The Coast Guard icebreaker Healy is scheduled to make a brief stop in Port Angeles today on its return from a three-month emergency deployment to Antarctica.
The Healy will pick up journalists and other passengers for the last leg of its trip back to Seattle.
The nation’s newest icebreaker, the Healy was called in to help the icebreaker Polar Sea cut through the thickest ice in 50 years at McMurdo. They cleared a path for supply ships to the U.S. research station near the South Pole.
This summer the Healy will depart Seattle again for a trip around the North American continent.
It has a crew of 85 and can carry three-dozen scientists for research.