Dear All:

Greetings from McMurdo, where we're celebrating Thanksgiving on Saturday (NOV-27). We have a two-day weekend, where normally we only have Sundays off. The scientists have come in from camps around the continent. They are celebrating with us and working in town over the weekend just as hard as ever. These scientists are easily recognizable by their dirty parkas and sunburned faces except where their sunglasses have created white raccoon eyes.

We're enjoying a sunny 40-degree day eating our choice of two kinds of turkey smoked or roasted), roast beef, or Antarctic cod. There are all the fixings and desserts to die for. The food service staff and hordes of helpers have cooked, baked and decorated for a week. Attached are photos of us at our banquet and of us in the evening outside afterwards. We've been joking that if we eat enough we'll be able to slide on the snow on our bellies just like the penguins. We didn't overindulge, however, and have leftovers to look forward to the next couple of days. The outside photo was taken at 8:30 in the evening. It shows how bright the light is here, day and night.

Life in McMurdo has been treating us well. Jean's work has included a variety of the usual colds/flus, falls/muscle strains as well as more serious cases including a heart attack today. When she's not in the clinic, Jean's been reading a book about Scott's expedition called the "Worst Journey in the World," which describes that things were not always this easy. We also heard that some people in the field camps on the polar ice cap have suffered frostbite and altitude sickness and had to abandon some of their projects for another year. Unlike Scott, they have helicopters and airplanes (LC-131/Hercules and Twin Otters) to get them back and radios to stay in contact.

When Bert is not fixing broken equipment or designing a sled for weighing seals, he's been playing the tuba. He discovered that there's one on the station that can be checked out and decided to see if any of his childhood tuba training can come back. He's definitely not ready for prime time, but is probably still the best tuba player on the continent. Where else can you earn a distinction like that after one week of practice?

Summer is on the way for us. During the next month the sea ice will start melting. We've done some walking around the area and up to the observation hill above the time, but the warmer weather will make that more enjoyable.

The email following this one has photos of local sea life. Bert's lab is next to an indoor aquarium where these organisms are kept while they are being studied. Included are pictures of the Antarctic cod we ate for Thanksgiving, as well as anemones, sea slugs, starfish and jellyfish from the "petting zoo." These latter animals were not part of our Thanksgiving meal. When I came back to the aquarium after the meal, I noticed that the cod in my aquarium picture was gone. This means you have two pictures of him, on our plates at Thanksgiving and in the tank prior to that.

Thanks for replies we've been getting. We are in the process of updating our mailing list. If you would like to be taken off or know the email address of someone else that should be included, please let us know.

Bert and Jean

Attached are photos of some of the sea creatures of Antarctica.

aquarium.jpg shows a picture of the aquarium building where the various creatures are kept for study.

aquacod1.jpg shows an example of the Antarctic cod that are caught locally for study and later eaten. This particular fish is only about 4 feet long. They also catch ones that are 6-8 feet long, but these are too difficult to hold in the aquariums and study.

aquapet2.jpg shows some of the anemones, eels, smaller fish and starfish that have been caught and put into a tank for people to see. This tank is called the "petting zoo."

aquatime.jpg shows a setup that is being used to shoot time lapse photography. The small (red) starfish can eat much larger (white) starfish. Also shown are some anemones and legged spider-like creature.

Here are some more photos of sealife from the aquariums near Bert's lab:

aquajell.jpg shows some of the local jellyfish. These were rescued from being eaten by an anemone and are missing some of their tentacles.

aquaanem.jpg shows an anemone that eats jellyfish.

aquaslug.jpg shows a weird yellow sea slug that was in another aquarium and was getting photographed a lot.

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This page was last updated on 12/20/00.