Land is in Sight

Over the past two weeks (since the 24^th) we have been steaming from Bruce’s mooring site in the middle of the Southern Ocean, heading to Punta Arenas. After weeks of enduring the high seas of the Southern Ocean, we were able to see land for the first time yesterday when we entered the Straits of Magellan from the west, and we spent the day marveling at the beautiful fjords that lined our passage. Presently, we are at a fueling pier in Cabo Negro, about a two-hour steam from Punta Arenas, and we should be topping off the tanks within hours and heading to Punta Arenas where we will be setting foot on land for the first time in nearly two months.

Views from our journey through the Magellan Straits. Photo credits: A. Margolin.

It has been a great journey, beginning with two weeks in New Zealand, where I spent a few days kayaking in fjords that passing through the straits reminded me of, reminding me of a distant home that I used to have, if it was mine for only a moment. After spending those two weeks in New Zealand I met up with a group of about thirty new people, who would become my closest friends over the following two months during the TRACERS Cruise. We experienced many great things together, such as the flight from Christchurch to the Pegasus Airfield on Antarctica, running the 5K in the bitter cold with bright smiles, learning about katabatic winds and getting to experience their bite near the Drygalski Ice Tongue where we spent weeks sampling the Ross Sea. Another memory that I will never forget, and was an experience that I will likely never have again, was getting close to the emperor penguins on the Sulzberger Ice Shelf and helping Jerry with his work tagging the birds.

The TRACERS Cruise participants on the Sulzberger Ice Shelf. Photo credit: C. Riesselman.

Tackling the Chief Scientist. Photo credit: C. Riesselman.

Shortly after Jerry completed his work tagging penguins, I had an interview with him that I recently shared on this blog. One thing that he said to me in that process that I did not include in the interview I would like to share with you here, as a closing note to this blog. I had mentioned to Jerry how overwhelmed I was by the hundreds of photos of penguins that I had taken, not knowing how to sort through them and organize them. Jerry’s response was:

“A lesson that I’ve learned in working with these animals is that you wind up with hundreds and hundreds of photos of them—whether penguins or seals—it doesn’t matter. But when I look back at those photos, it’s the people that I wish I had photographed.”

Those words will stick with me forever.

As I look back at my photos, I realize that many of them are not of the cruise participants, but of the activities that we did. However, because of resources like this blog and the ship’s server that allows us to share our photos easily, I know that I will not forget these faces that have become so familiar.

On that note, I wanted to thank you all for following our blog and for allowing us to share these great experiences with you. We are all looking forward to getting back to our friends, families and homes, wherever they may be. Thanks again.

–Andrew