Saturday, March 17, 2007

cold weather phenomena, pt. 2

I'm writing this note early in the morning because I'll be tired
tonight.

before getting into bed, i usually check the window to make sure i'm
not missing anything outside. Last night i looked out and saw that
we were in open water and the ocean was steaming -- sea smoke! holy
smoke, i thought to myself, and ran up to the bridge.

there were already 8 or 9 people up there looking out at the ice. we
had found a lead a little wider than the ship and were cruising
through it. you could basically see (sea?) ice forming in the water
-- little pancakes forming in rows, wind-whipped waves hitting the
edges of the lead and instantly freezing. And paths of steam rising
from a few main leads into the sunset. you could see where there was
open water tens of miles away by the plumes coming off the water. It
looked like a big river in the morning, with fog tracing the path of
the lead. also, all of the sea life was clustered into this area.
mostly, there were tons of penguins. they were hanging out right by
the edges of the open water, behind ridges that were blocking them
from the wind. we'd crash through a group (up to maybe 30 or so)
around one bend, then see another one right up the road. they were
probably a little irked but man is it funny to see penguins run.

i ended up staying up later than i wanted to -- luckily we have a
time change on my shift today, which means one fewer hour i have to
stay up. one more time change between now and P.A. -- getting close.

C

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