T minus 25 days!

I was thinking about ice cubes today… okay, I really wasn’t, as a matter of fact it’s 31 degrees at 10:30 PM here and there is no sign of ice anywhere except in my freezer. I haven’t worn long pants since May! Its hard to imagine I’ll be wearing long pants and warm clothes in less than a month. I checked out the Amundsen this evening and found out some really cool things. Here are five facts you probably didn’t know about it:

• The Amundsen has a “moon pool” which is a hole in the hull that allows scientific tools to be lowered into the water without having to cut a hole in the ice.
• CCGS Amundsen is named after “Roald Amundsen” who was a norwegian explorer who became one of the first men to reach the south pole in 1911, and he sadly disappeared and was presumed dead in 1928. Also CCGS stands for “Canadian Coast Guard ship.
• The Amundsen carries a SnowCat, Snowmobiles, a Helicopter, an Air-Ice Boat, and a Barge!
• The Amundsen has a climate controlled labs and a -80 degree freezer room.
• It was Renamed in 2003 from CCGS Sir John Franklin to CCGS Amundsen when it became a research vessel.

Hope you found those as interesting as I did!

To be continued… Jaxon.

Let the adventure begin

4 weeks until departure.

My flights to Edmonton and from Ottawa back to Vancouver have been booked and it is beginning to feel real. I have started gathering items from my packing list and I was very excited when I picked up my pair of steel toed shoes! I have started to hear from the other participants, and I am looking forward to breaking the “ice” with them. I am wondering what it will be like sleeping on a boat and I if I will be affected by sea sickness. I wonder what types of languages I will hear as there are scientists from all around the world on board. I wonder what type of research I will be participating in. These are the types of questions I hope to answer throughout my trip. I am going to do some research on the CCGS Amundsen, I’ll get back to you on that. Not planing on watching Titanic or Poseidon Adventure any time soon.
-To be continued…Jaxon!