T-minus 3 1/2 days

Sunday evening I'll be getting on a plane bound for the southern-most city in Chile. Then, on Valentine's day no less, I get on an ice breaker and take a romantic, albeit bumpy, cruise to the continent of Antarctica. Wow. Who would have thought a snot-nosed kid from Amarillo, Texas would have made a trip like this. So here's a rough schedule for the planning minds out there. 11 Feb 08 Arrive by Air Punta Arenas, Chile 14 Feb 08 Depart Punta Arenas aboard R/V L.M. Gould 18 Feb 08 Arrive Palmer Station 19 Feb 08 Leave Palmer Station [Work like dogs penguins] 12 Mar 08 Arrive Palmer 13 Mar 08 Leave Palmer 17 Mar 08 Arrive Punta Arenas 19 Mar 08 Fly back to Raleigh After getting on the ship, I'll have extremely limited access to the internet and email. We connect twice per day via a satellite, and the bandwidth is about what you used to get on Compuserve ca. 1994. However, we are required by NSF to keep up a daily blog of our activities for outreach purposes. This will be the best way to keep track of what we are up to, writings from the science crew, and the ever so popular photos. Penguin cuteness is bound to be bountiful. So I may add a few posts here before I leave, but once I'm south, check here for updates: http://antarctica-ncsu.blogspot.com/

Drake Passage - a preview

Been checking out YouTubes of Drake Passage. Let's just say, I'm happy I have a prescription for Scopolamine.
This one's not so crazy... taken from a cruise ship. You can hear some old fart bragging in the background about how big the seas were when he was in the navy. Snow covered and uphill both ways, eh old timer...
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This one (link - embedding disabled) is huge.. good thing they are heading with the wind. Wouldn't want to hit those suckers head on.
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I like this one best, especially the crazy sounds below deck as stuff gets clanged about in the shifty seas. The lady walking sideways down the passageway is awesome too.
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Coming in Feb/March - my own video of the passage. Hope my camera - and the seasickness meds - will hold up..