The Prince Edward Islands are quite isolated, being among only a few other islands and archipelagos in half of the area between 30° and 60° south. Therefore, the Prince Edward Islands are known as hyper-marine and are said to have one of the most ocean-driven climates in the world. Consequently, this in conjunction with passing fronts results in an unusual climate where sub-zero temperatures occur in every month of the year, the middle of the night can experience the daily maximum temperature, and gale-force winds blow on a weekly basis.
Of these, 50 have been wintering expeditions. That's why 2016 has historic significance for the SANAP program, which marks a half-century of annual relief trips on Marion Island. The response teams, appointed by the DEA (Department of Environmental Affairs), focus primarily on maintaining the base and conducting scientific research. We hope you get the essence of Marion in this and all future issues of The Wanderer.
2 My biggest challenge with the Marion expedition so far has been staying on the island with limited resources for the entire year. For example, one of the biggest challenges so far has been leaking hot water under the baseboard, and the solution has been to improvise with the little resources I have to temporarily fix the problem. The cooking classes left the entire team in great anticipation of the feasts that will be provided by the team members in the coming year.
Every group in the team performed admirably and there were many murmurs that excuses for poorer meals during the flight would not be accepted as the cooking skills were clearly demonstrated by all members of the team.
THE CRUISE
It's the last day of April and the pick up was finally coming to an end, the agenda for the day was to start at 3pm and pick up at 6pm. The theme for the initiation was upbeat and bright, as ordered by "fairy mother Marion," played by an alternative male botanist from Team M72. Dressed in a pink crop top and tutu, the Fairy Mother ordered the initiates to line up on the lower helicopter deck, where she regaled us with a list of what it means to be a marionette.
With her back neck bared and her mohawk whipping around violently as she shouted orders, the fairy mother was quite intimidating and no one dared cross her. The heli deck became a blur of color as the initiates engaged in a number of aerobic activities as instructed by the Fairy Mother, soon followed by a lap around the base ending in a mud run. One by one, we crawled through a cold pool of mud, chased by fairy underlings on the sidelines with spray bottles and fistfuls of flour in the face.
A great time was had by all, and that night, as we prepared for the takeover function, we reveled in the strange outfits and the surprising amount of mud that had managed to fill our gum boots during the mud run. Ball: Initiates the meeting for the ceremony; End: Begins to bow to Marion's Fairy Godmother TEXT BY CAMILLA KOTZÉ & PHOTO BY BENOIT MORKEL. The takeover function itself was relatively short and sweet, with some heartfelt speeches, some beautiful musical performances by the scientists at the base, and the act of taking office.
It was an emotional moment for everyone, M72 looking forward to leaving and M73 looking forward to the year ahead. The rest of the evening was filled with amazing finger food prepared by the M72 team and dancing in the bar until the early hours of the next morning. For M73 it was the last major gathering for the next 12 months, a terrifying prospect for all of us made worse by the thought of the ship leaving three days later.
On April 3rd, the M73 team found themselves in the upper helicopter hangar, escorting our guests one flight at a time until they all returned to the ship at 3:00 p.m. Then we all ran to the lower helideck at the front of the Marion base, gathering around in anticipation to watch the SA Agulhas II leave the coastline. With a plume of black smoke to signal the start of the ship's engine and a blast of the horn, SA Agulhas II set sail at 4:00 p.m.
M73 stood on deck and waved goodbye, a strange feeling washed over us all as the realization that we were now truly alone crept in. I watched longingly as the red craft dwindled in the distance against the charcoal gray of the clouds, finally disappearing over the horizon as the night sky closed in.
Hut Recipe of the Month
WINNER
A geocache was placed at the base of the Juniors Koppie, apparently it was a mini geocache meaning no prize is included. The clue to the geocache was that it was hidden at the base of a cliff with the infamous name. I asked Cam to take a photo of me on top of Penis Rock and as she was adjusting her position to take another photo, she spied something among a mass of rocks below her.
You are invited to Graduation 2016
Date: 01/06/2016 Time: 20:00
To their credit, I'd like to structure this talk in a way that I hope you're familiar with by now—the scientific method. Most of you I have only known for a little over two months now, some of you a little longer, but in all of you I have noticed a great interest in your subject. Some of you have extremely specific interests; for example, our specialist in Roman history and our expert in banana humor.
It is enough if one tries to understand just a little of this mystery every day.” Scientists go into the field to collect samples and record data; they return samples to the laboratory and record even more data; Then they sit in front of computers for hours trying to figure out what it all means and try to draw conclusions that can be used to discover, describe or preserve the natural world around them. No matter how great the contribution, they contribute to the world's knowledge base, and that is not only necessary, but also admirable.
As Carl Sagan said, much deeper, "Somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known." That's actually what scientists try to do - learn something more every day and hopefully find out something new and interesting about the world around us. Either way, each of you had to overcome various challenges and work extremely hard to obtain this degree. The result of all that hard work? It's not just a very long write-up with lots of fancy diagrams and statistical analysis that you submit by the deadline.
It's a skill set you build along the way; published articles that may arise from your research; and interaction with colleagues and expert scientists throughout, which will stand you in good stead for the future. It's also expertise you may have realized you had acquired. But by far the most important result is that you got from the daunting start of your graduate studies to the end and didn't give up.
In closing, therefore, I would like to congratulate each of you who have received your postgraduate degrees. Your hard work and dedication has really paid off and now you have that piece of paper to prove to the world that you are a bright young scientist. I'd like to end with a quote from Ellen Degeneres that I've slightly adapted, “Follow your passion.
