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.