SOUTH Atlantic Update
Anna’s letter from the South Atlantic, 1 – 23
November 2009
So, here I am! Sailing on the Hapag Lloyd
Hanseatic cruise ship en route to Elephant Island where our Captain,
Ulf Wolfer, is planning to cruise to Point Wild to see the place
where 22 men from the Endurance Expedition survived for 4 months
whilst waiting for Shackleton’s return and their rescue. The “Boss”,
as he was known, never lost a man under his direct command in all of
his years on the ice.
It seems like ages ago now that I left the UK
on the 1st of November. After a very long flight
including a short, tropical refuelling stop at Ascension Island I
arrived well but tired at Stanley in the Falkland Islands. I was met
by Sally Owen (past Port Lockroy postmistress and UKAHT friend),
Richard and their dog Kaff. After some quick introductions and a
much needed cup of tea we were out on one of Kaff’s many daily walks
along the beautiful beach at Gypsy Cove where I also spotted my
first penguin (Magellanic) of the journey!
Next morning feeling refreshed and ready to go
I set about my work. I am travelling separately to the rest of the
Port Lockroy team as my task was to meet our cargo for the season in
the Falkland Islands and make sure it was sorted and packed for safe
transport South. Things didn’t start particularly smoothly though as
I soon discovered that our cargo containers had been delivered to
the wrong harbour and that one of the cruise ships that was
transporting cargo for us had been cancelled at the last minute.
After a brief moment of sheer panic and with lots of help and advice
from Sally and Richard I set about making new arrangements. I soon
discovered how things work in Stanley and plans began to come
together. I spent a few good days donning my rather fetching Port
Lockroy overalls and working at Stanley harbour unloading our
container and sorting and repacking our cargo in time for transport
on three vessels. Our thanks to: Neil McKay at Stanley Harbour,
Sullivan Shipping, the cruise ships Fram and NG Explorer and the BAS
vessel RRS James Clark Ross for their assistance in getting our
cargo to Port Lockroy this season.
With our cargo all well and on track, I had
some time to catch up on other odd jobs and visited Anton at Stanley
Post Office to collect all our stamps for the coming season and
spent some time at Stanley museum trying to get some useful tips and
ideas on displaying museum collections. The days are long and bright
in the FI, although apparently rather wet and cold for the time of
year (all good preparation for PL!), and Sally took the time to show
me round the island and point out all the wildlife on our many
walks. I even had the chance to enjoy some rather exciting off-road
landrover driving and to fly in a small aircraft on a tour of the
Outer Islands.
On the 16th November, having seen
most of our cargo safely off on its journey South – I said my
goodbyes to Stanley and joined the Hanseatic where I am now bunking
with the crew. Due to some pretty awful weather we were delayed in
Stanley for an additional day but the captain decided to push
forward on the 17th. We had three rather bumpy days at sea and I
spent the first 24 hours glued to my bed and feeling sorry for
myself. I soon found my sea legs though and was in good form for our
first landing in South Georgia at the old whaling site of Grytviken
just a few days ago. The Zodiac boats expertly landed us ashore
where we all visited the grave of Sir Ernest Shackleton. As is
traditional, the Captain and our excellent expedition leader, David
Fletcher, paid tribute at his grave and drank to his memory.
The next morning at 6am, I joined the
expedition crew on the first landing of the day at Gold Harbour.
Possibly the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced – walking
amongst elephant seals and their pups and the most inquisitive king
penguins. I spent two hours just watching and taking it all in. The
day continued to get better as a few hours later we arrived at St.
Andrews Bay. The bay is exposed to the open sea and is surrounded by
the stunning ice clad summits of the Allardyce Range. This is the
largest concentration of breeding king penguins and elephant seals
in South Georgia and there were curious, waddling penguins as far as
the eye could sea including (very strange combination) reindeer
grazing in the foothills of the mountains. As I walked to the far
end of the bay I reached the king rookery and the quite spectacular
sight of thousands of brown fluffy king chicks – most, as big as
their parents! Returning to the ship, we next sailed past Cooper
Island and the captain cruised into the Drygalski Fjord with the
most crystal clear and calm waters we’ve experience so far –
everyone was up on deck taking in the view and bidding farewell to
South Georgia.
Another two days at sea and now our next
destination this afternoon is Elephant Island. We’ll next sail
through the Antarctic Sound to the South Shetland Islands constantly
edging closer to the Antarctic Peninsula – not long now till I join
Tudor, Claire and Eleanor at Port Lockroy. I can’t wait!
Anna |
