Port Lockroy season review 2024/25

22/05/2025

Head of operations Sophie Montagne and base leader Lou Hoskin reflect on another successful season and reveal some of the highs and lows of running the charity's flagship site in Antarctica.

Season overview with Sophie Montagne

I run the Trust's activities in Antarctica and manage the seasonal teams at Port Lockroy and our remote field camps at other UKAHT sites each season. I travelled to Antarctica this season on behalf of UKAHT for the first time. During my trip, I visited Damoy Hut and Port Lockroy. I can now categorically say Goudier Island (home of Port Lockroy) is the most spectacular location I’ve ever seen.

"The most spectacular location I’ve ever seen." (UKAHT/Sophie Montagne) 

I was there to support the Port Lockroy team, working alongside them in the museum and shop, cancelling mail and helping to facilitate visitor landings, cargo drops and onboard shops. I also cleared out old food and equipment from the boatshed to make space for the conservation carpenters to work.

Thanks to our fantastic, hard-working team, we had another successful season at Port Lockroy. In total, they welcomed 7,892 visitors to the museum and greeted a total of 22,577 tourists from 140 vessels, sharing the human stories of scientific exploration and adventure from our historic sites. Our tiny post office processed 72,459 postcards, cancelling each one by hand and sending them to all corners of the world as a unique reminder of this spectacular place.

Sophie helping out with the mail (UKAHT/Sophie Montagne) 

Our carpenters, Graham Gillie and Jim Brearley-Ratcliffe, built our new ‘Polar Pod’ on the rear deck of the Nissen hut staff accommodation. Crafted in Scotland by Graham (who reconstructed the Nissen hut back in 2010) and assembled onsite, this will provide an extra berth for visiting staff. Graham and Jim also replaced some of the timber foundations of Bransfield House, uncovering further structural issues that will need to be tackled by our conservation team next season.

We were incredibly relieved that the wildlife on Goudier Island was not affected by avian flu (HPAI) this season. It was a successful breeding year for the gentoos, and our team counted 694 chicks at the end of the season, just slightly lower than last year’s count. Testing from researchers at the end of the season proved that Port Lockroy was one of the very few sites tested on the Antarctic Peninsula that had not been impacted by HPAI. As the disease becomes endemic throughout the Antarctic, we expect that it will reach Port Lockroy in the future, but the current strain is not proving as devastating to gentoo penguins as we initially feared.

Graham and Jim working on Bransfield House (UKAHT/Dale Ellis)

As always, UKAHT is incredibly grateful to our partners in the Antarctic cruise industry who support all of our operations, helping to deliver personnel, supplies, cargo, drinking water and the odd fresh pineapple to our isolated team. The tight-knit Antarctic community is uniquely collaborative and so quick to offer support when the Antarctic environment throws curveballs that prompt a last-minute change of plan. This is what makes our job exciting, always challenging, but so rewarding.

Q&A with Lou Hoskin 

Lou was the Port Lockroy base leader for the 24/25 season. Brought up in Birmingham, she developed a love of the sea from her family holidays in Cornwall, and now lives in Devon, with the ocean at the end of her road. 

With a background in marine ecology and community outreach, Lou has previously worked as a research assistant in the Philippines, undertaking a baseline population assessment for elasmobranchs in the largest reef in the Philippines, Apo Reef Natural Park. She has also worked as a field project manager, running a jungle camp and turtle conservation project in Malaysia. 

In her spare time, Lou can be found drinking coffee with her best friend Wes, running (she recently completed her first marathon), or on the water often as crew for a big orange lifeboat for the RNLI. She has also worked in an emergency department and a circus.

Base leader Lou Hoskin before heading south (UKAHT/Peter Watson)

What was your initial reaction when you realised you’d be going to Antarctica?

I was standing in line for immigration at an airport on my way to see a friend, so I actually kept it to myself for almost a week before I told anyone. 

How has your previous experience helped you in your role at Port Lockroy?

I’ve worked in various roles over the years, but almost always at the interface of human-environment interaction, encouraging awe and wonder to inspire action. Luckily, Antarctica does an amazing job of that all by itself, so it has been wonderful to hear people’s excitement when they tell us about their voyages. 

The awe and wonder of Port Lockroy (UKAHT/Lou Hoskin)

What kind of training do team members undergo before deployment?

You don’t need to have a specific background to work at Port Lockroy, it’s more about your ability to be part of a team. We did a fairly intensive first aid course, so we all learned how to staple each other’s heads back together and administer injections, which thankfully we have never needed, as well as fire safety, manual handling and sea survival.  

What has been your favourite part of the experience?

The water. We aren’t allowed to get in, which has been a real struggle for me, but seeing all the shades of blue and how they constantly change is amazing. On our journey down, we were so lucky to see two juvenile male orcas, and there were humpbacks and minkes in the bay throughout the season, along with various fur and true seals. 

Lou enjoys a moment to herself (UKAHT/Dale Ellis)

What has been the most challenging?

Missing out on things at home. Whilst we all knew what we signed up for, the advent of Starlink on base means we can stay connected with the outside world, and at least for me, that introduced a sense of disconnection from my family and friends back home. Of course, none of us regretted the opportunity to be at Port Lockroy, but it was hard knowing you couldn’t be there for loved ones who needed you. 

If you could do it all again, what would you do differently?

Leadership is something I have struggled with at times, and I am grateful to have been part of an incredibly compassionate team who have been nothing but supportive while I have navigated that. It would be amazing to experience Antarctica without that self-imposed pressure, so I guess if I did it all again, I would remember to be kinder to myself and “put the footstep of courage into the stirrup of patience,” as Shackleton would say. 

Lou's teammates: George, Maggie and Dale (UKAHT/Lou Hoskin)

What have you missed the most from back home?

Darkness! Nighttime only arrived at Port Lockroy near the end of the season, so when I saw the stars for the first time in three months, I burst into tears. I have a lot of really happy memories of looking at the night sky, so it was nice to have that anchor of familiarity again.