We are currently finishing up the last couple of stations for the LTER region. This stretch consisted of 7 stations that fit tightly into about a day and a half stretch. So, although things have been quite packed everything is going well and the team is operating efficiently. The views down here in the LTER region have been fantastic, and we have been very fortunate with our wildlife sightings. The stations in the LTER have been successful, with one station in particular (LTER4) showing tons of diversity and diatom species, which made everyone here on the Rynearson team quite happy. We hope to take the data we have observed across these stations and draw comparisons to previous years for analysis and assessing the normality of our results. The past few days have been very scenic and are bringing in promising data and samples of which we plan to use for the future for further analysis and future experiments. Today, the 31st of December was particularly amazing. We had a surprise visit to Rothera Research Station, a British research base with a crew that treated us with great hospitality. It was our first chance to step on land in Antarctica, and it was a great time spent at the most breathtaking place I have ever stepped foot on. It was definitely a highlight of a fantastic first week here on the Palmer. We even got unique stamps on our passports, stamps that not many people get the chance to obtain. Coming down the home stretch of the LTER region, only a few stations remain until we had back further into the sea to continue our sampling across the Southern Ocean. The seas have been quite calm, and we hope they remain that way moving forward. The trip has been truly spectacular and we look to continue our great stretch moving forward. Although we may be in a different time zone here on the Palmer, Happy New Year to all!  Posted by: Daniel Achilles