Because it seemed like a good idea at the time....: BOONDOGGLE!

Here at McMurdo there is a diverse community of scientists and grantees actively doing research along with a huge number of support staff. The scientists often need volunteers to help them with their work, whether its going fishing to collect fish samples, dive tenders to help the scuba divers, or volunteers to "test drive" snowmobiles, just to name a few. Since we have unexciting bottom of the totem pole jobs in Antarctica, management tries to make our lives a little exciting by offering morale trips aka boondoggles to help the scientists for a day. Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to help Staci and Clint while they went scuba diving into the frozen over Ross Sea.

Piston Bully

The DRILL

We met early in the morning and loaded up the Piston Bully with gear for the day. With everything at McMurdo, the equipment found here was never originally designed for Antarctic use. The Piston Bullies are machines that were used back in the States to groom snow hills for skiing. Here on the Ice they are for traveling across the frozen Ross Sea, mostly by scientists doing research. We drove on the Ice Road atop the frozen over Ross Sea for an hour to get to a location where scientific data had been collected for the previous 40 years. Along the way we passed Mount Erebus, the most southern active volcano in the world.

Staci has completed 15 seasons of research here in Antarctica and is a research professor at a university in Santa Cruz and Clint is one of her grad students. They were collecting soil samples from the sea floor and taking a few photos and videos at some old collection locations. Drilling a hole into 7 feet of ice is a big deal here in Antarctica and requires a massive drill. The location required us to leave the well flagged Ice Road route so we left a flag marking the location of where we were departing the established road so that the guy with the drill could find us. Then we started off-roading!

Boy was it COLD! The drilling began and after the hole was complete we took fishing nets and shovels to scoop out any remaining ice floating in the new hole. Staci and Clint were originally planning on diving at this new location that day but because of the high winds and very cold temps it was delayed a day until they could drag a "dive shelter" to cover the hole. The dive shelters have a small propane tank to keep you a bit warmer and is a great escape from the whipping wind. Staci explained that they have limited time from once they enter the water until they are borderline hypothermic, even with their heavy dry suits and thermal layers. If they had to put on their dry suits and climb in from an unprotected area, it would just speed up the time until they froze. Since there was no dive shelter protecting them from the wind and cold, they would have to wait until the following day to dive there.

Staci and Clint

Staci decided since she had me there to help and the rest of the day still available, they would go diving at one of the locations next to base that had a dive shelter. They geared up in their dry suits and I helped they put on their gloves before they slipped into the 3 foot diameter hole cut through 7 feet of ice. I watched as I saw air bubbles come to the surface and the occasional tug on the safety line secured to the shelter. Attached to the line were some sample collection tubes, camera, video camera, and emergency air tank (that shined neon yellow through the water). They had flashers on the line that were like strobe lights lighting the way back to the hole along with black and white checkered flags. When they reached the surface they handed me their air tanks and heavy weight belts to pull to the surface and then I helped pull them out of the hole.

POLAR PLUNGE!

In exchange for my help they “off the record” let me Polar Plunge! I jumped into the 28 degree water and they quickly pulled me out of the hole. Needless to say, it was chilly without a dry suit! Plus I blame my lack of never playing organized sports for my awful aiming and coordination. Therefore, I scraped ice almost the entire way in so I had some lovely scrapes from my shin to stomach. But hey, how many people can say they went swimming in Antarctica (and I use the term swimming very loosely J)