Today was definitely one of the more exciting days so far on the trip. I slept in and when I woke up I found out we needed to get ready and set up for an aerial departure to Nome. First we were given these suits called Mustangs. They are these huge suits which are used for floating in the water and are heavily insulated for the cold. I felt like an astronaut with my bright red Mustang suit. We had to prepare all of our computers and made a systems check. After that we brought all of our equipment to the hanger where the helos are located. We geared up and Mark was the first to go in the first chopper. Each of the choppers we went in can hold a total of six people (Three spaces for pilots and crew). Jamie and myself went in the second helicopter. We strapped our seat belts on, which were almost identical to the safety belts that race car driver's use. It was a great experience to take off from the Polar Star and fly over the ocean. We flew over the ocean for a good thirty minutes or so until we reached the Nome airport.

We waited at the airport for a while until the third chopper arrived with Seth and all of the computer equipment. Then we took a van and drove towards the shore of Nome where we would have a good position for INMAR SAT use. The town looked very old with rusted color shacks and housing. There were not that many people or buildings in the town and the roads were not paved. There were only three or four stores and about a dozen bars in the town of Nome. I guess that's the only thing to do really in such an isolated place. A good majority of the people from the town only spoke Inuit, an Alaskan language.

When we reached the shore we saw many locals on the sand mining for gold. I heard that they make an average of 100 dollars a day for a long hard day's work. Everything worked out well and we made a good connection with the INMAR SAT, and did a live interview with one of the local men from the town. After the link up we went in the town because we had an extra 45 minutes before getting back to the Polar Star. Since it was rare to get great food on the ship we all decided to go and get a bite to eat. We ate at this place called "Fat Freddies". I had a great chicken sandwich and then we had to rush off to the shore again for an incoming boat to pick us up.

The main goal for anchoring near Nome was to pick up some Canadian and French scientists, who are going to work on the SHEBA project. There were about 25 of them waiting at shore with all of their luggage and stuff. We also had a lot of computer baggage to be carried back to the ship. Since the water was way to shallow for the Polar Star to dock, the coast guard sent out a smaller boat to pick all of us up. It happened to be a LV (Landing Vehicle) boat, which was the same kind of boat used for WW 2. All thirty of us crammed into the boat. I felt like some cattle getting herded into a fenced area. The space was so tight that everyone was standing up shoulder to shoulder. The ride back to the Polar Star was pretty exciting. The little boat raced to the larger ship causing the water to splash inside of the boat. We got near the boat and Coasties had a latter that descended to our boat. In the end it was a great day.

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This Quest Project Web page
was last updated on July 29, 1998.