Pretty corals and rocky seas

After (unintentional) 40 hours of travelling, I arrived in Punta Arenas, Chile. Some of it was due to the rather interesting fact that the Chileans use a different local time at the moment than we assume they do in the UK. Hence my 2 hour stay in Santiago de Chile was cut down to 50 minutes, which was not really enough to catch my flight down to Punta Arenas. But in the end it really does not matter whether you spend 34 hours or 40 hours on airplanes and in airports – it is simply a long, long day. The view out of the airplane was however very rewarding!

 

Yesterday we started loading all our science gear on the ship and setting up our laboratory spaces. It was a whirlwind of activity, and we made excellent progress. The highlight of the day was the collection of our ‘Antarctic cold weather gear’. The National Science Foundation of the US, who funds our expedition, maintains a litte store with clothing down here in Punta Arenas just for us scientists. Upon arrival we get a big bag with things such as thermal underwear, rain proof working trousers and jackets, gloves, hats, and a lot of other stuff.