bevonice: Resupply Ship

Grooming and building the ice pier. It is the square
in the right hand side.

The dirt layer is added to ice pier when it has reached
the desired thicknes and is strong.

They continue to work on the pier. Here they
are beginning to build the bridge.

The season is winding down and the station will be closed for the winter on March 5th. We are now preparing for the resupply container ship which brings supplies for the next season. They load the ship in Port Hueneme, CA and set sail for Antarctica. It takes almost a month to get here. The ice breaker must come in and break out a channel in the ice for the ship to come in to McMurdo sound. The ice breaker should be here within the next weekend to begin working on opening the channel. It also opens up the sea ice for whales and other wildlife to come in. First a fuel tanker will come here and bring us fuel. Then the Nathanial B. Palmer will come, which is a research ship that has been doing multiple science experiments out in the ocean. The resupply ship will be the last to come and will stay almost a week. This becomes a very busy time around station, there are extra people down here to unload and load the boat, they are working 24 hours per day, 12 hour shifts, without days off until it is complete. The bars are closed and no alcohol is sold during this time either. The ship is supposed to arrive on Feb 14th this year. The ships docks at the ice pier which they have been working on all season. They compact an area of ice in the sound and put iron bars in it and continue to groom it so it can be used to drive trucks up to the ship and unload the containers onto. It is a huge strong ice cube with a bridge to drive on and the ship docks beside it.