GOLF 4-3-9 Antarctica Expedition 2008
Report Day 20 -- Saturday 15 November 2008 -- A Visit to Turtle Rock


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Pressure ridges

It is Saturday and an absolutely glorious day and we decided to hop on our Skidoos and go to Turtle Rock to prepare for a mooring that we will do there in a couple of years. Light workload (test a drill, figure out how safe it is to go there) but lots of cool sights to see.

There is not a very big story to write about, the coolest thing are the Pictures of our outing: The skidoo ride took us only half an hour from base, in near zero wind speed and a great view at Mt Erebus with a plume that was rising vertically up, not deflected by wind as it normally is. We saw lots of seals and show you a study of a very young baby seal that just loved to perform for us. Around Turtle Rock there are pressure ridges building up from the sea-ice that is now in its second year – it did not blow out last summer. Those pressure ridges are very photogenic, sometimes showing iridescent blue ice. On our outing we met Lisa Blatt, a photographer from San Francisco who came to Antarctica on the Artists and Writers Program and Randy Sliester who was accompanying her. Randy is the current head of the USAP Light Mechanical Equipment and member of the McMurdo Search and Rescue (SAR) Team. He made sure that she was safe in the treacherous pressure ridges. During this perfect day, we also made a picture postcard for our Indian Island Fifth Grade class (thanks, Randy for taking the shot), re-visited the Erebus Glacier Tongue Cave and came home, just in time for dinner. Enjoy the Pictures!



Hubert Staudigel (Hotel Sierra) and Laurie Connell (Lima Charlie a.k.a. Loco Coco) from McMurdo Station
15 November, 2008


GOLF 4-3-9 Antarctica Expedition