March 26, 2006

Funded by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs

Location: Latitude 64° 10.14' S, Longitude 55° 56.6' W

Air Temperature: .3°C

A hodge-podge of ideas

Today we find ourselves sitting in the distance of the great - Seymour Island. An island, where many researchers for many decades have studied the rocks there to understand better our climate and how it has changed. And today with an eerie stillness to the water, and the icebergs fringing ever nearer, we the scientists and drillers on board the Nathaniel B. Palmer, are again taking up those reins and probing the Earth for answers to the endless number questions. 

Yet, aside from the grandeur of the task at hand and the beauty that surrounds us, we are still on a boat in a vast ocean, with a limited number of activities to do and people to interact with. This is where I have found my niche. Sometimes this involves entertaining the masses with countless stories from my many adventures, but mainly it involves planning and organizing what have become known as - Theme Days. These days are about more than just following the theme, they are about participating, group unity and letting that goofy side of yourself out to have a little fun. Our first theme day was hat day, in which most people participated by wearing a favorite ball cap, or winter hat. But a few of the drillers took hat day to the extreme by crafting Tea Time Hats out of their hard hats. This antic was just crazy enough to get everyone else in a small uproar about the next theme day. Hat Day was promptly followed up by Monochrome Day. No one wanted to see the science party get beaten out by the drillers for a second time, so I took it upon myself to see that everyone went all out for Monochrome Day. And when it finally rolled around, we ended up with Periwinkle Pat, Jeans John and Julia, the Monochrome Mammas with Katharine, Annie, Nicole and myself, the drilling trio in plastic bags, Stian dressed in all white plastic, and a number of other people sporting the one color look. Overall it was a great success with people from all parts of the ship participating despite the over abundance of issued gear! And with multiple successes now under my belt I look towards the next theme day with great anticipation.

And so it comes that I conclude with this “Happiness is a Journey, not a Destination.” In the small amount of time that we have left in the great white south, our days are becoming evermore the journey, not only to the scientific end but to yet another chapter in our lives. So smile and laugh, and remember them fondly, as I will always remember standing on the bow of the ship, with ice all around us, wearing nothing but a bed sheet toga!!!

Signing Off,
Brandi Boyd
Self Appointed Theme Day Coordinator

he Weddell Sea offshore Seymour Island today; photo by Katharine North.

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