Energy, Karma and Passion Wednesday January 4, 2012

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

http://www.studentsonice.com/antarctic2011/day9.html

Expedition Update - 09:00am EST

Good morning! Below is the first update of the day from our Expedition Leader, Geoff:

Wow! What a day yesterday! In the morning our Captain navigated through dense pack and glacier ice. There was ice everywhere - Icebergs, Tabulars, Icefloes, Bergy Bits! We were blessed with blue skies and sun and flat calm seas. It was glorious. In the morning we went south to Snow Hill Island and then turned north towards the Peninsula. On the way we saw a lone Emperor penguin, lots of seals and more Orca whales. By late morning we experienced an incredible landing on a giant ice floe in theWeddell Sea. It took some ingenuity including a rope ladder, but we got all students and staff onto the floe and it was magic.

We had our third pod group meetings and discussed the importance of sea ice as habitat and in relation to modern climate change. We played a game of soccer à la Shackleton, and had 10 minutes of total silence. This was probably the most significant moment. The students are really starting to connect the dots. And lying on that icefloe with 500 metres of ocean below them, then now understand what sea ice is, why it is important to life on earth, and why we need to slow down global warming, and take better care of our environment. We also took our group photo on the icefloe (looking and feeling good in our Canada Goose jackets) and gave a loud shout out to everyone around the world that we must Protect the Poles to Protect the Planet. Did you hear us?

Sublime vistas of more tabular icebergs in Fridjof Channel and Antarctic Sound under sunny blue skies bookended another landing, this time on the continent at Brown Bluff. There we wandered past red-brown tuff cliffs embedded with volcanic bombs, hiked up on top of a glacier and observed an Adélie and Gentoo penguin rookery. We also cruised amongst icebergs and at the foot of the glacier. Throughout the day we saw Minke whales, Antarctic Terns, cormorants, jellyfish, petrels, Weddell and Crabeater seals, skuas, kelp gulls, southern fulmars, plankton, Adélie and Gentoo penguins.

Today we have another beautiful day. We have a well earned morning rest with some presentations and workshops, and then this afternoon we plan to make a few landings on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. We are currently moving through a foggyBransfield Strait and will soon reach the Gerlache Strait. The Gerlache Strait will lead us to Cuverville and Rongé Islands, a spot with incredible panoramic views of surrounding mountains, ice bergs, calving glaciers and wildlife. We usually see Humpback whales in this part of the peninsula, so we will be out on deck surveying the water surface for everything and anything!

When we land at Cuverville and Ronge Islands, we will have our first experience in a true Gentoo penguin rookery and will likely see seals and may even do another hike up to a beautiful lookout point.

The Education Program schedule for today looks like this:


0730 - Yoga (Clare & Danièle)
0800 - Wake-Up!
0830 - Breakfast
0930 - Presentation: Introduction to Antarctic Ice (Jeff)
1030 - Workshops:

           1. Musical journal keeping circle (Elin & Tony)
           2. Antarctic food chain (Garry, Santiago & Sonja)
           3. Antarctic photo assignments (Mike)
           4. Visual art (Pablo)
           5. Backcountry medical care/medical scenarios (Terry & Brenda)
           6. Living in the polar regions (David & Grant)
1230 - Lunch
1400 - Possible Afternoon Landing: Cuverville Island and/or Rongé Island
1800 - Possible Evening Landing: Danco Island
2000 - Asado BBQ Dinner
2130 - Evening Recap & Briefing

The energy, karma and passion on board is contagious. Antarctica is in everyone´s system. We are thankful to be here. And we thank all of you following us for your support and interest. 

In the expedition spirit,
Geoff

Expedition Update - 1:00pm EST

Exciting news! We heard from the ship and they confirmed that the satellite system is re-connected and back online! The media team is in the process of loading new photos and videos. Once we receive these at headquarters, we will post the photos to the appropriate Daily Update Pages and the videos to the Expedition Videos page. We expect to have everything added to the website by end of the day! Stay tuned...

SOI Headquarters team

Expedition Update - 4:30pm EST

A quick note to direct you to the Expedition Videos page to view seven new videos! Select a title to link to our Students on Ice Channel on YouTube to view these amazing new productions created by our talented videography team Pascale Otis, Alex Taylor and Grant Redvers!

We have also added new photographs to the January 1 and January 2 Daily Update pages. The ship team will send more photographs and journals for tomorrow.

SOI Headquarters team