16th – 22nd October – I saved a seals life!
Hey all,
Last Sunday I had the most amazing day of my life! I know I have said that a few time now, but this really has beaten everything I have ever done to date.
Some of the boys went down to stay at Robbo’s last weekend. On Friday arvo they went to Williams Nunatak to see the seals. There was a little baby seal and its mum in the water. “How cute: swimming lessons” they all thought. Saturday night they did a radio sched with me back at Casey and told me about it and said the seal was still in the water. They had no idea that this was not a usual situation. Baby seals do not generally swim until they are about two months old and have lots of fat on them to insulate them.
On Sunday morning another group went to the Nunatak on quads, when they returned they told me the seal was STILL in the water. I had arranged to have one of the boys do Radio Obs with me while I took a quad to the seals with one of the old timers from here Sunday arvo.
I arrived Sunday afternoon. I was with Cyril, who has spent almost 30 years coming to Antarctica. He is pretty well the resident expert on everything down here. As soon as I got to the Nunatak I headed straight to the ice hole to see if the little seal was still in the water. I knew he shouldn’t have been in there and after two and half days the little guy would most likely be dead. The site that greeted me was simply horrible. This poor new pup had no strength left at all and his Mum was almost spent as well. The pup could no longer swim at all and Mum was battling to hold him up out of the water. Both didn’t have long before they would collapse.
I looked over at one of my fellow expeditioners who was with me and said “I don’t care about all this you can’t interfere with nature rubbish. I am NOT going to leave these two beautiful creatures to die. They are obviously there by accident and if I can help them then I am going to”. This man, being a gentle and kind man, agreed. So I lay down on the ice and tried to get the message across to the seals that I was there to help. I have no idea what transpired between the mother seal and I but after a few minutes of coaxing, the Mum moved her pup into the opposite end of the pool to a place close to where I could hang down into the ice hole. So there I was, half hanging into a freezing ice hole giving the Mum encouragement to push her baby closer to me. She must have gotten the idea because she made one huge effort and with all her strength moved underneath her pup and pushed him out of the hole as far as she could. Just as she was about to slip back into the sea I stretch out as far as I could and hooked this little guy under his flippers. My fellow expeditioner jumped down on the other side of the hole and helped me haul the little guy out. It took a huge effort, even as babies these pups are quite big and heavy. So back I lurched onto the safety of the ice with this great big seal pup in my arms. Mum followed seconds after and nearly bowled over the top of me. Weighing in at about 600kg, that would have been a very squishy end for me if she had have landed on me. Ha ha. It all happened so quickly.
Both Mum and pup were exhausted. Mum instantly moved far away from the hole, encouraging her pup to follow. The little guy could barely move, so I gave him a little help further onto the sea ice. I was a little weary of Mum at this stage as I was handling her pup. But she seemed to know I was only helping and she let me help him move over to her. I watched for 5 minutes while this dripping wet bundle of shivering seal pup found the strength to latch on to his Mum and start drinking. He barely had the strength to hold his head on his mum and kept dropping to the ice every 30 seconds before regaining his strength to latch on once more. It took 5 minutes before he was drinking heavily. I left them to rest and took a tour of all the other seals and pups on the Nunatak.
I returned to the two about 15 minutes later and sat close to them. The little guy was looking at me. Ever so slowly I moved in until I was actually sitting right with the Mum and pup. I stayed there for the longest time. Finally the pups shivering subsided a little and his coat started to dry out. After a long while of the three of us being together he came right over to me and hesitantly sniffed at my leg. He let me touch his flippers and his feet and when I went to give him a pat under the chin he playful nudged me, like a little puppy dog would. He was amazing. All the while, Mum kept an eye on me, but let it be known she didn’t mind me being there at all. She must have known I would do no harm. It was an amazing experience.
All too soon it was time to leave. So after saying bye to both Mum and baby I did another round of the other seals. I stopped at a brand new pup whose umbilical cord was still attached. This one was not even a day old. Once more I sat with Mum and baby and let them get used to me. The little pup, ever curious, came over and sniffed my leg and then he put his head up and into my lap. It was the most awesome thing. This little guy was so adorable and so trusting. He let me scratch his belly and pat his flippers and even let me play with his feet. He was just amazing. He had no fear and only curiosity. The Mum also seemed to sense no harm in me, so she let the baby seal stay with me. I took a few pictures then it really was time to leave. One of my hands was starting to go off after become soaking wet helping out the seal from the water.
So we headed off on the quads happy in the knowledge we had saved two beautiful creatures.
As tough as this year has been for me, things like this make it all worthwhile. The first ship of the season is due tomorrow. I for one can’t wait. It will bring the station total up from 19 to 60 odd people. At last, some life in this place. There will be new faces and some old friends returning. I am looking forward to it. The whole dynamics of the station will change and hopefully life will be a lot more pleasant than it has been in the last few months. Once the ship arrives we will be absolutely chaotic in Comms getting all the new users online and their accounts and computers configured to run on our server. So life will be even busier now. 10 weeks to go on Tuesday!!!! YAY!!!! I have pretty well done and seen all there is now and by the time our big orange taxi arrives for V2, I will be well and truly ready to board her and say goodbye to Casey Station – my home for the last year. I have a lot of great memories to bring home with me and a million photos to help me remember all the good times. The rest I will not think about ever again.
Until next week,
I wish you all peace and harmony in your lives and in the world around you.
And I am sending out a big cosmic hug to “The Bloke”. Look after that ticker Dave, take it easy and I hope you are feeling better. :o]
Cheers
Trace
Last Sunday I had the most amazing day of my life! I know I have said that a few time now, but this really has beaten everything I have ever done to date.
