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2005-06
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January 29, 2006 - Palmer Station, Antarctica
| Anoche hablamos de la posibilidad de coger el día libre hoy. Después de trabajar
en el lab hasta las 0200 horas me levante a las 1000 y me desayune/almorcé dos sándwiches de mantequilla
de maní y jalea de uva. Mike acababa de llegar de caminar dos horas en el patio y decidimos que íbamos
a subir el glaciar. El patio es el área entre la estación y el glaciar que esta compuesta de barro y
piedras enormes. Hace 25 años cuando el Dr. Lee estuvo aquí el glaciar cubría esta área. Así que subí
y me vestí y salimos a las 1130 horas. |
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Last night we talked about taking today off, and we did. After a
long night of lab work I went to bed around 0200 hrs. I woke up around 1000 hrs and had PB&J sandwiches
for breakfast/lunch. Mike got back from a two hour walk around the backyard and we decided to hike up
the glacier for a few hours. The backyard is the rocky/muddy area between the station and the glacier.
Twenty-five years ago, when Dr. Rick Lee came here, that entire area was just glacier; since then, the
glacier has retreated 300 meters. I got dressed and we headed out at 1130 hrs. |
| La caminata subiendo el glaciar toma entre veinte a treinta minutos dependiendo
del paso pero la caminata de la estación al glaciar puede tomar veinte minutos también por el terreno.
Un poco después del mediodía llegamos al tope del glaciar, al menos al área que nos permiten subir. Tomamos
varias fotos y aproveche para desplegar la bandera boricua como si hubiera conquistado el glaciar de
Anvers Island. |
|
The walk from the station to the glacier takes up to twenty minutes and the hike up the
glacier takes anywhere from twenty to thirty minutes. So, a little after noon we were on top of the glacier,
as far as we are allowed to go. We took dozens upon dozens of pictures even though this was not our first
time up there. I took my Puerto Rican flag with me and displayed it proudly, as if conquering the Anvers
Island Glacier. |
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| Cuando bajamos del glaciar decidimos pasar por la caseta donde Marianne,
Maria y Mike han tomado turnos pasando la noche. Después nos encontramos unas focas crabeater y la segunda
hasta poso para nosotros. Eventualmente llegamos a la estación a las 1430. |
|
On the way back from the glacier we walked around the backyard for a while. We saw the
tent where Marianne, Maria, and Mike have each taken turns spending a night. And we ran into two nice
crabeater seals. The second one was nice enough to pose for us. We eventually made our way into the lab
around 1430 hrs. |
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| Pase las próximas horas leyendo y adelante este diario y mi diario escrito
a mano. Rick entro y nos hablo de la posibilidad de salir por la noche a tomar fotos por dos horas. Por
lo tanto comí sobras de la nevera a me vestí para irnos a las 1930. Ambas managers de área de laboratorio
vendrían con nosotros a disfrutar de nuestro primer viaje de recreación en el zodiac. Fuimos al borde
del área permitida en el este conocida como Loudwater Cove y allí vimos este impresionante iceberg. |
|
I spent the next few hours getting caught up with some reading and my journals, particularly
the Spanish one and the handwritten one. Rick came in and we talked about the possibility of doing some
recreational boating from 1930 to 2130 hours. I ate some leftovers around 1830 and got ready for our
very first recreational boating session. Both lab managers, Cara and Tracey, joined us for our iceberg
tour of the Antarctic waters. We went to the easternmost point we could within boating limits, called
Loudwater Cove, and took impressive glacier/iceberg shots. |
 |
| Después pasamos por frente a la estación y fuimos a la bahía al lado conocida
como Kristie Cove. Seguimos hacia Shortcut Island donde encontramos este especular iceberg por el cual
se ve Mt. William. |
|
We came back to the cove just around the station, Kristie Cove, and behind Shortcut Island
and through this spectacular iceberg with a hole we could see Mt. William. |
 |
| Justamente detrás de Shortcut Island se nos acabo la gasolina. El zodiac
se supone que tiene dos tanques de 2.5 galones cada uno pero esta vez el zodiac tenia menos de la mitad
de uno. Hay una lista de cosas que hay que verificar antes de prender el motor. Tradicionalmente, y nosotros
seguimos esta regla, la persona que se monta primero en el bote es el capitán, el que va a conducir,
y el cual tiene que verificar que todo este bien. Pues no voy a mencionar quien pero alguien en nuestro
grupo le gusta prender el motor nuevo pero no le gusta hacer mas nada. Y por culpa de ella es que nos
quedamos flotando en alta mar por casi veinte minutos. El manager de la estación vino con gasolina y
nos rescato. En verdad Joe estaba bien feliz porque el no había podido salir hoy porque tenia que trabajar,
aunque el domingo se supone que es el día libre de ellos. La hora era perfecta también para disfrutar
de la luz y como jugaba con los icebergs. |
|
Right around Shortcut Island we ran out of gas. The Zodiac is supposed
to have two 2.5-gallon containers of gas for the motor. It appears when we entered the boat we only had
less than half of one. There is a checklist that we must go through before even turning on the motor.
Traditionally (and we have stuck with this) the person that turns on the boat is supposed to go through
the checklist prior to starting the boat. But there is a member of our crew (that shall remain nameless)
who really enjoys turning on the new motors for everyone because it is effortless. She does not, however,
enjoy going through the checklist. So we were adrift for around fifteen minutes until the Joe, the Station
Manager, was able to get out and "refuel" our Zodiac. Joe was happy to do it because he did
not get a chance to go out today due to his position, and 2100 hours is the perfect time to take pictures
of iceberg because the pre-sunset light plays beautifully on them. |
 |
| Concluimos el día cuando llegamos a la estación y disfrutamos como se veía en el sol de la tarde. A menos
de diez minutos de llegar Josh y Mike entrar al lab con sus trajes de baño y me dicen que vamos a brincar
en el agua Antártica. Yo corrí lo más rápido posible y me puse el mió y baje a muelle y nos lanzamos.
Luego corrimos para la piscina de agua caliente para recuperar nuestra temperatura. |
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We concluded our day by heading back to the station, which looks amazing in the evening
sun. About 10 minutes after our arrival, Josh and Mike entered the lab in their swimming trunks and announced
that we were jumping in Antarctic waters. I ran as fast as I could and got ready; we went to the pier
and dove off. We later scrambled to the hot tub where our body temperatures went back to normal. |
- Giancarlo Lopez-Martinez
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