Bill's 2022 Antarctic Adventure

  1-18-2023 Striking Willie… well not actually hitting him! As you show biz folks know the night a show closes, and the actors have taken their bows a process called “strike” begins immediately. The process involves taking the set down and storing it, putting costumes and props away and generally clearing the stage for the next show. That’s what is happening right now at Williams Field but in our case what starts the process is when the last airplane for the season departs. That has just happened, and the clock has started ticking. There’s much to do and little time to do it. The planes to take everyone home are already scheduled and nothing but the weather will stop them from coming. The “take me home” airplanes all arrive and depart from our other airport, Phoenix. Williams field only takes aircraft with skis. Literally every structure in “Willy Town” is on skis and they will all be towed to a snow area nearby where they will be clustered together, much like circling the wagon in the

  2-16-2023 Cold, Colder, Coldest…It’s cold today and the wind is blowing hard. The sky is overcast, the wind chill is below zero. I think this is happening so when we get back to Christchurch we go “ahhhhhh, that’s nice”. I forgot to tell you yesterday, when that last C-130 left the South Pole yesterday that will be the final physical contact with the outside world for the winter over folks until mid-October 2023. I wonder what that feels like. I don’t want to find out! Another small cruise ship pulled up by Hut Point this morning. They offloaded passengers on a Zodiac. You could see them hiking up arrival heights. I can tell you if it’s cold in town, it’s brutal up on the hills at arrival heights.   I did a dry run on packing my suitcase this morning and everything fit. Yay! I think I’ll just leave it packed for the trip home.

  2-15-2023   Firsts and Lasts…Yesterday I talked to the last helicopter to fly this season and today I’m talking to the last LC-130 flying to the South Pole. Yesterday was the last day of the summer season at the South Pole and today is the first day of the winter season at the South Pole. Yesterday was the last working day for three of our controllers and today they will be the first to head for home. Tomorrow the last ship of the season will arrive. This is a funny feeling but I’m so full of energy that I feel like a twenty-year-old again (mostly mental energy). I had the chance to say goodbye to our three departing controllers yesterday and as Shakespeare said (I think it was him) “parting is such sweet sorrow”. We will miss them. An interesting note: probably the two people I found some friendship with here are Chris and Heather which are our children’s names. As I noted in an earlier blog Chris is from the same area, I grew up in, so I hope to meet up with he and his wife this su

  2-14-2023   Happy Valentines Day… The day for being with your loved ones is with us again. Unfortunately, I’m not with my special loved one today but I hope she knows how much I love her and that this mad adventure never would have happened without her love and support. Love is in the air here at McMurdo. There were paper hearts hanging from the ceiling at the galley this morning with loving notes and thoughts. Love and kindness, we just can’t get enough of that. Notes of love also appeared on the bulletin board on highway 1. Of course, the super bowl was on everyone’s minds and TV’s yesterday. The bad thing is we don’t get the commercials! Bummer. It’s the best part of the game.

  2-13-2023 Abuzz… The town is abuzz with excited chatter about leaving and moving on to the next chapter in life. It’s fun to eavesdrop on conversations. They are exactly opposite of the talk I heard in Christchurch on the way to McMurdo last fall. It’s interesting how we are always ready for a new beginning in whatever form that may take. I freely admit I’m excited to be going home as well. Today begins my last week of work and all-things-being-equal I’ll be on a plane home a week from today. On the way to the bus stop this morning I noticed a small cruise ship positioned behind the Coast Guard Ice Breaker. It said National Geographic on the side. I didn’t even know National Geographic had a cruise ship!

  2-12-2023   Endings…..From the moment we are born life is a series of beginnings. We begin to breath, we begin to eat, talk, walk go to school…you get the idea. All those beginnings lead somewhere. Some lead us to places we planned to go, and others lead us to places we would never have dreamed of when we took the first step. As we get older, we “begin” to experience endings. We end relationships, we end school, we end our work life we experience the end of life. Many times, endings have a sad connotation some are happy but the one thing all endings have in common are memories. I’ve heard when people have near death experiences, they see their lives flash before their eyes. I don’t know if that’s true or not (and I’m not in a hurry to find out either) but I went for a long walk today and I had a chance to reflect on memories of so many endings in my life. I am so grateful to all the people who have shared my path with me even the ones who made life a little difficult. They all are wo

