Tied One On and Ob Hill

Last night the IT Station Manager invited us to his room from some drinks.  It was a good time.  He booted us out about 12:30.  I was too wired to sleep and I had to go outside to get back to my room so I decided to walk out to Hut Point.  The weather was excellent and it is so nice to be outside here.  The air is so clean it can't be described.  I laid down on the a flat spot out by the cross out there and just took in my surroundings, the clean air, and the sound of the ice creaking and cracking as it slowly thawed.  It was a great moment.  One I will remember for a long time.  I took a brief nap and decided to head back when as I was getting a bit cold.  I don't know what the temperature was, but my guess is the low to mid forties.  There was no wind and laying in the sun it was comfortable...at 2am.  I got to bed about 3am or so and slept pretty good.

Today we went for a hike up Ob Hill.  The view was amazing.  I took a lot of pictures, but my battery died on top.  However, not before I took pictures of Abby and Cora's animals.  I've been trying to figure out how long the battery lasted.  I think the last time I charged it was over a week ago.  The battery meter was full until last night after a week of usage and it went down fast today.  Now I know.  There was a patch of open water just past Ob Hill and we could see whales using it from the top of the hill.  We hiked back down and around the side to where the opening was and watched the whales surface a few times.  The hole was a bit to far out to see what kind they were.  Around the edge we also spotted two penguins!  The were also a bit too far away to see.  If we hadn't been in Antarctica, they could have been anything at that distance, but we could definitely see them waddle around.  We are going to go out tomorrow and hopefully we will see more.  My battery is charging now so it is ready to go for another trip out there and my helicopter flight out to Black Island tomorrow!