From Port Hueneme, California, I began my journey to Antarctica on October 8, 1993. I, along with several of my shipmates, were headed to McMurdo Station, Antarctica to begin our 1 year Winter-Over tour of duty. Before getting to Antarctica, though, we first had to stop over in Christchurch, New Zealand for a couple days to pick up our gear. Several of us picked up our Extra Cold Weather (ECW) gear on October 11, 1993 (the photo has the 10th because I forgot to change the date on it since we crossed the International Dateline). This is me in most of the gear in our hotel room.