Unarctica

Whoa! One of the MBARI engineers, Kim Reisenbichler (I hope I spelled that right) just sent us an email to let us know that we are probably going to see a volcano erupting as we fly over Chile on our way to the icebreaker, which is going to be happening May 26. I got a Spiderman calendar for Christmas (the tag said it was from Roxy, but seriously, how is a six-year-old going to buy a calendar? It’s safe to say she had help). And I have been marking off the days. There are only 18 left before we leave. But I’m getting off track. To get to the icebreaker, which will be waiting for us in the port of Punta Arenas, Chile, we will fly to Dallas, Texas, and from there to Santiago, Chile. (Where everybody will be speaking Spanish, which I am not so hot at. Rainy is acting all smart because she is hot at it. I am planning to practice a few things like “where is the bathroom.” Luckily I already know how to ask for a Coke. And how to say “please.” “Por favor.” Which is always handy, especially if you are accidentally acting stupid in a foreign country, always a danger.)

I checked it all out and it looks like Kim is right and we are seriously going to see this volcano called Chaiten spewing smoke and lava right after we leave Santiago! Here are some pictures (above), but there is a whole news story and more pictures here. It’s a news site, so WARNING, I don’t know how long the link will be good.

Hi. I am trying out doing a post. Writing is not my best thing. I have trouble thinking of what to say. Writing stuff down is sort of a pain. I would rather DO stuff than write it. That is a big difference between me and Gib. But I want to show you this video and pictures, which Steve, the MBARI guy who is kind of the captain of the radio-control airplane engineering team, sent me yesterday.

This airplane is awesome. It has a video camera, and special bomb-dropping capabilities that will allow it to drop a GPS locator tag on an iceberg. And it has a huge engine so it can fly in the wind.

Above is a picture of the team (Alana, Kim, Steve, & Paul) putting the plane together in the test area.

Above, the plane is almost ready to take off, with its engine running. Yes, that is a Nerf football strapped to the bomb-dropper. Its purpose is to be padding for the GPS beacon. Awesome!