One of the biggest events here at the South Pole is the sunset and we celebrated the whole weekend with a bunch of activities. We kicked things off with a sunset cocktail themed community hour (co-hosted by yours truly). Afterwards we all gathered together to watch Behind the Curve, a documentary about the ever-growing flat Earth community, which was a little bit surreal considering that we’re at the South Pole and the sun was about to set (two things that are not really possible if you believe in a flat Earth).
The next day our galley staff once again outdid themselves putting together an absolutely delicious Sunset Dinner for all of us. Normally for big celebration dinners we cover the windows but for this one we decided to leave them open to enjoy the last bits of light we would be getting. Once we were all thoroughly stuffed, we rolled ourselves down the hall to the big gym where we had set up over a dozen mattresses for a slumber party which was to include face masks, nail painting, a showing of Mean Girls, and other traditional slumber party activities.
I was able to get a few more pictures of the sun before it set as it was getting closer and closer to the horizon. One of my favorites was when it was passing by one of the telescopes and I was able to catch it right behind the dish.
Unfortunately, on the day of the actual sunset, the visibility was low and we weren’t able to fully see it (silly blowing snow!). I did my best though!
However, the weeks following the sunset were amazing! The sky cleared up and we were able to see all the way to the horizon. There was a least a week of gorgeous colors and skies. And a weird thing happens where, after the sun sets, its light continues to reflect and refract off of the clouds and atmosphere and it’s almost like you can still see it.
I don’t know that I will miss the sun (5 months of constant sunlight can get a bit oppressive) but I will definitely miss the weeks of sunset skies.
P.S. South Pole Triple Crown Update
Miles: 180 (20% complete)
Weights: 425,880 lbs (31% complete)
Beer Cans: 270 (48% complete)