Well, hello again to everyone. I am still here; no one needs to worry! Things are going smoothly still even though we are less one member of our team (Sorry Chuck) and plus 3 new people (Good to see you Bill, Jim, and Dan).
When the ship left, it took most of the people that have been on station since we got here including all of the science personnel that are not part of our group. There are now 7 scientists on station and we all work together.
This means that the labs are VERY quiet, except for the music coming from various CD players. I like the idea of being able to work on a computer whenever I want to, but there are some things that I will miss as well.
It was sad to see Wendy K., Erin, Peter, and Eli leave. They were often a major contributor to the high morale that is always on station (they made ice cream one day and delivered it in a “ice cream truck”). They would always have smiles on their faces as they would tell jokes and stories (which often sounded like a lot of jokes I know). This also means that we don’t have them looking at the phytoplankton regularly to tell us how the blooms are going.
Seeing Lauren and Hugh get on the ship meant that I would no longer get to hear Hugh’s experiences from his cruises in Antarctica and would not get to have a fellow smart aleck to have fun joking with. Lauren leaving meant that there was no one to tell us about how well Hugh’s stomach held up on the bi-weekly trips out in the zodiac. Having them gone also means that no one will be looking at the bacteria in the water column until Hugh returns later this year for his next season.
Heidi also joined the rest of her family of birders. They have been slowly filing out over the last several ships until only she was left. Now…no one is here to go out and check on the giant petrel chicks or dodge the skuas as they dive-bomb anyone who comes near their nests.
All of the lab space that these wonderful friends had occupied is now empty and eerily quiet. This really goes to show how much the Palmer Station personnel are family. When one person leaves, they are sorely missed and it then becomes a new Palmer Station.
You can see all of the things that I enjoyed about these people, and these were just the scientists. Almost all of the Raytheon personnel also left and the memories I have of them are just as important. I am not going into detail about what I will miss about them, but they should all know that everyone of them will have a place in my heart for a long time to come
. Now it is time to stop sulking about the people who have left and enjoy the fact that there are new faces here and new memories to create.