The Offshore New Harbor Camp is located on 6-meter deep ice on the McMurdo Sound which is part of the Ross Sea. We are about 70 km from McMurdo Station and look right down the Ferrar Valley which is part of the continent.
Camp- View from Helicopter
There are 16 people at camp. Everyone sleeps in an unheated Scott tent, two to a tent. I share my tent with Kirsty Tinto, whom I also roomed with at McMurdo Station. Kirsty is a native of Northern Ireland who is a Grad student and resides in Dunedin, New Zealand. She is quite funny and pretty experienced in the way of Antarctica and expeditions. I have been learning a lot from her and could not have asked for a better tent mate. Plus she doesn’t snore, picks up my slack and has awesome nicknames for me like tiny, stumpy, dopey and sugar bear. Nicknames are a big part of camp life. We all have very official camp nickname like meat box, sausage tickle, noodle, goober, wet rope, cheese slab, windy crack, mad dog, captain skidoodle, warm bosom, uncle gravity, Cruella de Vil, sunshine and peaches. I am known as hummus bucket.
The Kiwi Drillers made ice steps in the entry way of their tent and fly their flag.
We have two heated structures which serve as our dining tent and science tent. Our toilet is located in a Scott tent and consists of a whole in the ice with a toilet seat on top. There is also a shower located in a Scott tent which consists of a solar shower bag which you fill with warm water and a propane space heater to warm the tent. The dirty water goes into a rubber containment burm and is then dumped into the gray water hole. I have yet to use it since I commute to McMurdo almost every week. No need to shower more than that. In fact most camps don’t have showers and people will go up to a month without showering. So a shower at camp is quite a luxury.
Diesel heater used to heat the dining and science tents. It also serves as the heat source for making all camp water.
Bathroom tent and pee flag for the men folk.
Trash is heavily sorted in waste bins inside the science tent and dining tent. When the bins are full the trash is brought outside and tossed into large boxes. All of our trash will be going back to McMurdo and eventually shipped back to the U.S. Waste water from brushing teeth and washing dishes is dumped in a whole in the ice.
In terms of food we have everything we will need for the entire time we are here. Before leaving McMurdo everyone pitched in to help our cook, Luci gather and box up all of the food. There are opportunities get some restock but the majority of the food we will be using is here and stored outside on the ice. Ever day Luci goes into the food boxes and pulls the food she will need which then has to thaw out. The goal is to eat everything and try and bring back as little as possible.
We have many types of fuel here to keep camp operations and our vehicles running. The types of fuel are diesel, gas, oil, pre mix (gas and oil), kerosene and propane.
Fuel and storage area for food, waste and other camp materials.
Fuel
More fuel
For electricity we have two solar panels and a generator. We use a combination of the two. Since there is 24 hours of daylight we try and power the camp using only the solar panels but during times of high usage we also run the generator. Luke, our camp manager, rotates the solar panels every time he walks by. He uses a sundial to find the exact point at which the sun gives the most power for charge.
Solar Panels
In terms of communications we have wireless internet, satellite phones and radios. We have a phone which gives us a local McMurdo Station extension. This phone uses a radio bridge as opposed to telephone lines. The satellite phone is Iridium and that is pretty self-explanatory. Mostly, while in the field we use VHF handheld Motorola radios. The radios work off a system of repeaters. The internet also works due to a similar set up of repeaters. All signals originate from McMurdo Station.
No videoconferences this week so i will be at camp for a full 12 days before returning to McMurdo for our next set of videoconferences. This will be my longest stretch out here and without showering!
