2.18.2009

The Last Pictures of Antarctica for 2009

Was bloody cold outside when I took these photos. Several times I had to retreat inside to rewarm and then run back outside only to freeze again. The temperature just keeps getting lower and lower... I mean when my coat literally freezes stiff and my shoes become solid as a rock, that's cold. Around 2 AM when I took the last of the photos I saw on the monitor that with wind chill it was -30 C. Okay guys, I can leave now.

I sat in the lounge for awhile, chillin after all the packing, then went outside and saw this... orange, pink, and red. I stopped for a moment thinking ... this is my last night in Antarctica and right from the start of this journey I've been saying all I want is one picture of an Antarctic sunset. Now.. what is the chance that in my last 12 hours on the Ice I will be gifted with the very thing that I've been yearning for? I ran to my hideout behind the NSF building...

Once I got there I kept an eye on the sun as it passed Mt. Discovery, which is the mountain to the very right in the picture below. After 30 minutes, from the time it pushes beyond Mt. Discovery, it hits Black Island, where it then dips below the horizon casting a play of colours all along the skyline. On the ice you can see the snow dancers.

And then it goes behind the mountain.

I can't believe this. There was no room for words. Just eat up the sun.

The sun continues its path behind Black Island and eventually moves behind Observation Hill, casting a giant shadow on McMurdo.


I'm in love with sunsets because they are heavenly tantalizing... bliss at the blink of an eye. The Egyptian story of Ra and his boat of warriors drifting into the undeworld. I see the cosmic mix of light and dark, white and black, yin and yang, female and male, matter and dark matter in sunsets. From this cosmic intercourse spills out vibrant colours the light up the clouds as if it were a natural rave light show in unique flow... none other like it. Caught up in the midst of it all, as a meer bystander, I become it all. The sun and the moon, earth and stars. Without this show there would be no seasons... no life. I, a byproduct of earthly and cosmic dualities, am stuck right in the middle of it all with open cedar brown eyes. One goal and only goal only, watch the sunsets and snap the photos just to spread the love, chill the mind, and pass the time.

Goodbye McMurdo Station. Thanks.