March 18, 2009 The Best Ride of My Life

I was waiting in the hanger for others to come. What happened? Was the time changed? The Coast Guard is always early. Their motto is if you are not there a half hour early then you are late. Something is wrong. Where is the meeting? I am paged. (We have to wear pagers so people can find you on this big ship.) The flight briefing is in the bridge and it has started!?! That is how I almost missed the best ride of my life.

At 19:15 military time, Jim Lovvorn, the Spectacled Eider researcher, Clayton Sandell from the media, Pilot Bill Springer, and I dressed in our MST 900 drysuits, the ones that require the buddy system to enter, and large white helmets with a microphone attached. We climbed aboard the helicopter to take the first best ride of my life.

Up in the air, a seascape, so white and vast, low in profile where the slightest changes command our attention, surrounds us. It is a world that is beautiful and full, with patterns and swirls, ice and water, and walruses and eiders. It is a world of abundant sea life. It is a world worth studying to see how we are changing this seascape. It is why we are here; it has a story to tell.

Enjoy the ride.

Click the video below if you want to experience take off and landing by helicopter.

Click the video below to watch Spectacled Eiders, walrus, and ice art by air.

Watching ice break from the air,

Deanna Wheeler 2009 PolarTREC Teacher