Out to Sea

This weekend, I had the unique opportunity to go out on a scientific fishing expedition on the Lawrence M. Gould. The Gould has been going up and down the peninsula during the past couple of weeks fishing for Ice Fish (fish that have no red blood cells) for a current scientific research project.

So on Saturday, the Gould undocked from our pier with myself and 3 other Palmerites on board. We had perfect weather (meaning sunshine and low winds) to start our voyage that would take us into the Neumayer and eventually to Dallman Bay. That night, the Gould started trawling. Fishing is done at night as opposed to the day because the Ice Fish settle on the bottom of the sea at nighttime giving the nets ample opportunity to scoop them up. When the haul is hoisted onboard, it's a mad dash to open the net and sort through the sea creatures for the sought after fish to put in the tanks. Once the fish are out, the sea creatures are then shoveled back into the sea. A part of me wonders if they go back down telling tales of alien abductions to all their starfish and octopus friends, to which no one believes.

The next day, after the luxury of sleeping in, a group of us took a recreational zodiac boat ride despite low visibility and some blowing snow. We set out to explore Astrolabe Needle, a very Lord of the Ringsish monolith jutting out of the water. While en route, however, we amazingly encountered a humpback whale that waved its fin at us, spouted several times and got within 20 feet of our boat. Needless to say, everyone in the zodiac was super happy and excited they braved the poor conditions to have been there.

Whale Exposure Video


After that, the plan was to do a little bit more fishing and then the begin the overnight return journey to Palmer. However, as with a lot of things in Antarctica, those plans changed like a breath of wind. At some point during the night, the ship changed direction and headed towards Vernadsky, the Ukranian base. There was a patient to be medivaced to Punta Arenas. Since the Gould was heading back to PA after dropping us off and our summer doctor just so happened to be returning home on that trip, they decided (after getting approval from the NSF and Ukraine) to give him a ride.

So, overall, my one day weekend somehow turned into a two day weekend and the experiences while out at sea were full of picturesque vistas, good company, joy, and wonder. I can't believe I get paid to do this and not the other way around.

Click here for some awesome photos