Touring Palmer Station

Most of my blogs and photos thus far have been on the wildlife and scenery here -- and justifiably so. But I will try and do a few on some of the facilities and society here at Palmer Station, which is so much different from the other two U.S. Antarctic Program stations at McMurdo and South Pole.

It's by far the smallest science base of the trio, and we are currently maxed out with 45 people. Ironically, it gets the most visitors by far in terms of tourists. The station typically hosts 12 ships per year, as well as the occasional private yacht or sailboat. It's great outreach for the science program, allowing people to see the facilities and meet the researchers personally. I talked to a bunch of tourists over the last week or so, and all of them were impressed by the station. They get a tour of the station, the highlight being the store:














At the end of the tour, the groups are led to the lounge/galley, where they can chat with station personnel and chow on brownies (apparently famous enough to have been mentioned in the Lonely Planet Antarctica) and have tea or coffee, and grab some brochures as well.

After a day of working and playing tour leaders, the station staff has a great place to hang out. The local pub is BYOB, and everyone contributes very generously to the general stash:














In addition to the recent tourist ships -- whose passengers included Buzz Aldrin -- we got a visit from the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer, one of the two research vessels for the National Science Foundation. Stiff sea ice on the east side of the peninsula has rebuffed their efforts to go very far south, so they're on the western side trying to come up with a new plan, though they think they can fly helicopters across the mountainous peninsula to do some of their original work.



A helicopter coming in to land from over the glacier behind station.

At right, the RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer pulling away from Arthur Harbor, Palmer Station.