Our next stop Palmer Biological Research Base 20 nautical miles away proved to be quite a social event. We arrived on the stations first holiday of the summer season, a combination of Valentines and Presidents Day. Besides the Anne and the Matahiva a French ketch and the Northanger soon arrived. With a total of 4 yachts at Palmer station and the numerous scientist the base felt quite crowded.
 To celebrate the holiday the base held a barbecue with a half roasted pig as the main coarse. Roasting the pig is a 2 man job. One person has to tend to the roasting of the pig while the other has to stand-by with broom in hand fending off Skuas. Informed by a member of the support team that the Skuas are so aggressive that they will even swoop down and steal the meat right off your plate if you are not attentive.
 The French ketch that arrived did so from the south. Talking to the crew we found out that ice conditions south of here are not favorable for the Anne. The ice condition noted as being 7/8 meaning that seven-eighths of the surface of the water is covered by ice. With the risk of getting caught in the ice and the Anne's hull being constructed of ferolite We canceled plans to head south to the Argentine Islands to visit the British Antarctic Survey base Faraday. This decision made Palmer station our furthest point south.
 During the roasting of the pig the weather cleared and the temperature rose into the lower fifties. A party atmosphere ensued, with all the booze flowing it was hard to believe that this is a U. S. naval base. Party supplies as well as other consumable items were obtainable though the base store nearly at cost. After the feast almost everyone retired to the recreation room to watch a movie. Someone put John Carpenter's "The Thing" on the VCR, a horror film about an alien terrorizing a base in the Antarctic. About halfway though the movie the crew person on anchor watch hurried into the recreation room with an urgent call of all hands. Within the last half an hour the temperature dropped 25 degrees, the winds increased to 40 knots and a full fledged blizzard had developed.

NEXT PAGE