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Laura Thieme

Bizresearch President – 10 years - 2007

Fisher College of Business Lecturer on Search Marketing

OSU Russian Studies Grad – 1993

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16th December 2007

The Polar Plunge in Deception Island, Antarctica 1 reply

Quote of the day:  It’s just that there are some things women don’t do.  They don’t become Pope or President or go down to the Antarctic.  Harry Darlington,  chief pilot of the Finn Ronne’s 1946-8 Antarctic Research Expedition

I did it!  I took the Polar Plunge, which is a short dip in the Antarctic’s Southern Ocean.  I walked to the top of the mountain crest, to what’s called the window, looked out over the steep, sheer drop to the ocean, took a couple of shots, walked down, and then jumped into water, where you can only survive
for just 3 minutes!  I can promise you I did this for less than 1 minute! 

My butt is still thawing out… :  My butt is always cold, but now it’s really cold.  TMI some of you are saying, right?  So, we had a challenge between our two groups of who would have the most number of polar plunges within the two groups.  We had the luxury of going last, and truly won the challenge without question.  Our group had over 30 who made the polar plunge, whereas the first
group had only eight insane people. 

I was absolutely determined to climb, take photos, and then plunge into the icy waters.   It was quite cold and very windy.  We were to swim between ice flows and up to a small iceberg.  The nurse was nearby, as were all of the support workers with towels, and a video camera capturing the moments of complete and utter insanity.  What fun!   We then dressed back into our clothes right on the
icy beach, which is not an easy task I might add, and journeyed back to the ship sitting in the cove in Deception Island. 

I dared to have my nurse, who I had gotten to know sooner in the week, videocam me in all my glory or not.  I shivered down into my apricot and fuscia colored 2-piece, with my sarong tied into a scarf around my neck, my wool hat, dark sunglasses, and the required socks.  I prepared to make the run into the water - only to look up and see that Joanne was helping another woman - kinda funny.
I cried out to her and asked her to hurry up - giggling - and all of a sudden the ship’s professional video recorder hopped up to partake in the fun of recording the event - so I ran to the water, hopped in, shimmied up, and ran out - trying to make a real ordeal of it which isn’t hard being a ham such as
myself.  I do have a video of this event and want to sell it to the highest bidder on ebay!  What do you think?

After plunging into the water, and returning - I felt my heart pump a helluva lot harder for a minute, and wondered if it would rally to the challenge - and thanked it for being so tough, and still having my youth about me.  I was thus even more impressed with those of all ages who jumped in - skinny, fat, young and old - no matter what, 30 or so of us did the Polar Plunge, for which we are
sent a certificate upon completion.

Our 12 Noon Lecture Recap
Deception Island & Active Volcano, Antarctica - Last Eruption circa 1970
20 or so eruptions in the 20th century

Bob our lecturer -talked about Port Foster being named after Capt. Henry Foster which arrived in a naval ship in 1829.  The farther you are from the center of the world, the slower the pendulum - changes in gravity were monitored here, and thus it was named to Pendulum Cove.  Foster didn’t fare very well as he drowned on the way home.  After his visit, little visited until 1900s when the
whalers arrived

Height of whaling in 1920s when you could have several whaling ships anchored at one time.  We captured photos of the processing area.  You can still see two lines of boilers, and some barracks, as well as whale artifacts and two wooden boats.  Another notable historic event was the first flight - a single engine flight in the 20s, which took 11 hours - sorry can’t recall the destination.

In 1967, the area began to receive seismic activity.  Seals and chief bills left. An eruption did occur eventually.  All survived.  After the second eruption, the British left for good. 

It’s lunch time Sunday - and I’m now peacefully tired out.  The ship is rocking again in open seas, as we make our way to Half Moon Bay, where we might stop to see some chinstrap penguins, weather permitting.

Tomorrow’s plans:

We have no idea, all depends on the weather and the local resident B-15 iceberg that is 27 miles long - “we’re going to poke around up there ” according to our expedition leader.  Just keep me away from the hitting the icebergs, where the Explorer I is rumored to have sunk please - A true expedition - it’s not far from Elephant Island, there is Cape Lookout, or Point Wild, or perhaps the east side of Clarence Island, where there is a great chinstrap rookery.  At this point, we’ll be in the infamous Drake Passage again.  Yes, we’re all timing when to put our patches on.  We’ll be pulling into Ushuaia in just four days.
So in the event that tomorrow is busy getting ready to head back into Drake, and I’m out of touch for a day or two, say a prayer for safe voyaging please. 

And to recap on today’s quote - women have come a long way haven’t we?  There are 40% female researchers in comparison to the male researchers at Palmer Station.  Look at Petri, who has been coming to Antarctica and leading expeditions for 18 years.  She also has a website.  Hannah, another female researcher, is staying here for the next four and a half months, and she is on her second contract.  She is only 32.  Most of the single people on this ship are women, of all ages and heritage.  Women are capable of amazing things,
given the chance.

One Response to “The Polar Plunge in Deception Island, Antarctica”

  1. Michele says:
    February 1st, 2008 at 8:49 pm

    Well, our group said you could not enter into the dug out hot tub unless you swam underwater, getting you entire body under….so you gotta do it!

    What fun! This year I plan to swim in the Arctic Ocean.

    Yes….women do this!

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