Today was basically a layover day with the only highlight coming at 3:30pm when the shuttle picked us up to drive through the Prudhoe Bay oilfields to the Arctic Ocean. It had been raining all day long – in fact raining since about midnight from the previous day. The air temperature had dropped to freezing and the wind was blowing steadily. I was questioning my intent to do the polar plunge and join the Arctic Polar Bear Club. Yesterday the daytime temps reached into the 60’s by early evening.
The driver was very knowledgeable about the history and workings of the Prudhoe Bay oilfields. The area we would cross to reach the ocean is operated by BP, but partners ExxonMobile and ConocoPhillips also have compounds on the 200,000+ acre oilfield. The operations there are immense with dozens and dozens of contractors operating all the essential functions to process oil and support the infrastructure and workers. I knew Prudhoe Bay was largest oilfield in the US but didn’t comprehend the scale of the operation until seeing first hand all that is involved.
We finally got to the shoreline and the wind was kicking up big whitecaps on the ocean. It looked cold and mean. I grabbed a complimentary towel on the way out of the shuttle and made my way to the very end of the point – suddenly realizing how far back to the shuttle I would have to go to get back to warmth. I was probably two football fields away with Joe and three others and quickly stripped down to my skivvies and scurried in up to my waist, leaned back and dunked under. I did a 5 count with only my head exposed to the air and then made my way back to my clothes pile to dress. The cold wind felt like needles pricking my skin but as soon as the clothes were on I started to feel much warmer. Just my hands and feet were freezing on the walk back to the shuttle. Once inside the shuttle it felt like a sauna due to my current body temp. Soon I was back to normal and received the certificate for completing the plunge. On the way back the shuttle driver mentioned that three weeks ago the bay was still frozen over. We also got to see several Caribou and Snow Goose on the way back.
Tuesday we will leave Deadhorse for Wiseman. It is still raining at around 8pm as I type this. It’s supposed to stop by tomorrow but I’m a little apprehensive thinking about the further carnage all this rain has done to the road. We will probably wait until at least noon or later to leave hopeful that things may dry up a bit. I’m not looking forward to that sloppy slippery ride again but it must be done.
The certificate…