Some of the boys went down to stay at Robbo’s last weekend. On Friday arvo they went to Williams Nunatak to see the seals. There was a little baby seal and its mum in the water. “How cute: swimming lessons” they all thought. Saturday night they did a radio sched with me back at Casey and told me about it and said the seal was still in the water. They had no idea that this was not a usual situation. Baby seals do not generally swim until they are about two months old and have lots of fat on them to insulate them.
On Sunday morning another group went to the Nunatak on quads, when they returned they told me the seal was STILL in the water. I had arranged to have one of the boys do Radio Obs with me while I took a quad to the seals with one of the old timers from here Sunday arvo.
I arrived Sunday afternoon. I was with Cyril, who has spent almost 30 years coming to Antarctica. He is pretty well the resident expert on everything down here. As soon as I got to the Nunatak I headed straight to the ice hole to see if the little seal was still in the water. I knew he shouldn’t have been in there and after two and half days the little guy would most likely be dead. The site that greeted me was simply horrible. This poor new pup had no strength left at all and his Mum was almost spent as well. The pup could no longer swim at all and Mum was battling to hold him up out of the water. Both didn’t have long before they would collapse.
I looked over at one of my fellow expeditioners who was with me and said “I don’t care about all this you can’t interfere with nature rubbish. I am NOT going to leave these two beautiful creatures to die. They are obviously there by accident and if I can help them then I am going to”. This man, being a gentle and kind man, agreed. So I lay down on the ice and tried to get the message across to the seals that I was there to help. I have no idea what transpired between the mother seal and I but after a few minutes of coaxing, the Mum moved her pup into the opposite end of the pool to a place close to where I could hang down into the ice hole. So there I was, half hanging into a freezing ice hole giving the Mum encouragement to push her baby closer to me. She must have gotten the idea because she made one huge effort and with all her strength moved underneath her pup and pushed him out of the hole as far as she could. Just as she was about to slip back into the sea I stretch out as far as I could and hooked this little guy under his flippers. My fellow expeditioner jumped down on the other side of the hole and helped me haul the little guy out. It took a huge effort, even as babies these pups are quite big and heavy. So back I lurched onto the safety of the ice with this great big seal pup in my arms. Mum followed seconds after and nearly bowled over the top of me. Weighing in at about 600kg, that would have been a very squishy end for me if she had have landed on me. Ha ha. It all happened so quickly.
Both Mum and pup were exhausted. Mum instantly moved far away from the hole, encouraging her pup to follow. The little guy could barely move, so I gave him a little help further onto the sea ice. I was a little weary of Mum at this stage as I was handling her pup. But she seemed to know I was only helping and she let me help him move over to her. I watched for 5 minutes while this dripping wet bundle of shivering seal pup found the strength to latch on to his Mum and start drinking. He barely had the strength to hold his head on his mum and kept dropping to the ice every 30 seconds before regaining his strength to latch on once more. It took 5 minutes before he was drinking heavily. I left them to rest and took a tour of all the other seals and pups on the Nunatak.
I returned to the two about 15 minutes later and sat close to them. The little guy was looking at me. Ever so slowly I moved in until I was actually sitting right with the Mum and pup. I stayed there for the longest time. Finally the pups shivering subsided a little and his coat started to dry out. After a long while of the three of us being together he came right over to me and hesitantly sniffed at my leg. He let me touch his flippers and his feet and when I went to give him a pat under the chin he playful nudged me, like a little puppy dog would. He was amazing. All the while, Mum kept an eye on me, but let it be known she didn’t mind me being there at all. She must have known I would do no harm. It was an amazing experience.
All too soon it was time to leave. So after saying bye to both Mum and baby I did another round of the other seals. I stopped at a brand new pup whose umbilical cord was still attached. This one was not even a day old. Once more I sat with Mum and baby and let them get used to me. The little pup, ever curious, came over and sniffed my leg and then he put his head up and into my lap. It was the most awesome thing. This little guy was so adorable and so trusting. He let me scratch his belly and pat his flippers and even let me play with his feet. He was just amazing. He had no fear and only curiosity. The Mum also seemed to sense no harm in me, so she let the baby seal stay with me. I took a few pictures then it really was time to leave. One of my hands was starting to go off after become soaking wet helping out the seal from the water.
So we headed off on the quads happy in the knowledge we had saved two beautiful creatures.
As tough as this year has been for me, things like this make it all worthwhile. The first ship of the season is due tomorrow. I for one can’t wait. It will bring the station total up from 19 to 60 odd people. At last, some life in this place. There will be new faces and some old friends returning. I am looking forward to it. The whole dynamics of the station will change and hopefully life will be a lot more pleasant than it has been in the last few months. Once the ship arrives we will be absolutely chaotic in Comms getting all the new users online and their accounts and computers configured to run on our server. So life will be even busier now. 10 weeks to go on Tuesday!!!! YAY!!!! I have pretty well done and seen all there is now and by the time our big orange taxi arrives for V2, I will be well and truly ready to board her and say goodbye to Casey Station – my home for the last year. I have a lot of great memories to bring home with me and a million photos to help me remember all the good times. The rest I will not think about ever again.
Until next week,
I wish you all peace and harmony in your lives and in the world around you.
And I am sending out a big cosmic hug to “The Bloke”. Look after that ticker Dave, take it easy and I hope you are feeling better. :o]
Cheers
Trace
posted by Tracey in Casey - Antarctica at 1:47 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home