Dear, Journal

We are now on our way to Nome, so the Coast Guard can pick up Sheba scientists. The way this works is, it is like a shift change, one set of the Sheba scientist work six weeks on the floating ice burg, while the others stay in Nome. The summer sun melted the ice and when it froze the ice has huge grooves and lumps, making it hard for the cargo planes to land with food, mail, and the scientists etc. This is where we come in. We are picking them up and dropping them off with food, mail, etc.

When they fly into Nome with the helicopters we will be riding in with them. We are going ashore to test the wireless router and do a live on-line interview.

At two o'clock they had to brief us with how every thing is going to work and the safety procedures involved. They also gave us suits to wear if we happened to fall into the water. They look so funny, I felt like a state puff marsh mellow man that fell into orange soda. They are made to protect you from the cold water and to keep you afloat if you are unconscious.

Around two thirty we rode in with the helicopters and landed in Nome's airport. Which was a very exciting experience. Until this day I never flew in a helicopter before. I was so scared at first, but the ride was very smooth. It was so fun. It was so smooth I almost went to sleep. I liked it so much that after this trip I think I want to become a certified flyer. Damien, a news reporter from the economist newspaper in Scotland, and I road in one helicopter, while Mark went with two officers in the helicopter before us. Seth left in the helicopter after us with the equipment. When we arrived we had to run across the run away, I thought I was going to get my head cut off by propellers. It is very cold in Nome. We had to wait at the airport for an hour for Seth and the equipment.

An hour later Seth arrived and we loaded our equipment into a van. We drove a ways before we found the right spot, which was on a pier near the ocean. We set everything up for the live interview. We interviewed a fisherman we ran into, he was able to tell us a little about Nome. Nome is a very small town, even smaller than Kodiak. I think the population at the most is about one thousand. I think the interview went really well. A half an hour after we set up we could see the Polar Star so we set up the wireless router to test if we could link up to the ship. It worked really well. I was really amazed. After we packed up we made our way to the dock, where we would meet a boat that would take us to the Polar Star.

The Polar Star was way too big to dock in Nome. So they had to send a smaller boat to pick every one up. We met up with two officers and about thirty scientists for Sheba. The boat that was transporting us to the Polar Star was very small. When we loading into the boat Mark kept on making me laugh by mooing like a cow because I really felt like cattle. Our ride to the ship wasn't the best. Water was splashing all over the place, and I was very grateful for our huge orange suits. We got to the boat and every one had to climb across the boat and up this ladder to the Polar Star. I was so scared I thought I was going to fall in the water. I made it across okay except that my heart was beating sixty-five miles per hour.

After that I moved into my new room that I share with two Cost Guard women and a student scientist. I could say that I had a very exciting and enlightening day.:)

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