  2-11-2023   I thought you might like to see my living arrangements here at McMurdo. I have a twin size bed (very comfortable mattress) with a sink at the end of it that I share with my roommate. There are 2 drawers under the bed and 3 more drawers (about the size of standard filing cabinets) in the locker. The locker has hanging space with a shelf above for storage. Nothing is allowed on top of the lockers because we can’t block the sprinkler system. We share a bathroom/shower with the room next door. All in all the room is about the size of a “normal” hotel room. Very similar to most college dorm rooms. Certainly, tight but doable. If the shifts work out right, you get some privacy if not you get to know your roommate very well. My roommate Mark is a weatherman. He, like me,  works  rotating shifts. The good news is he doesn ’ t snore and when we were in the room together, we share some good conversation and laughs.   I saw the moon over arrival heights this morning. It’s the first

  2-10-2023   Burger Bar and Chaz….When I went to the galley last night for dinner I was confronted by a line extending into the hallway (about 60 people long) then I remembered it was burger bar night. I passed by the line and had salmon, wild rice and vegetables for dinner. It reminded me though of our urges to return to that which makes us feel comfortable whether it be food or habits especially when we are out of our normal environment. Even though I didn’t get in the line I did think about getting home and returning to my “normal routine”. There is a sense of calmness in that.   Last night I was watching the departure of the Happy Delta and I bumped into a friend from Helo Ops, Chaz. We had many interactions over the season, and he told me he was headed home tomorrow. Before he heads home, he plans to spend a month traveling around New Zealand. His home is in Fiji! He told me if I ever find myself there to look him up and he’d show me around. I offered the same thing to him in The

  2-9-2023   Shadows…As I was riding to work this morning, I noticed how the setting sun changes the appearance of everything around you. It’s like looking at the face of the moon and depending on the phase it’s in it will look completely different. Still beautiful, just different. Another reminder that time is passing.   A new ship is in town. The Happy Delta pulled in Wednesday night. It’s a smaller container ship mainly resupplying the Kiwis. It’s bright yellow so you can’t miss it as it sails along. We have vehicles here on station called “deltas” we are never “happy” when we ride in the delta. It’s like being in the back seat of a roller coaster when you ride in it. The good thing about the delta is that it can “go where no man has gone before”.   Last night they had a “Museum of McMurdo” on display in the galley. I was just too tired to go check it out but I’m told they had a bunch of memorabilia there. 

  2-8-2023 Ship change…The first cargo ship left port last night and the next ship pulled right in behind him and began off-loading. Because of that, our Yacht Club meeting was cancelled because our Commodore was pulling line duty on the ship change. (For non-nautical people it means he was handling ropes used to tie the ship up to the pier) Because of the sun falling further in the sky it now feels like dawn and dusk all day. The first sunset is February 20 th , the day I leave McMurdo. The days are also getting cooler.  It’s not too bad when the wind isn’t blowing. If I can stay awake, I can visit the McMurdo Museum which is open from 8:00 to 10:00 this evening. The Minke whales are in the sound in large numbers. Last night I watched a pod of about 12 swimming around. It’s fun to watch them all “blow” as they surface. The Orcas are also still around. Penguins stay near the ice edge and are in jeopardy. All the seals are near Scott Base away from the ice edge and danger.

  2-7-2023 Ship change…The first cargo ship left port last night and the next ship pulled right in behind him and began off-loading. Because of that, our Yacht Club meeting was cancelled because our Commodore was pulling line duty on the ship change. (For non-nautical people it means he was handling ropes used to tie the ship up to the pier) Because of the sun falling further in the sky it now feels like dawn and dusk all day. The first sunset is February 20 th , the day I leave McMurdo. The days are also getting cooler.   It’s not too bad when the wind isn’t blowing. If I can stay awake, I can visit the McMurdo Museum which is open from 8:00 to 10:00 this evening. The Minke whales are in the sound in large numbers. Last night I watched a pod of about 12 swimming around. It’s fun to watch them all “blow” as they surface. The Orcas are also still around. Penguins stay near the ice edge and are in jeopardy. All the seals are near Scott Base away from the ice edge and danger.

  2-6-2023 It’s a spectacularly beautiful weather day at Williams Field. Days like this remind me how lucky I am to be here. Sunday morning, I went to the galley between breakfast and lunch. I went to make a Belgian waffle. While I was making my waffle the oncoming lunch shift had a premeal briefing. I was interested. The first to speak was the chef, followed by three or four others. They were sharing information with the team about the meal they were about to serve. They talked about each dish, salad, dessert and anything else that was available to eat. They talked about vegan and vegetarian options allergies were discussed as well. At the end of the meeting, they chose one of their own, Sarah to dedicate the meal to so like in a sports huddle they all extended their hands into the center and shouted “Sarah” as they raised their hands and ended the meeting. I know in most good restaurants in the world this kind of thing is done. I was very impressed with the professionalism of the sta

