headed back to Jersey. Later that week on Wednesday, Tucker was in town from California and she came and hung out with me for a bit. I met Tucker and her friend Kelly at Harvest Moon and then we headed over to Easton Ave. for some ice cream. Later that night I taught Tucker how to play Ticket to Ride before we crashed for the night. The next morning it was very rainy which canceled our South Street Philly plans. Instead we headed towards Philly and stopped by REI and hung out before Tuckers flight. So thank you thank you to all my friends for keeping me in mind during your travels or for letting my crash on your couch. Your all great and I can't wait to see you again.

Natural History Museum!

Over Valentines Day weekend, I decided to head into the city (New York) and go to the Natural History Museum. It was a day filled with trains, subways, and dinosaur bones. The museum was absolutely huge and I didn't even come close to seeing everything. Some of the highlights include The Hall of Biodiversity which was absolutely stunning. The Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, which contained an enormous recreation of a Humpback Whale hanging from the ceiling. The Akeley Hall of African Mammals, is where I got up close and personal with some elephants and tigers. The Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples, yay I got my picture taken with the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) statue. There was also the Primate and North American Birds Hall. Lastly, one of my personal favorites was the Saurischian and Ornithischian Dinosaurs. I got to see one of the only real fully reconstructed T-Rex skeletons in the world. It was so cool! There was also a Stegosaurus and a Brontosaurus. After the museum I went to this little tapas restaurant downtown. Las Ramblas was by far the tiniest restaurant I have ever seen, seating maybe 20 or so people. But the Sangria was delicious as was the food. After dinner I took the subway uptown and hopped on the train back to New Brunswick. It was a fun day and I will definitely have to go back to see the rest of the museum.

A Sailing We Will Go!

Well to start 2009 off on the right foot a trip to the Virgin Islands sounded like a perfect idea! On December 30th I flew out of Newark, NJ and had a direct flight to paradise, Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas. What follows is a brief overview of each day of the voyage.

Day 1: I arrived in St. Thomas and met up with Kelsey. We explored St. Thomas and discovered "Two for Tuesday's" at The Greenhouse. The Captain Mango was quite delicious!

Day 2: We woke up early to take the ferry to Tortola. We met the rest of the group at The Moorings and boarded our new home for the next two weeks. After preparing the vessel for voyage we set sail at 3pm and headed to Key Bay on Peter Island where we anchored for the night. It was one of the nicest snorkel sites we had the whole trip. Plenty of fish, coral, and even a nurse shark.

Day 3: We woke up early and went for a long morning snorkel. Saw more turtles and fish as well as a 1.5 ft Spiny Lobster, mmm he would of been tasty! Had a delicious breakfast and then set sail for Long Bay at Virgin Gorda. It was approximately a 2.5 hour trip and it was beautiful, plenty of sun to soak in. Once anchored we went snorkeling at Mountain Point. This was a cool snorkel site because around the point there was this hidden grotto. You had to dive down in the water and go through an underwater archway up into the grotto. Very cool but slightly challenging with the current and surge.

Day 4: We woke up very early to sail over to The Baths just so we could get a day mooring. The Baths were awesome, it is all these enormous boulders which form natural tidal pools, tunnels, arches and scenic grottoes, that are open to the sea. Some of the boulders are about 40 feet long. It is an amazing place to visit but can get very cramped and touristy when the cruise ship folks arrive. After we explored for a bit we hiked to the "Top of the Baths" where there was a little restaurant and a freshwater pool. We had some delicious cheeseburgers in paradise and a nice dip in the pool. Then we took the dinghy back to our boat and set sail for The Dog Islands. We took up a mooring in the North West corner of Great Dog island and did some snorkeling. Then we sailed over to Drakes Anchorage in Gorda Sound where we anchored for the night.

Day 5: In the morning Mary and I took the dinghy out to this little cove to watch some amazing big waves roll in. As we rounded the point we saw most of the waves were breaking on a pretty shallow reef and there were a bunch of surfers out. It looked pretty gnarly. After breakfast we did some "sailing school" with the pro's Mary and Todd. We practiced tacking with the jib and also did two well maintained jibes. We sailed over to Saba Rock and took up a mooring ball at the Bitter End. We explored both Saba Rock and the Bitter End but decided to eat dinner at the restaurant on Saba Rock.

Day 6: We woke up very early to get ready for our first dive trip. We took the dinghy over to the Bitter End and docked outside of Killbrides, the company we were diving with. We decided to do a two tank dive, the first being out at Ginger Island. We dove a site called Diane's Point, it was a sloped bottom with a lot of coral and various fish. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of dead coral which was sad to see. Our second site was over at Great Dog Island and it was called Two Ray Bay. 

This was an awesome site because we dove a plane wreck. There were very large schools of fish and the coral was in much better shape. I came to the realization that warm water diving is a lot more pleasurable then the cold water in Alaska! After our dives we headed back to the boat and set sail for Marina Cay. I even took the helm and practiced my cruising skills.

