We had an interesting sailboat visit Palmer Station the past few days.  It is a family from France, sailing around the world.  In addition to a mom and dad, there were four children, one boy and three girls, around 8 - 14 years old.  They plan to be gone for 4 years!!  The kids have school books, and in addition to their jobs on the boat (helping with the sails and watching for icebergs) they spend many hours each day studying.  They had a few meals with us, toured the station, and invited station staff to tour their boat.  They left us this morning.  Would you like to sail around the world for 4 years?

Thanks for all of your fantastic questions!  Here are some more questions and answers.

Students in Ms. Himmelstein’s 4th grade class at Roland Park Country School asked: “Where do you sleep?”

Great question.  What do you think?  In a tent?  In a hut?  In an igloo?  Not quite.  There are two main buildings at Palmer Station, the Bio Lab (where the laboratories are located) and GWR (Garage, Warehouse, Recreation).  Each of these building has rooms for about 22 people.  The rooms are VERY small, and hold 2 people.  Above is a picture.  There are two small closets, a small desk, and a bunk bed with two beds.  My room is so small that my roommate and I can’t both be getting ready at the same time - there isn’t enough room for both of us to move around!  The one excellent thing about the room is the VIEW!  Above is a picture from my window.

Students in Ms. Pagoota’s 2nd grade class at Sherrills Ford Elementary asked:

“Do you get around on foot, or do you use cars?  What kind of land transportation do the scientists have?”

The station is on a very small piece of land, so we travel on foot for the most part.  Every now and then something heavy needs to be moved, so there are a few tractors, and a few ATVs (see the picture above).  Otherwise, it’s all on foot.  Much of our travel is by water, so the zodiacs are really important.  Above is a picture of our zodiacs in the “parking lot.”