Back in Mac Town!

Hi guys!  So after a couple days of long flights and layovers I finally made it back down to "the ice".  I had a long layover in Sydney so I was able to leave the airport and I took a ferry to Manly Beach.  It would have been nicer if it wasn't cold and rainy, but the fact that it was made for a pretty wild ferry ride.  There were large swells out in the harbor, and the boat got to rocking pretty good making the bumpy ride worth the fare.

We also had an afternoon in Christchurch to roam around.  My teammates and I headed down to Sumner which was a great little beach town on the Southern edge of Christchurch.  A teammate and I went swimming despite the fact that it was only about 60 degrees outside with frigid water.  I figured it would be the last chance I'd have for a while to play in the surf.

We had to check into our "ice flight" at 5:30 so I went to bed pretty early.  I was pleasantly surprised in the morning when I saw the plane we were about to board.  This year I had the pleasure of flying down on a C-17.  Which is a huge jet (shown below) instead of the monster warehouse with propellers that is a C-130.  This jet is able to make it from Christchurch to McMurdo in about five hours as opposed to 8.

It is strange, as I walk around McMurdo it feels like I have only been gone for a week or two.  Not much has changed over the winter here, and I am already running into some familiar faces around town which is fun.  Yesterday we had the introductory briefing, we got settled into our rooms, we enjoyed the early season fresh food options at the galley, and went over some logistics for the week ahead of us.  Today was more training and briefings.  It is amazing how much information they throw at you right when you show up.  After dinner we finally had some free time, so we headed down to what is know as the "ob tube" for observation tube.  It is a 20ft tall steel tube that has been lowered into a hole in the sea ice of the sound.  The bottom of the tube has windows so you can climb down a ladder and take a look at the sea life below the ice.  Unfortunately the pictures I tried to take down there turned out terribly, but it was pretty spectacular.  The bottom of the sea ice was insane looking I never knew how crystallized and irregular the bottom of the ice was,  There were also huge schools of little fish swimming around and these mini jelly fish looking things.  I really wish I could have spent more time down there, but there were a bunch of people waiting and it was about 5 degrees F and windy.

This week we are going to need to track down all of the gear that has been issued to us and get it ready for the field season.  We also need to wash the thousands of bottles that we will use for the water sample collection and processing which will be a real treat.  Most importantly this week we will be required to attend the many safety training sessions to make us aware of all of the fun we shouldn't be having down here.

Hope all is well with everyone back home!