It’s already halfway through the season here at Palmer Station!
I like to say that time feels fake down here. Somehow, time has both flown by and dragged on. The constant busyness around station has certainly worn me down but the excitement of living in such a beautiful place like Antarctica has kept me going.
One of the perks of mid season rolling around, is a visit from our mid season ship. This ship brings important goods like fresh faces, mail, and most importantly fresh food.
The ship is slotted to be in our port for 10 days. This allows various personnel and inspectors who are only here for port call to get all their work done. Some of these positions include fire technicians to inspect our fire system, a Haz waste inspector to inspect all systems dealing with fuel, and divers to repair seawater lines.
Station turns into a busy place where someone always needs your help. Which in my case basically means, you’re not getting a lot of your own work done while they’re here.
In addition, this ship brought a few fresh faces that would be remaining on station for the rest of the season. This included a few new scientists and a small group assigned to a special infrastructure project.
YOU GOT MAIL. The ship also came barring mail – the first mail we’ve received time in 3 months!
In order to get mail down here, packages or letters need to be sent to an office in Colorado. These items are then reviewed, organized and packaged into a checked bag sized silver trunk. These trunks are then hand carried down through the airport as checked luggage to eventually be put on the ship in Punta Arenas before making their way to station.
Each person on station is allowed a certain amount of space since room is limited. I used my allotted amount for some much needed socks and a pair of pants. I realized pretty early on in my season that I packed the wrong type of clothes down here. The clothes I brought were a bit too thick – thinking this is Antarctica after all. But Palmer station has pretty mild weather in their summer season and regular boot socks are more beneficial then thick wool socks and insulated snow pants.
When I received my packages, I also had a few small surprises waiting for me! These were from my Mom and my sister and definitely brought up my moral. Thanks guys!
Now for the most important part of port call: the delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Down here, the slang for fresh fruits and veggies is the simple word of “freshies”. We fully ran out of freshies in the beginning part of December. Now don’t get me wrong, we still have things like frozen or canned vegetables. Which the chefs make for every meal and do wonders with them. But you don’t really realize how much of an impact having fresh food has on your mood – until you fully run out.
The second day that the ship was in port, the logistics team did an excellent job with cargo getting mostly everything organized and unpacked. The kitchen staff processed a batch of freshies quickly and put them out for 10 AM break.
I excitedly bit into an apple as my first fruit of choice. I’m sure, if I was back home I’d label this apple mid at best – especially since it was a red delicious apple which is one I actively avoid – but since I was here under these circumstances, it was the most mouth watering treat that I had the pleasure to bit into. The apple was gone in a blink of an eye and all that remained was the smile it left on my face.
As I looked around the room, I could tell the mood was lighter than it had been in the previous week leading up to now. I’m told it’s normal for the station crew to hit a mid season slump and we certainly had it. But the air around station switched with this delivery of fresh food – plus a mixture of fresh faces who brought in a whole new wave of energy.
At lunch, I treated myself to avocado on fresh salad. Then again at 3 PM break with a juicy orange. This went on for days, soaking in as much fresh food as possible. I truly felt like the hungry hungry caterpillar munching away.
Even now, 3 weeks later, some days, I find myself skipping out on a hot food lunch and only have an orange. Thinking into it a bit father, it’s crazy how much these oranges have really made an impact on my mental health. I am happier and feel healthier having access to fresh food – something that in the past I definitely took advantage of.
Unfortunately, I’ve heard are rumors that we won’t have a mid season ship next year – since the United States sold their science vessel and all…. If that is the case, the following seasons might be extremely rough. I’m at the point where I can’t imagine going 4-5 months with no fresh fruit.
Even now, I fear we are running low on our freshies. It is only a matter of time until we are hoarding the last bowl of fruit.
Sadly, as I write this now, we already ran out of avocados. I’m truly hoping we can stretch a few hardier freshies til March. But even then, the last month here we turn into a barren desert again. Something I am very much not looking forward to.
I will most likely go feral on some fruit once we return north to South America.
But for now, stay juicy my friends.
(Fun little sign that I made)
