Images of

ANTARCTICA

Palmer Scenery

Photos © 2004 Seth White

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The Drake Passage crossing on the way here was pretty smooth, so I am not complaining. However, there isn't a lot to see when you're in the middle of the open ocean. I was really looking forward to getting into the peninsula area. But I figured that either a) it would be overcast or b) we would be in the dark for most of the time sailing near Palmer. But as we got closer and I realized that we would have some sunlight right around the time we were supposed to be approaching Palmer, I got anxious. I have seen photos of the coastline of the Antarctic Peninsula and was hoping to see this for myself. Again, you don't get this kind of scenery (open water, icebergs, sheer mountains rising from the sea) when you go to McMurdo. Our last day at sea I rolled out of bed around 8 am, stood up, looked out my porthole, and said "whoa". There was this cliff face right off our starboard side, with an iceberg or two floating by. So I threw my clothes on and headed to the bridge.

The next ten or so pictures are more from the ship as we sailed along in a narrow strait. This was either the Gerlache Strait or the Neumayer Strait...didn't bother to ask which one. These are supposed to be two of the most "close-in" straits around this area.

This was something I hadn't seen before...glaciers flowing down from mountains and, breaking off, and you know, floating away on the water. Standard Antarctic stuff, but not so common at McMurdo (especially during 2002-03).

Neat view, with the mountain showing underneath the glacier so you can see how thick the glacier is.

This was around sunrise, so looking behind us we had some nice orange and pink colors in the sky.

Another one with the pretty sky.

There were many other people on the bridge and on the deck snapping pictures, but it didn't last very long. About 8:30 we entered a bank of fog and stayed in it until we reached Palmer Station. So if I'd have slept 1/2 hour later I would have missed the views. Anyhow, looking back behind us one more time there was a nice misty sunrise scene.

And one more before we disappeared into the fog.

I stayed on the bridge a while longer hoping the fog would lift. Every now and then a glacier face would appear out of the mist, just to remind us where we were. I thought this was cool so I took a picture.

Some brash ice in the strait, with a glacier face in the background.

This is the end of a small inlet which is just to the SE of Palmer Station. I thought the three ice coves looked "terribly mysterious", as if they were the lairs of ancient ice demons. Stupid? Yes, but that's the first thought that came through my mind when I saw them.

See? Does this not look like the dwelling of some mystical ice beast? Especially with all the ice piled up in the entrance? No? Alright, let's move on.

My second day at the station was very calm, very warm, and the only day so far I have been able to see the tops of these mountains. I originally thought these were part of the Transantarctic Mountains, but I think I was mistaken. Anyhow, this was a nice sunset. Being my first full day here, I figured this happened a lot right? Nope. There has been only one other day that I have seen these mountains, and that was with a low-lying bank of clouds. Otherwise, nothing but overcast, rainy, snowy, windy, shitty weather.

This was the other day I could see the mountains. Here, the sun is lighting them up a little brighter, but the clouds are looming darkly overhead. Since this day it has been continuously stormy. The wind is still howling outside the window as I sit here in the dining room typing away. Totally unrelated aside: the normal workday here seems to culminate in the 8:00 movie. I hadn't watched any movies until last night, but I had to see the "Hudsucker Proxy". Good one. I just about lost it when the German psychiatrist describes how you would die like a "dirty schwein!!!" if you got shot into space. Anyhoo, the usual routine is to eat dinner around 5:30, kill some time decompressing from the day (or whatever), and then head to the lounge in the GWR building to watch a movie at 8. If you want to watch a certain movie, you write it on the white board in the dining room. That is the law, and nobody can usurp you (unless somebody has written the movie up there before you, that is). So people congregate in the lounge, watch the movie, and usually go straight to bed. I came down to the dining room tonight to work on this website instead of staying in my room. I figured I'd try to hang out a little, since I have been somewhat of a recluse the past week. But then again, it's a Tuesday, in Antarctica, during the winter, and there are only 25 people on station. Oh, yeah. Right...what was I thinking? Would I go to the dining room at McMurdo in the middle of May to be sociable? Nope, I sure didn't. In fact, I seem to have forgotten how winter in Antarctica is. I am here at Palmer for two weeks, as a grantee. I have a set amount of work to do and then I'll be headed out on the next boat. A lot of these people have been here for months and months, and will be here for a good while longer yet. It's not good, it's not bad, it's just the daily routine for the crew here. Let's see, where am I going with this? Oh yeah...I found myself stopping and thinking "geez, this place is kinda dead - not too many people hanging out in this nice cozy dining room area - what gives?". And then I caught myself, and recalled my days in McMurdo, circa May 2003. "Oh yeah", I said, "this is winter in Antarctica". If I lived and worked here for any length of time I'd have my own little routine and not think anything of it. But having fallen into the mindset of a tourist, and having done two two-week stays at both McMurdo and South Pole this year during the height of summer, it just, momentarily, seemed like there should be more, I dunno, "excitement". The reality is that the current Palmer crew is a very decent, friendly, interesting, dedicated, and experienced group of people. And there certainly wasn't anything like the overall sense of community at McMurdo that they have here, where most of the station will gather regularly to watch a movie together. And hey, it is Tuesday after all, and Saturday night is (obviously) the night most people will congregate. Last Saturday I came out to throw a few darts and have a few beers, but I turned in early. I think this Saturday night I'll hang out a while longer and (gasp) maybe even have a few too many beers. Wait, where is this monologue going? Does this make sense? I don't know. Just some thoughts.

