On board the vessel was roughly 1.2 million pounds of food. Most of it was to be stored in the large frozen warehouse near the galley but a few thousand pounds were the first freshies that we had received in over a month and a half. Although most of it was things like carrots, potatoes, onions, and fruit, we also received whole eggs, something the station had been without for several weeks.
Upon the ship’s arrival, base goes dry meaning the bars close and the station store is no longer allowed to sell alcohol. In the time leading up to this “dry period,” people begin stockpiling their alcohol rations in order to make them last until the end of the season. Its honestly kind of sad to see just how reliant on alcohol a lot of people on this base are. Once the bars closed, a lot of people seemingly didn’t know what to do with themselves when they weren’t working. I actually liked the dry period as it calmed things down at night around town and allowed me time to write, spending quieter evenings with my group of friends, and continue climbing Observation Hill.
During the vessel offloading, several areas around the station are fenced off and made off-limits to most people. The increased traffic of heavy vehicles in the area helping with the offload makes the area too dangerous to allow any unnecessary foot traffic.
The arrival of the icebreaker and vessel also meant the arrival of the NAVCHAPs (Navy Cargo Handling and Port). NAVCHAPS come to the base every year to help with the unloading of the cargo ship, during which time McMurdo sees an influx of almost 300 military personnel causing the population of the base skyrocket well north of 1000 people.
