Helicopter Ops

There was ice and snow all over the boat this morning some of it was quite spectacular. This is an icicle attached to the life raft.
The helicopters are flying to Casey. It is something like 60 nautical miles and is about 1.5 hours round tip. They are carrying gear and people in and out. It is a huge operation. Everyone involved is very busy and frantic. Those that aren't really involved are bored out of their minds. We are not moving, so there is no new ice to look at and no chance of seeing any wildlife unless it is silly enough to come up to the ship (now often referred to as BOB=Big Orange Boat) to see what is going on. We have 3 helicopters on board, two squirrels that will stay with us at Davis for the summer and a big S76 that is going to go home on the ship.
For those of you that aren't helicopter geeks, this is what an S76 looks like:
and this is a squirrel: