Life at DDU

It has passed almost month 1/2 now since I took the plane in Brest to join
Hobart. And it has been 3 weeks ½ since I arrived at Dumont D’Urville Base
(called DDU later on). Time is flying so fast!
Some pics from the boat :

After getting used to the easy life on the boat, we discovered the base,
the people who wintered over. After 2 weeks we got used to this new life
style again. Humans are really flexible…
Well, maybe that’s because we enjoy a lot our time here. Landscapes are
amazing. I get the chance to go walking near the sea, it was incredible.
Work started right after our arrival (well, the day after, when it stopped
snowing!). As I said somewhere before, I am here to study the biology of
adelie and emperor penguins. Right now we are starting our study on the
adelies during their breeding season (behavior, breeding cycle chronology,
breeding success, GPS tracking for few of them, …). It is quite time
consuming, so I had a lot of work at the end of the pairing, and now the
incubation by the males started few days ago, so while waiting for the
adelie females to return the colony we started the work on emperor penguin.

 About the work on the emperor, it was going well, at least before the
strom that is still giving us quite some wind  at DDU ! We have been stuck
for 3 days now, we hope to be able to work outside tomorrow again. About
the life at the base… Well, it is going really great! Comfortable
buildings, rooms, offices, really nice people, great food! As I said we
are getting used to this new life style, which fits me perfectly :)

As I said 2nd strom is occurring right now: in the last 3 days we had
50kts wind speed on average, and up to 70kts… Pretty windy yes!
More soon, thanks for reading!

Voyage on the Astrolabe

Voyage on the Astrolabe

Our arrival at the base is planned in 1 or 2 days, so I wanted to give you
a summary of our trip to Antarctica on board the Astrolabe.
Unfortunatelly I can not enclose any picture with the boat satellite
connection, so you will have to wait a bit longer.

We first had 2 days crossing the world by plane (My trip was Brest-Lyon-
Paris-Hong Kong-Sydney-Hobart). We managed to go to Sydney downtown for an
hour, to enjoy the sunshine, people, cars, exotic birds, and the
theater...

After landing in Hobart we directly took a bus to the harbour and get in
the boat. After a security check we left Hobart late afternoon on Tuesday
23rd...

The weather was quite ok, some good waves though on a boat rolling a lot
made us do some acrobatic moves to get to the living room !

After 4 days we reached Macquarie Island where we dropped 7 Australians
and welcomed another one.

During these days in free water we had the chance to see a lot of
albatrosses, petrels, puffins...

On the 6th day at sea, in the evening we reached the ice. Since then we
ahve since a lot of crab eater seals, few whales, more and more penguins,
more and more icebergs, and dense ice pack. As a consequence we get stuck
quite often for several hours (it is the case right now as I am writting).

On the 11th day, I get the chance to take the helicopter and go to a new
emperor penguin colony just discovered with 3 other scientists. It was an
amazing trip and opportunity !
First direct contact with the species I will study all winter...

Today is the 14th day at sea/ice. We should see the base in the coming
days ! A new adventure will start.

More pictures soon...

Chronology of eagerness...

On the way to ...

9 months ago, I was thinking.... I'll never be recruited for this job in Antarctica, but that could be sooooo great.. What the hell, let's apply, at least they will remember my name for another year...

5 months ago, I was thinking.... Woooow I'm selected for personnal interviews to work on penguins in Antarctica/or in Crozet archipelago ! Hope it's gonna work !

4 months ago, I was thinking.... Yeaaaahh I'm gonna study penguin, wherever ! ... If the shrink says yes...

4 months 1/2 ago I was thinking... What is he thinking ?? Hope I'm not crazy...

4 months ago... I got the answer.... A short email with the title "VSC TA63" (which mean vonlunteering position to be part of the 63rd mission in Terre Adelie (antarctica))... Heart bitting faster and faster.... I'm not crazy AND I'm going to Antarctica !

Since then, I'm been planning, preparing metal cases, preparing paperwork, going to different doctors every week to be sure everything is ok... 

Last week, I was thinking....wow I'll see the people I'll have to live with for all these months. Effectivelly, I finally meet the people during the week-seminar at the polar institute in Brest. 

Now that the week is over, I'm thinking.... This is gonna be a GREAT year ! We even had a visioconference with the base.. Looking forward to the big journey in 2 weeks.

So it is really happenning, right now. After 2 weeks of training in Strasbourg I'll be really part of this adventure. Departure date: 21st of October !

Thanks for following the posts, I hope they will be numerous (eventhough I guess they will be rarer as the adventure continues). I'll try to do my best! 

Fair wind, 

The new DDU Penguinologist