A visit to Palmer Station

This is - though outdated - a pretty desillusioning piece by some NSF/WHOI bigwig who visited the third permanent US base in Antarctica, Palmer , onboard an expedition cruise vessel with a group of tourists.

See for yourself (for full-text click the link of the header or above).

I liked it and chose to post it because it reflects both on how tourist visits are generally seen and treated by scientific staff on these same stations (for good reason, some will say) and how tourists - and especially BIGWIG tourists of which there is a surprising number of, believe me - perceive such a visit. Makes me anticipate our scheduled visits to the station during one of my upcoming dive trips even more...

And the best thing is: just because the guy did not get his way - storming through the station, the quarters, the labs for "inspection" - although he played his bigwig card BIG time! he ended up hating the place, no doubt infesting the rest of "his group" with this sentiment in no time, and concludes his piece by recommending that no visit at all would be better for future trips (Uhuuaah! Didna get no toy, Dont wanna toy, Nobody getsa toy! BAH!).

So accidentally, you also get a feel why working with this kind of clientèle IS in fact a lot of work sometimes.

Okay, here are some excerpts again (with my comments in [brackets])

"Our cruise on SOCIETY EXPLORER was meticulously organized and executed. The standard of seamanship and regard for safety and the environment compared favorably or exceeded anything I saw in ten years of involvement in Antarctic marine scientific ship operations. [RIGHT!] During the cruise I observed no incident that threatened the safety of passengers nor did I see any article being jettisoned from the ship or ashore. [GOOD FOR YOU]. Prior to each landing a briefing took place which thoroughly prepared the passengers and informed them of precautions necessary to protect the ecology of the specific landing site. Any passenger who demonstrated inattention to the instructions given was politely but firmly corrected." [LIKED THAT, EH?]
...
"During this circuit of the building discomfort developed. Station and science staff, despite doing the best job possible within the prescribed ground rules, appeared uncomfortable. They were obviously trying to be polite and make people seem welcome, but really did not have ways to demonstrate this in any meaningful way. [WHAT??? SHOULD THEY HAVE BEEN SOMERSAULTING FOR YOU???] The conditions of the visit made it quite clear that we were not really welcome. Almost to a person the passengers left feeling they had been an unwelcome imposition."
...
"To complete this, which was supposed to be a brief letter, I add my personal view and hope you will not consider me presumptuous for doing so.[OH NO...] As I have said, I fully understand and sympathize with the reasons for the Palmer visitor limitations, but if the net result under the present system is decidedly negative, the visits are counter-productive for all concerned--visitors and station personnel. I believe that no visits would be better than the present situation."