Forests and frozen ships

It has been A LONG time since I have seen trees. Ok, that isn't entirely true as there are a couple of isolated trees in the Falklands, but lots of trees in a forest, with little muddy paths running between them, leaves on the ground and birds singing?  That really has been a long time!  Another call in to Punta to swap the technical team on board meant I could head back to the hotel, have a bath, skype people, drink coffee in little cafes while reading a book, sit in a sunny square and watch the world go by and attempt (quite unsuccessfully) to do some shopping.  Almost a normal life again.  However, the most memorable thing from this port call was the half day I spent walking in the Magellan Forest Reserve just outside town with some of the scientists and the Chief Engineer.  It's easy to take things like trees for granted when you live in the UK and are constantly surrounded by them, but when you've been without them for over a year, it's quite an attack on the senses when you rediscover them. There weren't actually any blue bells here, but it was a beech forest and it wasn't hard to imagine the forest floor blanketed in blue.  Unsurprisingly a wave of homesickness swept over me as we wandered along the forest trails, and I had to remind myself that it's really not long now!

Who would have thought trees could be quite so exciting!

It was time to head off again all too soon; destination: the Weddell Sea.  April is fairly late to be heading this far south and, as became apparent when we arrived, there is a good reason for this.  Incredibly the ice on the ship pictured below formed overnight - something to do with a southerly wind I believe, so we all woke to discover thick white ice encasing everything.  The main deck was completely covered by several inches of the stuff making movement outside an interesting experience, the crane was completely frozen in place, icicles hung from everything, and when the sun came out the result was spectacular. 

So, it was quite chilly in the Weddell Sea in April

Crane out of action for a while

Icy coating over the fo'csle deck

Working out on deck and handling wet metal when the air temperature is -20 and there is a 30 knot wind blowing is an incredibly unpleasant experience (I would imagine).  Whilst I had the luxury of being able to pop inside every now and again to warm up, several of the crew were outside braving the elements for extended periods while we recovered and deployed mooring equipment.  It was very apparent they're rather better adapted to the cold than I am and, having previously decided that if I ever came back to sea it would be as an Able Seaman, I started to suspect I'm probably not cut out for it after all.  Frozen beards and mustaches made for excellent 'Antarctic hero' photos so, in between warming gloves and making tea, I pottered around taking pictures until my camera decided enough was enough and froze up.

Frankie looking rather frosty

Night time mooring deployment

In these conditions there was little wildlife around, though a whale did pop up through a hole we made in the ice which was a slight surprise to those nearby.  There were also literally hundreds of Snow Petrels circling around us and landing on the ice to catch krill.  Snow Petrels are tiny, delicate birds and it's incredible that they've somehow adapted to live in such a harsh environment.  The large temperature difference between air and water also meant there was a lot of sea smoke floating around meaning (if you could ignore the bitter cold for a few minutes) it was an unbelievably beautiful place to be.

Whale (Minky I think) just off the aft end of the ship

Snow petrel - quite how does this tiny bird survives down here is a bit of a mystery

Sea smoke.  Lots and lots of sea smoke.

New ice was forming around us all the time and I have to admit to feeling slightly relieved when the work was done and we could head north again and out of the ice.  Under normal circumstances I would far rather be travelling through ice than open water as it makes for a lovely calm passage, but I started to develop a slightly irrational fear of getting stuck and having to spent another winter down here!

Sunrise in the Weddell Sea

Newly formed ice making the sea look very much like a large snowy field

Night time ice breaking on a ghostly frozen ship

Soon after leaving the ice we hit a patch of rather unpleasant weather and were forced to heave to (I think this just means sitting head to wind) and watch 10-15m waves pass under the ship and occasionally crash impressively over the fo'c'sle.  Since my bed runs along the length of the ship I rather enjoy it when we're pitching as it means I feel like I'm diving over the waves as I drift off to sleep.  Unfortunately we generally spend far more time rolling than we do pitching which involves getting thrown from one side of the bed to the other and makes sleeping far more tricky!

