An Intro-duck-tion to New Zealand

After arriving in Christchurch on our way to Antarctica, getting our ducks in a row for the season, we had an unexpected extension to our layover. Some mechanical issues with our plane, coupled with a huge storm rolling into McMurdo Station, meant we had an 11-day stay in New Zealand.

There are worse places to be cooped up. Even after a large earthquake that devastated the city in 2011, Christchurch has beautiful landmarks, botanical gardens, and museums to explore.

The food selections were certainly not limited, with influence of cuisines from around the world. From coffee shops to public markets, we feasted like royalty. We explored the city while catching up with past, current, and future colleagues heading to the frozen continent.

We also stopped by the International Antarctic Center, where we caught glimpses of what this season would hold. Experiencing polar fowl weather, daydreaming of diving, and familiarizing ourselves with the stations and history of research in Antarctica.

We also took advantage of the extra days to get out of town and catch a bus to Lyttelton. Leaving a trail of bread crumbs behind us, we climbed up to Mt. Pleasant, catching views of the port town, over the ridge into Christchurch, and meeting the spring lambs.

Also, did I mention New Zealand has a bunch of ducks? Well, other water birds too, but everywhere we went we were met with friendly and photogenic friends. Next, we'll spread our wings and dive into the journey of how we get to Antarctica.

Another year - lots of prep

We are currently in Christchurch, New Zealand en route back to Antarctica. While the travel is long, it is nothing conspired to the journey to get here. This year the team are Dexter and Paola - two colleagues and Graduate Students at UCSB who are journeying to the Antarctic for the first time. I’m also lucky enough to be joined by Lily Simonson - an Artist and friend who will meet us on the ice in 10 days or so. It’s been years of training for them all to reach the point where they can dive for research in the cold parts of the globe and have had lots of help along the way. This is Lily’s second time diving in McMurdo but the training never stops.

We are fortunate enough to have the support of many amazing people. Here Christoph took us offshore so we could find deep water to round out our certifications.

I too have had to brush off the cobwebs and so we have been able to get familiar with California kelp forests to get dive numbers up. But I love being underwater and it’s always a good reason to try and capture the beauty of the underwater world. Having recently moved to California, it has been excellent to revisit the glorious kelp forests.

It is an interesting year globally for marine life, lots of Urchins off California and at one of the sites we saw a huge amounts of Sea Hares (Marine Mollusks) including this one that was pretending to be a rock.

While the kelp often is the star of the show in kelp forrests. Soft corals are often the colorful agents there. In this case there are also tons of brittle stars also present.

Lots of life abounds and here you can see some of the small polyps poking out (the little white dots) that are how these soft corals feed.

Lily' is showing off her smooth style in one of the last dives before we all meet on the ice and experience the clear water and amazing light that the underwater Antarctic brings.

Its going to be a great season and Lily, Dexter, Paola, and I hope you will follow along on this years expedition.

Last dive day

All trips have to wrap up and while we still have lots more to share of this expedition, today was the last dive day where I wrapped up some loose ends. As a nice send off, a seal came to visit as I was swimming to the dive hole.

The sea life was as amazing as ever so between running some transects to see if there has been a change in seastar density over the decades this site has been studied, I took a few images of the other animals.

I do enjoy looking at the soft coral here.

And one last look at the nice cracks beneath the ice until next year.