Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 03/20/2012 - 13:01
  1. What is the time difference in Antarctica?
  2. How is the food? Is it upsetting your stomach?
  3. Have you seen animals eat other animals?
  4. Are you having fun out there? What types of things are you doing for fun?

Amber Lancaster

* What is the time difference in Antarctica?We are still on Chilean time so we're 3 hours ahead of California right now.
* How is the food? Is it upsetting your stomach?
The food is delicious. We have a chef named Lincoln who actually stays
in Richmond when he's not on the boat. I'll send you photos of my
typical day soon and include some pictures of our food. Only when we
were on really rocky seas did I feel nauseous, but it wasn't because of
the food. The food has always been great!
* Have you seen animals eat other animals?
Actually no. But I did get to see some Emperor penguins up close and
personal the last couple days. I'll post pictures soon!
* Are you having fun out there? What types of things are you doing for fun?
I am having fun, but I'm also working 12-hour shifts. Sometimes you have
to get up really early in the middle of the night if you want to help
out on a particular project. After I get off my shift, sometimes I do
laundry, but mostly we all just hang out and go to sleep soon after.
The days are long and the work can be physically exhausting (today I was
shoveling mud).
We also watch a lot of movies in the lounge on the ship. I've also been
getting caught up on some books I've been wanting to read. There's a
couple of treadmills on the boat so it's really fun to try and run while
the boat is rocking. You have to hold on with one hand to keep yourself
steady. For fun there's a push-up competition as well. Every time a
device (a camera, a trawl, a core, etc.) goes into the water and comes
back up, people have to do 20 push-ups. It's sort of silly, but it's
been a lot of fun.

Anonymous

What have you learned about the emperor penguins

Amber Lancaster

One thing I didn't realize was how quickly they swim underwater. It'spretty much impossible to watch them because they zoom from place to
place. Also, I didn't know how inquisitive they are because they came
right up next to the boat to see what we were doing. They're also
extremely playful and like to swim around with their friends.