Hello All,
First and foremost, from everyone here on the Nathaniel B. Palmer, Merry Christmas! This is Daniel Achilles checking in, the undergraduate on the cruise. I am majoring in marine biology at the University of Rhode Island and this is certainly the trip of a lifetime. For me, it’s my first research experience as well as my first time out of the country. So, with this trip I really couldn’t ask for a better situation. I am getting to travel to Antarctica, a place I never thought I would ever get to be, with a team that is very intelligent; and that of which I hope to learn a lot from on this journey. Traveling abroad for the first time has been an experience that I truly can’t describe, its extraordinary. Despite the luggage troubles I ran into, Punta Arenas, where we stayed prior to leaving port was a fascinating place with a lot to offer and discover. The ship is quite massive and the views so far have been breathtaking. The pictures I attached below are from our travel through the Magellan strait yesterday, with some absolutely spectacular views of mountain ranges, and even a couple of whale sightings. Although I miss everyone back home for Christmas day, the ship has remained very festive and has been a lot of fun. The meals have been centered around the holiday, with everyone doing their part in decorating and making the ship as festive as can be. We even plan to make candy cane ice cream later tonight. For Christmas Eve last night, we actually had our own gift exchange with a Yankee swap after some meetings.

Everything is going quite smoothly. For the most part, the seas have been relatively calm. We have been setting up a lot of equipment and are preparing for the upcoming journey to Antarctica and all of the station stops along the way.  We hope to perform our first test cast sometime tomorrow with our first sampling station followed shortly after. I am certainly excited for the stations to get underway and for the science to start up. We are planning for a total station number in the high 20s. We are currently heading out more into the open ocean, and look to update as we go. Be sure to check back on the blog for more updates, as we will be posting throughout the cruise. Once again, Merry Christmas!: Posted by Dan Achilles