Cape Sherriff

Yesterday (January 1st) we arrived at Cape Sherriff, one of the many islands around Antarctica. This island is claimed by Chile, Argentina and Britain. We stopped there to drop off David Vejar who is a member of the NOAA Core. He will be spending the next ~3 months at the United States NOAA research station on Cape Sherriff along with 6 other scientists. Those scientists arrived 2 months ago and are almost half-way through their field season.

The NOAA research station on Cape Sherriff is just a few small buildings and there is no dock, so to get to the island we took zodiacs from our ship. Luckily the water was extremely calm so everyone managed to stay pretty dry.


A second zodiac group of people/supplies coming ashore from the R/V Gould (in the background).

Once on the island, we helped load 2 months’ worth of garbage and recyclables back onto the zodiac for the ship to dispose of (typically by incineration). We also helped offload the NOAA station’s fresh food supply which will last them until they are picked up in March.


R/V Gould participants and Cape Sherriff scientists unload food.

On New Year’s Eve we played BINGO to pass the time, and the grand prize winner got a VIP tour of the Cape. I was extremely fortunate to be that winner! After I’d helped out with some of the garbage and food duties, Mike Goebel - the chief scientist of the research station – gave me a tour of their buildings.


Mike Goebel (NOAA - Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division) and me, Cheryl Zurbrick (MIT/Rutgers U.) at Cape Sherriff.

I won’t be complaining about living on a ship any time soon! They make quite a bit happen in a very small amount of space with limited resources. They generate as much power as possible through solar panels and small wind turbines, and have propane tanks for cooking. Laundry is done by hand, and the “facilities” consist of an outhouse. There is limited email, no real internet, and a satellite phone for communicating with loved ones.


The “washing machine” for laundry.