OB Tube

By the way, I had a request from Mrs. Kimbrough to tell you all what the temperature is when I post these things.  The ambient temperature is currently 1 degree with a 6 knot wind making the windchill -11.

Back to your regularly scheduled program...

After dinner we headed over to the OB Tube(Observation Tube). It's a long narrow metal tube you climb down in and there is a kind of bubble at the bottom that you end up in, kinda like an overgrown glass beaker.  Well the tube goes through the sea ice so you're basically suspended under the ice in the middle of the ocean. There are windows all the way around so you can look out and watch all the sea life as it goes by. You can see fish, krill, and all sorts of little creatures. You can also hear the seals making all kinds of sounds. Some of it sounds very electronic like a synthesizer or something, it's a really weird sound.

Here is the inside of the little shack next to the OB Tube you can use to warm up...

 The tube...

 It is seriously a lot tighter fit than it even looks. Once I got about about 3 steps down I really didn't think I was going to be able to make it...

 Once you get to the bottom there is a little crate you can sit on, this is the view looking back up the tube...

 Here is how much space there is once you're down inside. My back was against the rear wall that that's how close my knees were to the wall.  Easily the tightest space I've ever been in...

 Here is a little fishy watching me watch him...

 He decided to give me the side view to show me what he's workin with...

 It's hard to see but there is a little krill guy, pretty sure it's krill thats what someone said...

 Much better view of one of them. There were thousands and thousands of these little guys just in the immediate area that I could see...

 Here is another little krill guy and the bottom of the ice sheet. It's hard to imagine we landed in a freakin airplane one that ice. Not just an airplane but a fully loaded cargo plane.  Oh and one thing I think I forgot to mention about that, apparently the ice that the plane lands on deflects 4-6 inches when the plane lands. Comforting huh?

I sat down there for about 10 minutes just chillin. I finally made my trek back up that ridiculous tube and it's way, WAY harder to get up than down because there is a little rope ladder at the bottom and the transition from rope to metal ladder is tricky. Oh well I made it.

On the way back home I have to cross over the troll bridge. You might be wondering why it's called a troll bridge...

Because there's a fucking troll under it! Muahahaha

Here is a video from inside the tube too...