Some very large waves - hove to at this point waiting for it all to settle down

Rocking and rolling - good for photos, bad for sleeping

Short, but sweet land-based adventures

Once the Pine Island science was over it was time to head north and hopefully return to the modern world with the possibility of phonecalls and emails again.  Unusually the exchange of scientists this time was due to take place at Rothera rather than Punta Arenas or Stanley.  This certainly saved the scientists a long and not very exciting boat trip, but for crew who have been on twelve hour shifts every day for 5 weeks (not me, the people who do actually work on here!) the half day allowed on our itinerary for changeover seemed somewhat inadequate.  Luckily a decision was made to spend a night alongside to allow people to catch up on sleep, stretch legs or just get some space away from the ship for a few hours.  Whilst I most certainly haven't been working hard over the last few weeks, it's always nice to set foot on solid ground every now and again.

Another lovely sunrise on the way to Rothera

A particularly impressive iceberg

The extra time alongside meant I could have a lovely chat with the new Rothera doctor over a cup of tea and go for a couple of wanders around the point.  The weather wasn't great so no spectacular sunsets this time, but the grumpy looking moulting Adelie Penguins more than made up for getting snowed on.  Oddly the fur seals at Rothera seem far less aggressive than those residing on South Georgia.  There was hardly any growling as we wandered through them and one almost looked like he wanted me to stroke him when he came bounding up looking somewhat like a large Labrador.  I managed to resist the temptation to give it a go.

JCR tied up at Rothera again with much more ice about than when we were last here

Moulting Adelie Penguin - cross and adorable

Sometimes even adult fur seals look quite cute

Elephants on land seals invariably look disgusting, especially when they're moulting

After a night alongside and another night spent out in the bay attempting to fix a crane that quite clearly had no intention of allowing itself to be fixed, it was off to Vernadsky.  Sadly no run ashore for everyone this time as we were just dropping a box off before heading onwards and upwards to Palmer Station.

Leaving Rothera for the final time

This was the first time I've visited an American Antarctic station and excitingly there was time for runs ashore for anyone that wanted them.  The station tour was fairly enlightening and, rather unsurprisingly, it became rapidly apparent that slightly more money is available to American research bases than to their British counterparts.  The gym was better equipped than any gym I've ever been to, the lounge had massive leather sofas, the bar had a pool table and outside balcony and the internet......!  Having now spent 18 months using internet that is so slow you often get through a couple of cups of tea waiting for one page to load, I was unable to offer much sympathy when the chap giving us a tour started complaining that, although it was generally possible to watch You Tube clips or video Skype people at any time of the day, if you wanted to download movies it was best to wait til late at night.  Download movies?  You what? 

Palmer Station

George and Dick looking terribly happy to be on cargo tender duty

Finally it was time to start the science so we left the Americans and headed out to sea to start CTDs.  Lots and lots of CTDs! 

Adventures in the deep South

Ever since we returned from Pine Island Glacier and left the satellite black hole, it seems like the ship's internet has been struggling to remember how to work properly and has creaked along even more slowly than usual.  Unfortunately my patience with poor comms has been at an all time low recently (probably for the best I'm coming home soon) which is why it's taken me this long to have a go at updating the blog.  The memories are already starting to fade though so I thought it best to get writing before they disappear completely.  Five weeks without phones or internet is a long time when you've been away for 17 months.  My need to communicate with the outside world has been increasing with time away and particularly now, as the time to return gets tantalizingly close, I find myself even more keen to hear stories from home.  However, there were definitely some benefits to life with fewer outside distractions, and I read more in that five weeks than I probably have in the preceding 17 months!

For obvious reasons this was taken through the window so it's a bit blurry

It's always good to be reminded just how tiny and insignificant we are, and watching massive waves thunder across the fo'c'sle deck and clatter on the bridge windows is a wonderfully exhilarating experience.  Admittedly it loses it's charm after a couple of nights of no sleep, when red wine has just covered all the papers on your desk, and showering has become something you have to consciously psyche yourself up to do.  However, we soon entered the ice and everything flattened out for the next few weeks.  The trip down to the glacier saw us passing icebergs that were bigger than some inhabited islands and, no matter how many icebergs I see, I doubt I will ever stop being impressed by them or the fact I get to sail between them!

