Update #1
12 – 26 Dec. 2002

The following is the first of numerous reports I will provide throughout my project in Antarctica so you can share in our experiences as they happen.  I have already introduced you to my research program, so now I will begin reporting on the progress of this research for this season.  As you know already, I am taking one undergraduate student from UNCW, Rodney Hayward, to Antarctica to help me with my field work.  One other student from Australia, Michele Thums, also will be helping with the project and we will meet her in Australia before boarding the ship to Casey Station, the year-round base operated by the Australian Antarctic Division. 

Rodney and I began this trip with a long day of travel.  We flew from Wilmington, NC, on 12 Dec., first to Los Angeles (a 4.5 hr. flight), then to Honolulu where we sat for four more hours waiting for our flight to Sydney, Australia.  That flight took an additional 10 hours and we had a six hour wait in Sydney until our final flight left for Hobart, Tasmania (an island south of Australia and part of that country).  With so much time in Sydney, rather than wait at the airport we took the train into the city to walk around for awhile.  We visited the wharf area, known as the circular quay, where the famous Sydney opera house is located with its unique architecture.  We also walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens nearby and saw hundreds of fruit bats roosting in the trees there.  The vegetation in this area was more or less the same as when the British first colonized Australia in the late 1700s.  The main purpose for this colonization was to form a prison colony, so the area has an interesting history.  We had lunch on the wharf (excellent seafood) and then returned to the airport.

Rodney and Steve in front of the Sydney Opera House Fruit bats roosting in trees in the Sydney botanical gardens

We arrived in Hobart at 4:30 pm.  After having been in planes or airports for the last 24 hours, we were quite tired. We were met at the airport by my Australian colleague, Dr. Eric Woehler, who took us to our hotel.  We slept very well that night and had the next two days to enjoy Hobart and prepare for the next stage of our journey, by ship now, to Casey Station.  At this point, you should look at a map with your teacher and trace our route from Wilmington to Hobart.  Look up on the Internet to learn more about Sydney and the history of Australia, plus Tasmania.  There’s a lot to see here, but we’ll have more time for that on our way back from Antarctica in March.

Salamanca Street with historic buildings, Hobart, Tasmania

Hobart is a nice port city where the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)is located.  We visited their main headquarters to receive our clothing issue for the work in Antarctica.  Michele, the third member of my research team, met us there as well.  Since the climate in Antarctica  requires very specific kinds of dress to survive, no one is expected to supply their own. Instead, each person going south is loaned a set of clothes that keeps them well prepared for all types of weather conditions.  We spent two hours trying on various clothes and preparing our kit, or complete clothing issue, for the trip.  After that, we just needed to load our gear onboard the ship on Dec. 17.  Departure from the wharf in Hobart was set for 7pm that evening.  We spent the rest of our time in Hobart enjoying the scenery, the historic buildings on the wharf, and buying odds and ends that we still needed for the research I will be conducting.  On the scheduled day, we left aboard the ‘Polar Bird’, a ship that the AAD contracts to move cargo and personnel to and from Antarctica during the summer.

Rodney and Michele receive their clothing issue at the Australian Antarctic Division, Hobart

The 'Polar Bird', the ship that will take us to Antarctica


From this point until we arrived at Casey Station in Antarctica, we were at sea in the Indian Ocean.  The first few days were fine with calm seas and low winds. We saw lots of seabirds from the ship, including albatross, shearwaters, petrels, and other species that spend most of their time out in the open ocean.  By day four of the voyage, however, the seas got rougher and many aboard got seasick and remained in their cabins.  These conditions lasted through day seven and finally, by Christmas Eve, we reached calmer waters again and the edge of the pack ice, or ice that forms on the surface of the ocean, within 100 miles of the Antarctic continent.  A complete list of the birds and marine mammals we saw on this voyage follows:

Short-tailed shearwaters                  Wilson’s Storm-petrel              Sperm Whale
Wandering Albatross                       *Black-bellied Storm-petrel     Sei Whale
Royal Albatross                               *Snow Petrel                           Long-finned Pilot Whale
White-capped Albatross                  Cape Petrel                             Southern Bottlenose Whale
Light-mantled Sooty Albatross         *Antarctic Petrel                      Fin Whale
Black-browed Albatross                  Mottled Petrel                         *Minke Whale
Grey-headed Albatross                   *Blue Petrel                             *Crabeater Seal  
White-capped Albatross                 *Southern Fulmar                     *Leopard Seal
Southern Giant Petrel                      *South Polar Skua                   *Weddell Seal                        
 Northern Giant Petrel                      *Adélie Penguin                      
White-headed Petrel                       *Emperor Penguin                   
Prions (species unknown)

*Denotes species seen only after entering the pack ice in Antarctica    

First ice berg encountered on Day 6 of the voyage The "Polar Bird' making its way through the pack ice on Christmas Day

Pack ice with two Snow Pertrels flying by the ship, Christmas Day

Christmas day was beautiful.  We were moving through heavy to light pack ice all day, observing birds, whales, and seals. We had a fabulous dinner on board, prepared by the crew, and everyone exchanged gifts as well.  I couldn’t think of a better way to spend Christmas than in the pack ice in Antarctica!  Now, today, our ninth day since leaving Hobart, we have reached Casey Station and are beginning the long process of unloading all the equipment, supplies, fuel, and personnel.  All of this is to resupply the station since the ship only comes here about three times a year. So, for everyone who stays here to have enough food and fuel to survive, the ship needs to carry a large amount of cargo each visit.  It will be much lighter when it leaves, carrying only wastes and some of the personnel who had been here over the past winter. 

Casey Station, where we will spend the next 10 weeks

We will go ashore soon and be shown around the station, then undergo field training to become familiar with the local terrain and conditions before we can begin our research at the penguin colonies.  The next update will describe our training and the start of this research.

Steve Emslie, 26 Dec. 2002