Winfly Excitement!

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Trip Start Aug 16, 2007 Previous
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  McMurdo, Antarctica
Saturday, October 6, 2007

Arriving at Winfly definitely has it's perks! Besides being able to ease into our work responsibilities as the population grows we also have the benefits of seeing more of the transitional side of Antarctica as it goes from austral winter to austral summer. We are able to experience the gradual stages of complete darkness to complete light which means we get to witness some amazing sun rises & sun sets! It has definitely been interesting to see the sun sets get later and later into the evening! At times it seems strange to be going to bed while the sun is just setting at 11:00pm! Good thing we have dark curtains!

Winfly is also one of the peak times to see Nacreous Clouds. Nacreous Clouds (Polar Stratospheric Clouds) are clouds in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 50,000-80,000 ft. The stratosphere is very dry; unlike the troposphere, it rarely allows clouds to form. In the extreme cold of the polar winter, however, stratospheric clouds of different types may form, which are classified according to their physical state and chemical composition. Nacreous Clouds form at very low temperatures, below −78 °C. Due to their high altitude and the curvature of the surface of the Earth, these clouds will receive sunlight from below the horizon and reflect it to the ground, shining brightly well before dawn or after dusk. (description from Wikepedia)

Over the past few weeks we have had some great adventures! We started off with a few Galley parties as we were all getting to know each other. Our first party was at the bowling alley for some cosmic bowling. It was a great time and we all had fun trying to get the best score...on a very warped wood alley...and I am sorry to say that no talent is needed, in fact it could be a hindrance! A few weeks later we had another Galley party at Hut 10. This was more of a game night with some good food - pizza, sushi, and shrimp! (of course we had good food - it's a Galley party!)

There have also been a few parties on station for everyone to get together and hang out. We have had several Karaoke nights as well as a few Concerts and Open Mic nights. The big concert for Winfly was called WinStock in which the line up included 2 DA's playing the guitar along with some other very talented artists! We have also been over to the Kiwi base, Scott Base, a few times for American Night on Thursdays. It is nice to get to see their facility and learn more about New Zealand since we will be traveling there after our season ends. It also is nice because you can get away from McMurdo for a while and just hang in a more relaxing environment.

We recently took a tour of the Crary Lab on one of our days off and learned a lot about the various science groups that come down and what they are studying. It was fun to see the aquarium and touch a few of the sea creatures that had been caught earlier in the day. We also "won" a trip to Arrival Heights, an off-limits area, with one of the science techs for our next day off. (We will write a separate entry to describe our Crary Lab tour and Arrival Heights trip)

This past week we were learning how to drive our Galley truck! The Ice Runway galley will be opening up at the end of the month along with the Willy Field galley. We will be delivering 3 meals a day to each of these galleys for the workers who can't make it to the main galley for meals. The tricky part of the training was backing up to the loading dock enough to touch it without damaging the truck! Each galley can feed about 40 people at a time and will be serviced by a chef and 2 DA's. We are still awaiting more information on who will be assigned to work at the runways and when they will be up and running. Aaron is really hoping to get selected for one of these positions!

Main Body has arrived! The Main Body flights have begun and we are now receiving flights of about 80-150 people every other day...weather permitting! We have gone from a population of about 348 during Winfly to close to 700 in just one week! It has been very chaotic lately especially in the galley as we all adjust to the expanded population. We have only received 6 more DA's and 2 more chefs to assist with all of the tasks so everyone has been working overtime to keep up! We still have several more weeks of flights as we get to our max population of 1,100. We also have all of the South Pole population coming through McMurdo to do some training and gather supplies before heading up to the Pole. It is going to become very cozy very quickly! The good news is that with all of the planes arriving we get freshies and mail! Hurray!

Another highlight is that the weather is getting a little warmer! We have been staying between 10 F and -20 F for the past 2 weeks. It seems that we have a few "warm" beautiful days and then a condition 2 storm with strong winds will blow in for a few days before going back to the warmer temperatures. There is also a noticeable difference of the season change as the snow begins to melt in town and we see more of the rocky brown dirt everywhere...until another storms gives us a few more inches of snow!

We are sure that the next few weeks will be just as exciting as the last few were! With more people in town there will be a lot more activities going on and plenty of new faces to meet!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

01. Sunset	02. Sunset	03. Nacreous Clouds	04. Nacreous Clouds
05. Cosmic Bowling Party	06. Hut 10 Party	07. Scott Base	08. Where is Scott Base?
09. Toast & Jam Concert - Scott Base	10. Galley Truck at the Ice Runway	11. Inside the Ice Runway Galley

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