A little calmer

Early morning light in the ice

A VERY big iceberg - around 7 by 15 miles or so

Pine Island Glacier itself

Wildlife sightings were fairly infrequent though and, certainly while we were working near Pine Island Glacier, the days were mostly spent staring at a large wall of ice and little else.  However, I did see a few orcas on the way down, close enough to convince myself they really were orcas, but not close enough to get any good photos sadly.  What was far more exciting were the Emperor Penguins we saw on the ice around Thwaites Glacier as they really were the last thing left on my wish list.  Luckily they didn't disappoint as they waddled along in small groups and pushed themselves along the ice on their bellies.  As we started heading north we were joined by large pods of Minky Whales playing in the waves and generally showing off around the bow of the ship.  Even the watch-keepers were impressed by their displays which is very unusual as they generally take a cool 'seen it all before' approach to the wildlife and refuse to get excited.

Emperor Penguins hanging out on the ice edge

Scooting along

Frolicking Minky whales (photo courtesy of Richard Turner as I never get good ones of whales)

More playing and another picture courtesy of Richard Turner

Sea smoke is not something I've come across before, but it only occurs when there is a difference in sea and air temp of around 9 degrees which is probably why.  It's a terribly beautiful and enchanting sight as it drifts slowly upwards from the surface of the sea and I'm not sure the photo below really does it justice.

As usual I won't go into much detail about the science work being carried out on this cruise, but it included the use of an autosub (as in unmanned submarine) to get information from under the glacier, equipment to measure water turbulence on a tiny scale, underwater gliders (though they mostly seemed to be broken) and of course many, many CTDs to measure salinity and temperature of water at different depths in different locations.  Far more important than all of that was the fact there were a couple of scientists on board who wanted to tag seals.  I had high hopes of being allowed out on the sea ice to help tag Weddell Seals (i.e. stroke the seals), or at the very least set foot on the ice if only for a few minutes just to say I had.  For various reasons that didn't happen, but I did get to spend a lot of time out on the fo'c'sle watching people on the sea ice catching and tagging seals.  It meant I got to take lots of photos until my fingers became too cold to work the camera or my camera threw a strop because of the cold and stopped working.  No pictures of seal tagging I'm afraid just in case anyone gets upset by pictures of seals in nets.  I was mostly concerned the tagged seals would get bullied for swimming around with a stupid looking hats on.

Returning to the ship after a successful seal tagging mission

This photo entirely fails to convey how cold it was stood out on the Fo'c'sle waiting for people to fall through the sea ice!

The autosub returning to the ship a little battered and bruised after a 400km trip under the glacier

It must be said that the cruise to Pine Island Glacier probably wasn't my favourite ship-based adventure, but there were undoubtedly some incredible things to see which almost made up for the many days spent looking at the glacier and little else!  It's also unlikely I will ever have another opportunity to travel to 75 degrees south and that was pretty exciting.

Crashing through fairly new ice

Strange evening cloud formations

Sunrise over the icebergs

Another very exciting thing about being this far south at this time of year was the fact the sea started to freeze around us.  Having spent a good few months on this ship now I have been lucky enough to go crashing through all sorts of different types of sea ice, but I have never watched the ice actually form around the ship.  It's utterly incredible to see how a sugary coating starts to come together and form thin plates of ice which gradually thicken into things that look like giant water lily leaves and then slide over each other as the ship ploughs through them making an even thicker layer.  Utterly beautiful, but probably an indication it was time to be heading north!

A sugary coating glinting in the sun as the sea starts to freeze

Thin plates of ice being pushed aside by the ship

Thick pancake ice covering the surface out to the horizon

Eating far to much in Punta Arenas

I had been looking forward to getting to Punta Arenas for a long time.  Admittedly this was mostly because I had mistakenly got it into my head that all of South America is warm and sunny and that I'd be able to wander round in shorts and a t-shirt eating ice cream.  As it turns out Punta Arenas is really quite far south (similar to the Falklands) and actually isn't all that warm, even in summer (should really have looked at a map BEFORE we got there).  Not to matter though as it is a lovely town and I had a wonderful few days exploring it while we were alongside.

View from a small hill overlooking the town

The only downside to being in Punta was it meant it was time for a crew change.  One of the few problems with being the doctor on the JCR is that you do longer trips than the crew, who are all on 4 month rotations.  This meant I got left behind when they all disappeared off to the airport, happy and excited about going home!  Luckily I spent four months with the oncoming crew when I was last on board so it was really good to see familiar faces, though still a little distressing and unnerving saying goodbye to the other team as they've been wonderful to sail with.

