Across Antarctica Solo

[wirespokes]

Yeah, drinking is a big thing there. Three taverns at McMurdo, and all closed for a week or so while the cargo ship is there in January. Things got too rowdy in the past, drink and sailors, etc. so the ban. Everyone couldn't wait for the ship to leave.

The cargo ship comes only once a year, preceded by the ice breaker allowing it access. The cargo ship holds something like 550 of those 40' containers and those supplies last the whole year. The construction work planned over the next 8 years will change all that. Next winter the construction company has 500 containers of their own scheduled, which means a second ship. One of the problems they face is a way to remove the two large cranes being delivered - they're larger than the bridge from the dock to the shore so can't just be driven ashore.

One nice clear warm day I was admiring the view and rugged mountains on the other side of the channel when a woman walked by. I commented on the view and she told me about the Fata Morgana - a mirage that happens sometimes on nice days. I hadn't figured it out, but the camera did capture it. I'll see if I can dig up the photo. The mirage makes the opposite shore look like there's an immense cliff wall dropping straight down into the ocean.

[DaSwami]

True that, the guys with the "NAVCHAPGRU" emblazoned jumpsuits were a rowdy bunch, jumped a couple of us civvies back in the day...fighting is verboten, they would ship you on the next plane out.

[wirespokes]

One of the young kids on the steel crew got really drunk and was warned to control himself by the site super, no less. A week later he was found in the middle of the night passed out in the cafeteria. When they couldn't wake him, he was taken to the hospital. After doing tests, discovered a high blood alcohol content. He was told he could work the next week before the plane came, then he would leave and not coming back.

It can be way below zero in the middle of the night, and if he'd collapsed outside he could have died in less than an hour, or perhaps only lost his hands, feet and nose. Doesn't take long at those temps.

[KiwiKev]

Yeah, drinking is a big thing there. Three taverns at McMurdo, and all closed for a week or so while the cargo ship is there in January. Things got too rowdy in the past, drink and sailors, etc. so the ban. Everyone couldn't wait for the ship to leave.

The cargo ship comes only once a year, preceded by the ice breaker allowing it access. The cargo ship holds something like 550 of those 40' containers and those supplies last the whole year. The construction work planned over the next 8 years will change all that. Next winter the construction company has 500 containers of their own scheduled, which means a second ship. One of the problems they face is a way to remove the two large cranes being delivered - they're larger than the bridge from the dock to the shore so can't just be driven ashore.

One nice clear warm day I was admiring the view and rugged mountains on the other side of the channel when a woman walked by. I commented on the view and she told me about the Fata Morgana - a mirage that happens sometimes on nice days. I hadn't figured it out, but the camera did capture it. I'll see if I can dig up the photo. The mirage makes the opposite shore look like there's an immense cliff wall dropping straight down into the ocean.

Yeh the Royal Society Ranges are quite spectacular but are you sure the woman wasn't a mirage ???

[wirespokes]

Yeh the Royal Society Ranges are quite spectacular but are you sure the woman wasn't a mirage ???

Good point! Highly possible, and I never saw her again...