Zodiacin'

Today we had the chance to get out in the water with one of the zodiacs.  This was an attempt to see if we could get some viable samples while the ice was still packed in the bay.  Hugh, Fen, Niki, and I ventured out in the bacteria zodiac, carrying the call sign “this ice sucks”, to try and get a couple depth samples and a surface sample.  We pushed through the pancake ice moving huge sheets from side to side until we finally made it into a clear section to dip our sample tubes.  I took a video of exactly how everything works to give an idea to you at home what it is that we are actually doing here.  After sampling we started pushing our way back starting to realize that we could not see the path that we took to get ourselves out here.  Hugh said slowly in his low tone voice “This is not goooood…”.  Not a minute later he had us stuck on top of a huge piece of pancake ice.  See, Hugh has this slow way of going through the ice, getting stuck periodically and then just gunning it to get free.  Not this time!  We did everything we could from chopping ice with ores to pushing with one leg out on the ice and the other trying to keep us safe.  That is when the girl in the boat took control and gunned the motor back and forth until we were free.  Goes to show that these men have no game over the young girls here.  Shame shame shame….  Why didn’t I step in?  It’s not my boat baby.