THE BIG FRIGHT
On one of our other walks we were over at Boat Harbour. We were
just standing there at the edge of the ice looking at the way it
turns slushy and starts to freeze when "bang." We heard a gunshot.
It frightened us both. Suddenly the ice we were standing collapsed
into the sea. We had to jump. It was only a little gap but it was
certainly frightening. Once back on the land we discussed what had
happened. I thought the gunshot noise was the scariest part of what
happened and Margie thought the ice breaking off was the worst. It
wasn't very windy so the ice wouldn't have blown out to sea. That
would have been dangerous. So what we had was just an interesting
experience! Boat Harbour is finally frozen solid. It is just like a
big ice skating rink. It happened in one night. The temperature
went down to -23 degrees Celsius, the coldest temperature we have
had so far. We got up the next morning and Boat Harbour was a
skating rink with slight snow drifts decorating the edges.
WE LOST WEATHER DATA AND FILM
Our weather recording system has to be downloaded into the
computer. We are keeping as much data on the weather as we can and
we had a mini-disaster this week. We lost the week's weather. Right
now we feel bad about losing the data. Earlier this week we were
feeling bad about a roll of film that we ruined. It hadn't been
rewound in the camera correctly. It was one of those beautiful
sunny days and the photos would have been great. We have the
memories so we aren't feeling all that bad.
PENGUINS AND SEAL REPORT
There are absolutely no penguins now on Cape Denison. They have all
gone. We walked about 7 kilometres and checked every little nook
and cranny. We didn't see a single one. It is funny that what I
read in Mawson's journal seems to happen to us. He said all the
penguins were gone on the 10th of April. That is almost the exact
day that we saw our last penguin. According to Mawson they will be
back on the 12th of October. I'll let you know! During April Mawson
wrote about petrels visiting. We had the same experience. There
were five snow petrels out in front of "Gadget Hut." They seemed to
be eating krill from the slushy surface of the ice. Snow petrels
are pure white with black eyes and bill. The bird book says they
have black underdown beneath the white which may help them keep
warm by absorbing radiation which has penetrated their feathers.
The seals are getting scarcer now. There were only half a dozen
when it was sunny the other day. Maybe it is just a temporary thing
and they'll be back. There were hundreds just a few weeks ago.
About those "polar bears:" The Saturday that Margie said she saw a
polar bear and cub that Saturday was April Fool's Day. I tried to
warn you. There aren't any bears in Antarctica. The early explorers
brought rifles down here to protect themselves but they never had
to use them except maybe to kill seals to feed the huskies.
Highlights of the week: This morning we noticed that a hugh iceberg
had broken off to the west of Cape Denison which is unusual. We
haven't seen an iceberg drop off since February.
There is a full moon now and it makes a great sight shimmering over
the sea at night time.
The best meal of the week was from Shelf Stable Foods: Chicken
Provencale (chicken with tomato and garlic.)
We have already had 58 hours of sunlight so far this month. That is
all Mawson had for the entire month of April.
Keep warm,
Don
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