Punta is a beautiful place, especially when the sun comes out and most of my time there was spent just wandering around and enjoying being somewhere new, away from ship and base life for a while.  I did get a sudden and unexpected pang of homesickness when I was wandering along the road and the smell of freshly cut grass came wafting along, carried by the wind.  It felt a bit like being hit in the chest by a sledgehammer as I haven't experienced that particular smell for many, many months now and it brought back such strong memories of home that I actually had to make my way back to the ship to have a sit down!  Luckily the feeling passed so I could continue explorations of the town, which is clearly home to some very creative people.

Apparently this is known as yarn bombing - it makes me want to learn to knit!

Some really very good murals on derelict buildings next to the waterfront

Now, anyone who knows me will know I don't have a great track record when it comes to looking after important belongings, bank cards being a particular problem.  This hasn't been an issue for a long time as I've just not had to carry them, but I managed to surpass myself in Punta and lost my switch card on the first morning ashore.  Luckily in this wonderful age of technology (and because my parents make excellent PAs), a few phonecalls and emails later and I believe a new card will be waiting for me at Rothera when we arrive there in a month or so.  Antarctic logistics really are a wonderful thing!  It turned out I didn't need it anyway as shopping has become an even more stressful and unpleasant activity while I've been away (all that choice is a bit overwhelming), so I just didn't buy anything.  What I did do was book myself into a nice hotel for a night so I could have a bath!  This was an inspired move as I actually had not one, but two baths, breakfast in a wonderful conservatory with light streaming through the windows and grape vines growing inside it, and left feeling completely rejuvenated and ready for the next adventure.  The other very exciting thing about being in the hotel was that there was a proper internet link for a change which meant I could video skype my parents.  Being able to see people's expressions while you're talking to them is a wonderful thing and was definitely a highlight of the time spent alongside.  I'm already planning my next hotel stay when we're back in Punta in a couple of months; maybe a couple of nights next time!

A wonderfully relaxing night in a hotel and a beautiful place to have breakfast

Something which was recommended to me by people who had been to Punta previously was a visit to the public cemetery, which has apparently been described as one of the most beautiful in the world.  It is indeed a magical place, with vast numbers of tombs of various sizes crammed in tightly between neatly manicured trees, with plenty of colourful flowers growing all over the place.  A wonderfully relaxing place to just sit and read, and especially beautiful when the sun came out and lit up all the white grave stones and tombs.

Exploring the crematorium in the sun

Another rather bizarre thing that had been recommended to me was a visit to the toilets in the Sky Bar which is situated on the 11th floor of the highest building in the town.  I will admit I was sceptical about this particular recommendation, but as can be seen from the picture below this was no ordinary toilet.  It's probably important to point out the glass is mirrored on the outside so it's a one way view only!

A room with a view (photo M. Gloistein)

As well as a lot of wandering around, I also did an awful lot of eating while in town.  It seemed like a good idea to test out a number of the eating and drinking establishments available and I ate A LOT of very good food over the five days we were there.  The white hot chocolate and cake (thankfully shared between 3) I had at around 11pm the day before leaving was a step too far though and I decided at that point it was time to get the diet under control.  One pudding a week and no more cheese and crackers for the next month!

Ok, the diet starts tomorrow - this was basically liquid white chocolate in a mug with whipped cream (photo M. Gloistein)

A squid jigger (I think) in the harbour - I'm not in a great hurry to spend time on a boat like this

We're now off down to Pine Island Glacier so I will lose comms for a month as there is no satellite cover down there - no internet/email/phone/blog.  In some ways this is more than a little inconvenient, but I'm actually looking forward to it in others as I currently waste far too much time waiting for web pages to load painfully slowly.  Hopefully the next blog entry will contain some pictures of Emperor penguins and Killer whales as both should be present where we are going, though more likely it will just contain more pictures of ice and maybe some of the auto-submarine we now have on board.  The first part of our journey involved a trip through the Strait of Magellan - unfortunately cloudy for most of the day, but when the sun did occasionally pop out the scenery was absolutely breathtaking!

Heading through the Magellan straits

Looking back at the only blue sky we saw all day!