(The title will only make sense for the old folks who watched “Fantasy Island, or lived in the US in the late 70s and early 80s. You just could not escape that catch phrase!) This will be a short update to announce that a New Zealand air force C-130 landed and kindly brought our fearless leader, Ralph Harvey, to McMurdo Station. Half the team is now resident on Ice.

Today brought morning fog and strong winds to McMurdo; with wind chill, the effective temperature was -23 C (-9 F). By mid-morning the sky had cleared, the sun came out, and the winds slowed down, giving us Ice Folks a spectacular view of the Royal Society Range across the Ross Sea.

Morning fog is predicted again for tomorrow. John and I are scheduled to put in to Elephant Moraine tomorrow morning, although it has not yet been decided whether we will be the primary mission for the Twin Otter or the backup mission. With good luck (and bad weather for the other folks), my next post might be from the field.

Posted by duck, a.k.a. Dave Mittlefehldt

Image 1: Fearless leader Ralph disembarking from Ivan the Terra Bus.

Image 2: The Royal Society Range in the morning sun.