Land Ho!

Everyone was excited this morning about the sight of land and the promise of exploring it soon. The morning started with the crew loading equipment and 4-wheel ATVs into the zodiaks for the race organizers. They will meet with the scientific research station leadership and then mark the course for tomorrow's race. It was amazing to watch the ATVs lifted out of the hold with a giant crane and then lowered over the ship's edge into the zodiak bouncing in the waves below. In addition to the race organizers, the National Science Foundation observer and two other passengers went on shore. The NSF observer will make sure that the race is laid out in a manner that complies with the 17 pages of race restrictions imposed by the Antarctica Treaty nations. The other two passengers are part of the US company that is installing the landing system for the new airstrip being completed. It was easier and perhaps even cheaper for them to take the ship to the island rather than trying to catch a military ship or flight. The airstrip is due open for test flights on Monday so they will have a busy weekend ahead of them.

After the zodiaks were off, all passengers had to complete the final stage of our eco-decontamination scrub. As part of our no-impact tourism efforts, we had already vacuumed out all of our bags and outer gear to catch any possible seeds or bacteria stowaways. Now we had to scrub our running shoes and rubber boots in a special chemical bath. These steps were done to make sure that no new species or diseases are introduced to this ecologically sensitive part of the world.

We are now ready to go ashore but unfortunately, Mother Nature has not been cooperating with us. The winds have picked up considerably through the day, with sustained winds of 41 knots (about 50 mph) and gusts up to 50 knots (about 60 mph). If you recall the Beaufort Wind scale I mentioned the otherday, we are hovering between levels 9 and 10. The wind is so strong coming across the ship that it is listing towards the port side. For safety reasons, the expedition leaders will not take zodiaks out to the land if the wind is over 40 knots because they can and do flip due to the high winds. We are now cruising along the Antarctica Peninsula in search of a place to do a landing under less windy conditions. Appropriately enough, we arewatching the documentary "Shackleton: Endurance in Antarctica." We are all hoping that the winds die down so we can go ashore for the race tomorrow. The last thing we want is to have to run the marathon and half-marathon on the ship deck, just like runners had to do several years ago. It was something like 400 laps around the deck equals 26.2 miles!