The Crud

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The infamous McMurdo Crud. Anyone who has been down here knows about it, probably too well. It’s your common cold &/or stomach bug, but it spreads like no other. It seems like there is no way of avoiding it. Hand sanitizer galore and vigorous hand washing can only go so far. It knocked me out for two days at the beginning of last week, it moved on to McBride, then hit Martin. Who’s next?! Only the Crud knows…

In other news, still no weatherport, but we’ve officially made ourselves at home in the little room off of the galley. At least we get the advantage of being near the delicious food at all times. It’s safe to say that I haven’t felt hungry since arriving.

Brent and I trying out the weatherport. We're all getting very antsy waiting to get started on our real work.
Brent and I trying out the weatherport. We’re all getting very antsy waiting to get started on our real work.
Alex warming up a power supply after it was sitting outside in the shipping container at -15 C for a couple weeks.
Alex warming up a power supply after it was sitting outside in the shipping container at -15 C for a couple weeks.
Just another day in the little room off of the galley.
Just another day in the little room off of the galley.

Without a real place to work, we’ve been pretty free during the weeknight evenings. We did the short walk out to Discovery Hut a few evenings ago. The storage hut was built by Robert Scott in 1902. It’s been remarkably preserved and is designated a historical monument.

The hut and some signs.
The hut and some signs.
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Clio and I standing excitedly out at Hut Point. McMurdo and Observation Hill are see in the background.
A seal that we saw. There were about five of them out there that evening. The seal don't often move so they end up looking a lot like massive black slugs on the ice. My very limited goggle-ing tells me this is a Weddell seal. This guy was scratching his tummy with a really weird look hand/fin thing.
A seal that we saw. There were about five of them out there that evening. The seals don’t often move so they end up looking a lot like massive black slugs on the ice. My very limited goggle-ing tells me this is a Weddell seal. This guy was scratching his tummy with a really weird look hand/fin thing.
A few of ANITA folk standing out near Discovery Hut. White Island and Black island are far in the distance.
A few of the ANITA folk standing out near Discovery Hut. White Island and Black island are far in the distance across the ice shelf. In a couple months time, at the peak of the Austral summer, most of that ice will be gone.

We’ve been told that we’ll finally be getting into our weatherport on Wednesday, so it’s soon to be a lot more work and less play. We’re all really looking forward to it.

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