Post Date: 26 April 2008
Bering Sea
Latitude: 63° 06.000'N
Longitude: 166° 48.000'W
Posted By: Erin Moreland

Last Day of Surveys

Homeward bound amid a sea of ice.

With the grace of good weather and a cooperative crew, we were able to complete three final surveys our last afternoon on the Polar Sea. We dropped off Mike Apatiki the day before, so each of us flew two surveys and spent the rest of our time downloading data and packing for our early morning flight to Nome the next day.

Our surveys were conducted between Saint Lawrence Island and mainland Alaska where we came across quite a few ringed seals. After the last survey we quickly began the process of removing our gear from the helicopter including our mounted camera with attached GPS, external battery, and remote control, along with plexiglas sighting strips, Velcro, and grease pencil markings on four helicopter windows.

It was a long evening of downloading and backing up data, cleaning up, packing and securing all of our gear and clamshells in the winch room for the ride back to Seattle, and settling our bill with the galley. Our last night was made "complete" with the addition of still more pressure ridges that reminded us of where we are and forced the captain to once again turn on the turbine engines. More than once we awoke to the sounds of ice scraping by our bunks and the entire ship shuddering as we plowed through, determined to get as close to Nome as the ice of the Bering Sea would allow.

 

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