  2-5-2023 Busy days…With time running out in the season a new urgency has urged us all to do more with our remaining time here. The first ship offload is complete. Onload and departure is set for tomorrow. Planes are flying missions to the South Pole around the clock to finish their resupply before the beginning of South Pole winter February 14 th . Picture the rush before Christmas and that gives you an idea of our mindset. Sunday night I went to the last science lecture of the year. It was presented by a NASA medical doctor. His specialty was emergency medicine before going to NASA but now is working with health issues for long term space travel for astronauts. It was very interesting and enlightening.  Last night I went to a presentation on the history of McMurdo. I thought I knew a lot but as it turns out I knew very little. It was a truly fascinating talk. After the history lesson I went to a travelogue presented by a woman who spent a year traveling and working in Africa. That b

2-4-2023 Pete….I met a guy named Pete at church this morning. Turns out he’s the “ice pilot” for the cargo ship that’s in port.  He’s been working as a merchant marine sailor since 1974 (so he’s a little younger than me). He was at church with a young man who is currently in the Merchant Marine Academy. They both joined the ship in Littleton, NZ, the Port for Christchurch. Pete is like a harbor pilot for a passenger ship. He has 39 years of experience guiding ships into the ice pier. Like me, he's mainly retired but comes out, when called, to share his vast experience, particularly at McMurdo. We had quite an interesting chat after church at breakfast. I had my usual Belgian waffle. Pete had a cup of black coffee.

 2-3-2023 Today was one of the “lasts”. It was my last day working in the “center” (the long-range air traffic control room). Starting Monday, I will be in the Control Tower until the end of the season and I’m very happy. It’s like the first place I ever controlled airplanes except that was in Japan.   I wandered around after dinner tonight and took some pictures from behind the scenes that tourists don’t get to see. All the water lines run above ground so they must be heavily insulated against the cold. I got a shot of the Helo pad after the day’s operations including a couple of their operations offices. I thought you might like to see a poster for an upcoming band concert in the bar. Notice the picture of the Orca is the same one I shared with you this week. Last but not least, a picture of the sun sliding ever so much closer to the horizon as seen looking from town towards Hut Point.   16 days to go or as we said in the Navy 15 and a wake-up.

 2-2-2023 Shuttles….I waved to one of the folks who has been shuttling me back and forth to the Tower all season. They largely go ignored in their day-to-day activities like the cashier at your local grocery store. I found them to be incredibly interesting, each having a series of interesting life events and future plans they happily share. They are all known by their name like shuttles Jen and shuttles Jodie. Cadre looks like a modern-day mountain man, a free spirit who moves from job to job finding happiness in his gypsy lifestyle. Turns out he has a girlfriend, a special Ed teacher who holds down the fort while he’s out on each of his adventures. There’s also Ed and David. Old and young men and women, they turned out to be an island of sanity in an insane world. I’m grateful to each one for sharing their stories and I will look back fondly on each of them. On the penguin front, we saw three Emperor penguins outside our window today. They have a personality far different from the Ade

 2-1-2023 No worries… For those of you fretting about the penguins from yesterday, as far as I know they are okay and there’s no sign of the Orcas. What there was sight of today and last night is a small cruise ship. By cruise ship standards she looks small, maybe  500 people on board. Small as it is though, they have three helicopters. The location they chose to fly is very close to a frequently used refueling cache for our helicopters.  Ultimately, we were able to get them on a common frequency so we could exchange traffic with them. On another front I checked off another item on my lifetime to do list. The nice folks at the weather station agreed to let me release a weather balloon. Not only was I able to release the balloon but I was also able to pen the names of all my grandchildren, their parents and Deni and I on the sensor hanging below the balloon. The room we inflated the balloon in was called the “pig” room. Nobody knew why it was called that, but I thought it was interestin

1-31-2023  More fun with wildlife… Mother nature gave us a front row seat to an awesome display of beauty and grace. Outside the window where I work, where once there was nothing but snow and ice, is now a massive body of water. The Ross Island Sound. The morning began with 2 Adelae penguins cavorting on the ice. They are just so much fun to watch. Truly like small children playing without a care in the world. On the way back from lunch we saw what we thought was a single orca, perhaps the same one from yesterday. On closer examination we realized it was a pod of 5 orcas and they were on the hunt. We watched as they swam up to the ice edge. At the edge the rotated from a horizontal swim to a vertical bob exposing half of their huge bodies. They were clearly looking on the ice for any prey they could find. Finding none, they turned around and began to swim back up the sound. Shortly after they turned the came upon a raft of penguins swimming in the sound. The penguins saw them at the sa