Land Ho!

Yay! We've finally arrived at Palmer Station at 0730 this morning. Most of the day so far has been filled with orientation meetings, tours, and job tasking (the reason I am here). Sadly... my body is telling me to get back on the boat, but for a fairly odd reason... Those of you who are familiar with the feeling you get after running / walking on a treadmill for a long period of time, and then stepping off, will know kinda what I'm talking about. The people I am traveling with call it "Dock Rock." I occasionally get these moments where I feel like my world is still moving. Its really odd, my bunk mate has the same problem, and he said he felt like he was stoned... LOL. It's completely a feeling in my head, and fortunately, not my stomach. Closing my eyes while standing up isn't all that safe yet.

Since I'm not considered station crew (I'll be leaving when the boat leaves) I have to sleep / eat on the boat for my whole stay here, except for a few select meals, Hopefully my "sea legs" won't go away all too much. Being back on the boat kind of helps the dock rock subside a little too. Towards the end of the ride here, I can say that I really didn't notice the boat rock much anymore, unless I looked out a window, to confirm it.

My first impressions of the station are very positive. For being 40+ years old, the place seems like it is in good condition. I went to a presentation to night about the station's history. It's pretty cool. Things sounded like they were much simpler though. Probably because there weren't all these crazy government rules and regulations, and building codes and the such. Also saw pictures of how close the glacier used to be to the station. Its significantly further away now. So far, I've seen a few skuas, a Leopard Seal, and to icebergs calving off the glacier. Unfortunately, I didn't a single picture of any of it.

Speaking of pictures, I've some initial ones up in picasa. You can head over to them here, here and here. It's not all of the pictures I took, just a sampling really. Some could get kind of repetitive if I posted them all. I'm also to lazy to link some to this post right now too. Oh well. I guess that's all I have for now. More to come, stay tuned :)