A little iceberg near the shore in Arthur Harbor, right next to Palmer Station. The way the water can sculpt these things is beautiful.

The same little berg, with the Marr Piedmont glacier face in the background.

This is one of the more active faces of the glacier. I hear it cracking quite frequently...the sound is like someone taking target practice with a high power rifle in the distance. Every time I step outside I look at the glacier hoping to catch some ice falling, but never do. And it's far enough away that by the time you hear the sound, it's already done.

I turned the camera's white balance setting to "tungsten" and took another picture of the active glacier edge. Tungsten lamps are somewhat deficient in the blue region, so the white balance setting is like a blue filter and makes your pictures look a little more normal-colored if you take them in a scene with tungsten lighting. So in sunlight you get a deep blue color.

Part of the Palmer Station "back yard", with some towering antenna masts.

This one is just the sun lighting up one of the nearby islands.

Some antenna guy wires, with the setting sun shining on the nearby mountain range.

A cool iceberg I saw in Hero Inlet one day while walking around in the back yard...kinda looks like a giant blue floating chair.

Monday June 1...tail end of a two-day weekend for Memorial Day. I finally got around to doing the polar plunge today (more on that in the next new webpage) and afterward, I was sitting in the hot tub with Johan, Henry, and Tonya. Tonya got up to leave and mentioned that she was going to hike up the glacier. This was another thing I had been meaning to do, but work, weather, or just plain laziness had kept me from doing so. This was absolutely inexcusable, so since it was a very nice day I decided I'd abandon the comfort of the hot tub and go along with her. This turned out to be the right choice. Here we are at the top of the glacier, where the trail ends.

The trail ends at about the top of the glacier because you are approaching a crevassed area. The glacier is grounded when you walk directly back from Palmer Station toward the body of the island, but on either side the glacier flows into an inlet (Hero Inlet on the east and Arthur Harbor on the west). As you pass the top of the glacier and continue in the same direction, it also flows into an inlet here. As a result, the right and left sides of the glacier (as you walk up) are unstable and crevassed. You then get to the top and the other side is also crevassed. So there's just this little out-and-back path which is stable and free from crevasses. This path has been marked by flags and you are free to walk up the glacier at your liesure, provided you take a radio and check out on the chalkboard. This is the sign you see at the top, where a ring of flags marks the end of your trail.

The sun was setting as we walked up, so here is a view looking back toward the west over the glacier.

The better view, though, was looking the other way. To the left in this picture I could hear the roar of the glacier calving off yet another batch of icebergs.

Another photo of the same view - orange clouds, blue mountain.

And then we looked up and guess what - the nearly-full moon was rising. How about that? We both stood there and gawked. Tonya remarked that this pretty much ruins your future trips to most national parks...and she was right. This spectacle was one of the top 5 things I've seen, period. And it's my #2 favorite view from Antarctica (just behind the view of Erebus Bay and Mt. Erebus at sunset from Arrival Heights). Following are 5 more pics of this scene, each with a different exposure, field of view, or white balance. I took some panoramas from the top of the glacier and if they are not here yet, they will be in a day or two. The best thing was that it was warm and perfectly quiet. No wind, no machinery, nothing except the sound of our breath and footsteps.

On our way back I stopped to take a couple photos of the moon rising over the glacier. Instead of getting in the way, the flags actually seemed like a nice touch.

Another one of the flags and moon. Very serene.