March 31, 2006

Funded by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs

Location: Latitude 63° 16' S, Longitude 52° 49' W

Air Temperature: .3°C

Wrapping Up

Today marks the end of another week as well as the last day of science on this cruise. Tonight at midnight we turn north and head back towards Punta Arenas, Chile. The weather for much of this week has been spectacular and as we have been drilling at protected sites close to shore, the scenery, too, has been fantastic. Sunrises and sunsets, in particular, draw the crowds to the bridge, bow or sides of the ship.

We are currently steaming for what is to be our last potential drill site of this trip. With any luck, we'll be able to attempt one final hole before heading home. As always, the ability to drill the site depends on the amount of ice and wind. We never know until we arrive at a site whether we'll be able to drill or how long we'll be able to stay on site until we are pushed off. We're all excited about the prospect of attaining cores from one last site and ending the trip on a real high note.

As a Marine Tech, this cruise has been unique because much of the time the bulk of the deck work is done by the drilling team with MTs pitching in here and there as core come up and tools go down. When it's time to do seismic work or sediment grabs we get to fall back into our traditional roles of handling all the sampling equipment. Now that we're wrapping up, we're spending our time disassembling the seismic gear and lashing down equipment in preparation for crossing the Drake Passage. Already the boat is starting to move in ways it hasn't since we arrived at the Antarctic Peninsula and the requests for Dramamine are coming in.

The passage north is a time for we techs to prepare all the samples for shipment home and get all of the equipment ready for offload. The more we can get done before we hit the dock, the better. Port calls are always hectic but this one promises to be more so than usual. The drilling equipment alone makes up a large amount of gear from the deck to be moved. Couple that with the normal load of science gear and another gear intensive cruise leaving six days after we arrive, and we have the makings of a busy week. Busy as the workweek may be, the science staff and ship's crew always find time to decompress after work and visit with our counterparts who will be staffing the next cruise.

With any luck the next few days will be spent finishing up processing the cores from our last site and easing into the pending port call. If we use our time wisely, we'll be ahead of the game when the cargo starts moving and we'll have enough time to have a nice farewell dinner with our new scientist friends.

--Stian

Sunrise over icebergs.

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