May 1 2008
May 1 2008
Kate Hendry muses on May day
The clouds loom over the recovery of dredge 6.
We celebrated May Day in style on board the Palmer this morning. At midnight, we struck up some traditional English tunes (well, as close as we could find on anybody’s I-tunes, which comprised a slightly random selection of 1970’s music), danced around a maypole constructed from plastic piping and packing foam, and attempted some morris dancing (the latter abandoned due to lack of convenient sticks), to celebrate the coming of summer. This is, of course, not at all appropriate for May in the Southern Ocean as we are heading rapidly into austral winter. The nights are really drawing in, with sunsetting earlier each day, and the snow is falling again. So, it was all a far step away from May Day where I live in Oxford, UK. There it is tradition to get up at 5 am to go and listen to the choir of Magdelen College School Choir sing from the college tower, before a slap-up breakfast of ice cream at G & D’s cafe. Then the more foolish of the students jump into the river off a nearby bridge - a practice now strongly discouraged for health and safety purposes, and definitely not advised when sailing in the Southern Ocean. However, we wanted to make sure, in our own special way, that we marked the occasion, and took a moment to remember everyone back home in the northern hemisphere, basking in the warm, spring air.
After about ten minutes of frivolity, it was back to work, transiting to a new dredging site. Dredge number 6 anchored for a while to the seafloor, but was then freed and brought up to deck containing rocks and a few bits and pieces of biology.
All photos by Dann Blackwood unless otherwise stated
Volcanologist Alan Hastie slices into one of the dredged rocks using a rock saw.
Another stunning shot from the camera of Dann Blackwood.
Dancing to celebrate May Day around a maypole made from a drain pipe and packing foam.
Showing us all how it’s done.