It's official; the diving is done. We each made a final dive today and then packed up all the equipment at the dive hole. The transect line now has floats attached to it in order to keep it up off the bottom so mat will not grow over it and it can be found again. We also set out Peter's sediment traps, we collected the final core and water samples, we brought Hal back up out of the water, and we took a few final photos. It seemed a bit strange coming up through the hole for the final time; it has become part of our routine!
After diving, we packed up the equipment and returned to camp. We also packed up all the supplies back at camp. We filled up those big white boxes one more time! The helicopter is supposed to come take us back to McMurdo tomorrow.
It's actually good we are finished - Lake Fryxell is "cracking up"!
"X marks the spot". This "X" will be left on the ice to mark where the dive hole was located. We also have GPS coordinates for the hole. This "X," however has a line going down through the ice that is attached to the transect line. There is more work yet to be done, but it will have to wait a couple years. It's odd to think that this "X" will still be sitting just like this (most likely) on the ice in two years time. Remember, Antarctica is the driest desert on the planet, so there is very little snowfall. Thus, the marker is not likely to be covered up and lost!
Today, Galleena (who is currently in camp with another group) got a kite from her family. She took a few minutes off from work to give it a test flight!
You can tell everyone is getting tired when we take the tent down and everyone pretends to be doing their respective jobs - minus the supplies! Ok - I never REALLY took a nap!
Thank you Lake Fryxell!
•Ms. Ellwood - rellwood@sau50.k12.nh.us
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Antarctica 2006 
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