Port Lockroy Update
15th- 22nd February 2010
A day in the life at Port Lockroy.
Alarm rings noisily, Anna lazily hits the snooze button, reaches
over to turn on the VHF radio and contemplates getting up (she is
not a morning person!). We are a rather democratic bunch and have a
rota for just about everything. Someone is on cooking duty for the
day and gets up before the rest of us to prepare tea, coffee and
breakfast of choice. Bransfield house lacks insulation so breakfast
is always served in bed whilst wrapped up warm in pyjamas and
toastie sleeping bags with sheepskin rugs.
The morning ship approaches at about 8am and gives us a warning call
through the crackling sounds of the radio, “Port Lockroy, Port
Lockroy this is ......... on channel 16”. Radio speak continues with
“copy that”, “standing by” and more of the like. How will I cope
with normal telephone conservations in the real world? One of us is
dressed in our immersion suit and ready to be picked up to board the
ship for the pre-landing briefing talk to the visitors. We have all
enjoyed standing up and speaking in public about the history of the
island and the base, the UKAHT and life here for us all today. For
the rest of the team back at the base everything is go, go, go in a
mad preparation for the landing. There are dishes to do, beds to
make, the shop to restock, sweeping out the base and scrubbing the
outside steps.
Anna waits at the landing site to greet the expedition team and the
first visitors arriving by zodiac. A brief introduction to the
penguin control colonies and the visitor guidelines to the island
and a chat outside whilst oohing and aahing over the gentoo chicks,
most people wander into the building and drift into the shop and
post office to be welcomed by the smiling faces of Eleanor and
Claire. All proceeds from the gift shop we operate go towards the
conservation of Port Lockroy and other historic huts under the
custodianship of the UKAHT. Rachel is in the museum, either in the
old science room or the lounge, pointing out artefacts to interested
visitors and answering many questions. Most people are curious to
see where we live and are nearly always surprised when they poke
their heads round the roped off area of our bunkroom to find that we
all share one room in the museum and even more surprised when we
tell them that we all still get on!
By the time we have waved farewell to the last visitors, it's nearly
lunchtime and time to think of our rumbling tummies. We are all
still enjoying healthy appetites! Often, we have a yacht or two pop
in to see us over lunch and it is not rare to have an afternoon ship
visit as well. On other days we can enjoy a quiet spell which allows
us to get on with other chores or pop over to our Nissen neighbours
for a cuppa and a chat or sit on the rocks and watch for whales.
This has been a week of birthday celebrations, wildlife sightings
and farewells to new Antarctic friends. Valentines day does not
exist here – it's Claire's birthday and a far more important event
to celebrate! Claire was thrilled to find that her mum's birthday,
chocolate truffles had arrived in the post just in time and the rest
of us were just as thrilled to share them with her. Our Nissen
neighbours joined us for evening drinks and a three-course dinner
prepared by Eleanor, Anna and Rachel in the comfort of our cosy
bunkroom. We all then strolled up to the emerging Nissen hut for a
wee dram of whisky and ended up dancing the night away in an
impromptu ceilidh birthday celebration. [Five out of the seven are
from Scotland - Ed] Surprisingly, we remembered
the steps to 3 or 4 dances and were glad to find that the
foundations to the new building were able to withstand our not so
elegant stomping in our matching crocs! Three days later and it was
time to do it all again and celebrate Graham's birthday. This time
the Port Lockroy team was invited to the Nissen hut for dinner and
dined for the first time on newly assembled furniture whilst
enjoying fajitas and wobbly custard trifle.
Wildlife sightings this week have been many and various. Anna did a
double-take when she first spotted what she thought looked like a
dog on the rocks near Bills Island – turned out to be a fur seal
much further South than any of us expected to see them but very
exciting for all. A Weddell seal has been snoozing on the shore
rocks for the last few days and we all witnessed a leopard seal in
the waters near the boatshed devouring one of our gentoo penguins! A
day later, a leopard seal was spotted again playfully nudging a
zodiac full of passengers near the chains landing.
Despite the season nearing the end, we have been busy as always and
this week have welcomed 11 ships and 4 yachts to our base, some of
which will not be returning again this season. Our fond thanks to:
Prince Albert II, National Geographic Explorer, Bark Europa and
Polar Star for a fantastic season and for making each of their
visits with us a pleasure.
Ocean Nova visited us for the last time this season and we were all
especially sad to say our farewells to all onboard. Phil was kind
enough to take us all for a final fun zodiac ride through the brash
ice in the back bay and up close to some beautiful icebergs – they
are usually so tantalisingly out of reach. Expedition leader,
Brandon, invited all 7 of us Lockroy-ians on board to join
passengers for a BBQ on deck and Claire and Rachel made the PL girls
proud by joining in an another polar plunge! A fun packed evening of
entertainment followed in the bar with the Ocean Nova expedition
team and crew showing off their musical talents: the barman turned
out to be a singing sensation, Colin a Canadian folk singer
extraordinaire and Solon a superb banjo player. Nothing could
compete with Alex's improvised and hysterically funny song of the
ships journey South to Port Lockroy! Thank you to all on Ocean Nova
– it has been a pleasure getting to know you and we look forward to
working with you in coming seasons.
Anna
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