Tom, Jeff and Joaquin check out some information for our flight to McMurdo Station.
We hang out with our fellow passengers. As you might guess, there's a lot of "hurry up and wait".
The final line for the flight.
We spot our jet.
The US Air Force handles all the flights to MCM and to the South Pole. Today we were lucky enough to fly on a jet (as opposed to a propeller plane), thus cutting the normally 9 hour trip to only 4 hours.
This was a very nice flight - we even got a huge bagged lunch.
Almost on...
Jeff celebrates finally getting on board.
Tom and Joaquin make it on the flight as well, shades and all.
Being an Air Force jet, all the various systems on the plane are totally exposed and look pretty cool, bringing out the "inner six year old" in all of us (says Jeff).
After a few hours of flying, people start knodding off.
A view out the window.
A view at the frozen sea below us. This was my first real hint that I was headed somewhere really cold.
4 hours later I am stepping onto Antarctic ice!
I was thrilled to have made it!
Buses take us over to McMurdo Station - a village of 30 or so buildings housing 2200 people this time of year.
After unpacking and eating dinner, Tom, Jeff and I take a walk outside. This view looks over a frozen bay to some nearby mountains.
We come across Discovery Hut, a stocky little wood hut built by R. P. Scott and his men in 1902. Outside lies a seal killed (and subsequently not eaten) by Scott and his men. The seal has been preserved in the extremely cold temperatures.
In the distance sits Hut Point (the peninsula with the big cross on top).
More Hut Point.
A beautiful view of the frozen sea shore. Penguins are often spotted along here, but we weren't so lucky.
Miles of frozen sea.
Jeff and Tom make their way up Hut Point.
At the top of the point a cross marks the gravesite of one of Scott's men, T. Vince. Jeff has some much better photos of the cross which I will try to get from him. Thus ended our adventure to McMurdo - we left for the South Pole early the next morning.