Last Plane out of Antarctica

It is official: winter in Antarctica has begun!  

The weather is nice and the sun still shines, but the planes are gone and the fresh food is dwindling.  McMurdo feels like a deserted mining town with a few foolhardy souls who stubbornly refused to leave for the season.

March 5, 2013 Sunset

March 6, 2013 Sunrise

 The soonest another flight will come down is the 3rd week of August.  The last flight left yesterday afternoon.  Now our winter population in McMurdo is down to 143 people and most of them crowded onto the deck of the chalet for a champagne toast as a New Zealand Air Force 757 took the last of the summer workers out of McMurdo and left us to fend for ourselves for the next 6 months.

Last Plane out of Antarctica for the season...4 days late (not a surprise) on March 9, 2013.

For now I don't feel trapped.  I thought that feeling would set in as soon as I heard the plane take off.  Right now I'm left with a feeling of relief and excitement for the winter and this new experience of having to stay on one place.  Hopefully that feeling lasts.