Day 7: After refilling our water tanks we left Marina Cay and headed over to Trellis Bay. It is a very artsy community with a lot of handmade goods. Very cool! After a short visit we set sail for Monkey Point. Wow, talk about exciting snorkeling. There were hundreds and hundreds of minnows, they were so thick you could barely see through them. However, it is slightly startling when your swimming through the minnows and all of a sudden your face to face with a 3-4 ft long Tarpon! After snorkeling we set sail for Jost Van Dyke where we anchored in Great Harbor. After dinner aboard the boat we all piled in the dinghy and went ashore to check out the infamous Foxy's; "where friends are met... and memories made". Oh how true that proved to be! Kelsey and I were hoping for a fun night with drinking and dancing. In the beginning it looked like we were going to disappointed, that was until we met the Scottish couple. Suddenly the party started, the drinks were flowing, and then Kelsey and I met our pirates. The rest of the night... well lets just say what happens in BVI stays in BVI!

Day 8: The next day Kelsey and I being semi-cranky and hungover couldn't get off the boat fast enough when we got to Cruz Bay at St. John. We had a much needed lunch and checked out some of the shops before getting back on the boat and sailing over to Leinster Bay on St. John. 

Day 9: In the morning we headed ashore to hike up to the Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins. It was a nice walk and the ruins were pretty cool. At the ruins there was a local who gave out samples of sugar cane, "chew but don't swallow", it was not what I expected but very yummy. After the hike we went for a swim/snorkel out at Watermelon Cay. It was awesome snorkeling and I got some of my best underwater photos there. I saw a huge beach ball sized puffer fish, rays, flounders, very large starfish, barracuda, and the typical reef fish. Once back on the boat we headed over to Salt Pond Bay on St. John. It was late afternoon by this point so we took the dinghy up to the beach and hiked Ram's Head. What a beautiful view from the top!

Day 10: We left fairly early the next morning and sailed over to Road Town, Tortola to check back into BVI customs. Once done with customs we sailed to The Indians for some more snorkeling. I decided to sit this one out and soak up some sun. After snorkeling we headed to Privateer Bay on Norman Island.

There were a bunch of caves so Kelsey and I took the kayak and went exploring. Later that night during dinner we were eating our Cornish Game Hens by headlamp light and throwing our bones over the back, when we started hearing a slurping noise. I jumped up and shined my headlamp over and we were all shocked to see a bunch of sharks sucking the bones off the surface of the water while bats were trying to grab them of the surface. I of course had the crazy idea of going fishing! So I tied some dental floss to a hot dog and threw the hot dog out and lured the sharks closer. It was amazing to see all the sharks in various sizes and of course it freaked everyone out for snorkeling the next day. Later that night some of us wanted to go around the point and check out Willie T's so we took the dinghy over. The Willie T is a floating pirate ship bar/restaurant and it is quite a hoot. Within 5 minutes of arriving we did a "Shotski", watched a girl run around topless and molest the bar tender, a guy peed on our dinghy, and we convinced a very drunk obnoxious guy to jump off the top of the ship. The night only got better when the really drunk group left and the Yachtzee's arrived. Not only did they dance with us but "The Lady in Red' turned the railing into a stripper pole and Kelsey lead the whole group to Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Day 11: We had another early start in the morning because we were going on our second dive. We sailed over to Manchioneel Bay on Cooper Island where we met with our dive group. We left a little after 2pm and headed over to the Wreck of the Rhone. The RMS Rhone was a royal mail steam packet ship that transported cargo between England, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. She was wrecked off the coast of Salt Island in the British Virgin Islands on October 29, 1867 during a hurricane. It was a very cool dive site with awesome visibility. We saw tons of fish including groupers and some very nice coral heads. After the dive we headed out for our last group dinner on Cooper Island.

Day 12: The trip was slowly coming to an end and no one wanted to leave. We all packed up our stuff and cleaned up the boat while we sailed back to The Moorings base. Kelsey and I parted ways with everyone and took a taxi back down to the Ferry building where we caught a ferry back to St.Thomas. That night we decided to end where we started at The Greenhouse. We made it an early night and relaxed in our room before falling asleep.

Day 13: Our departure was nearing but Kelsey and I had a few hours in the morning so we walked around St. Thomas and went into some of the shops before finally taking a taxi back to the airport. Our flights left at similar times so we were able to go through customs together and then kick it in the airport before we parted ways to head back to the real world.

This trip is by far one of the most amazing experiences I have had to date and I was able to share this adventure with some really great people. It was also a great way for me to add to my life list of birds and fish. Some of the sightings include the Antillean Crested Hummingbird, Brown Booby, Magnificent Frigatebird, and of course one of my personal favorites the Brown Pelican. As far as the fish go, there are just far too many to mention!

Banned PETA ad!

So NBC banned this PETA ad from playing during the Superbowl. I personally think this ad is genius and no worse than a Victoria Secret commercial. Enjoy!