Another damp holiday on South Georgia

The following account may involve even more artistic licence than normal as I will be attempting to describe a holiday that happened over a month ago meaning the details have already become a little fuzzy in my mind.  The plan had been to head over to St Andrews Bay to admire the penguins, but the weather was against us and we decided a short trip to the Greene Peninsula would be a better plan.  This is the height of laziness when it comes to holidaying on South Georgia as the peninsula is just a short boat ride from base and the hut is practically on the beach, so kit has to be carried all of 200m.  Inclement weather appears to be something Ella and I will just have to accept if we want to go on holiday here and we were resigned to a rather damp few days as we set off into thick fog and an extremely chilly sleety drizzle in one of the RIBs surrounded by our dry bags.  We were joined on this trip by Rod, the Base Commander, who hasn't actually had a holiday since he arrived in early November.  It's probably an indication of how much he wanted to have a break that he decided to brave a few days with Ella and I and the incessant chatter that it would undoubtedly involve.  I suspect he may have been wearing ear plugs for the entire trip and we tried not to take it too personally when he decided to sleep in a tent outside the hut rather than on the available floor.  It's possible he regretted this decision slightly the following morning when he woke up to find he was sleeping in a lake..... 

Rod looking extremely happy after spending far too long cooped up inside

Ella making dinner.  I mostly supervised all meal preparation from the top bunk

The first day was really too miserable for us to venture out anywhere which meant that three people who don't much like being confined indoors had to spend an entire day in a small hut, with little more than Bananagrams and Pass the Pigs to amuse ourselves.  By the time of the evening radio call we were possibly displaying early stages of cabin fever and the opinion of those back at base was that we were either intoxicated or suffering from a very unusual presentation of carbon monoxide poisoning.  Since we were suffering from neither of these things it was unanimously decided that we should probably leave the hut the following day whatever the state of the weather.

Luckily the next day was a little better from a precipitation point of view, but the vast amount of water that had fallen from the sky the day before made for some rather interesting river crossings.  We set off with a vague plan of circumnavigating the peninsula, but got distracted when we reached the far end of the beach and found a fast flowing river running steeply through a rocky channel from one of the glaciers above.  By the time we had thoroughly explored the length of it, and Rod had spend many a happy hour throwing large rocks into it and listening to them crashing down, it was time to return.  Since living here I have developed quite impressive magpie tendencies when it comes to driftwood and it was with very full arms that I eventually climbed back up the hill to the hut.

Rod and Ella standing on a large block of ice for no particular reason

Throwing rocks.....

The next day dawned a little clearer so we headed up a couple of nearby snowy peaks.  We were rewarded with brief but impressive views of the Nordenskjold Glacier before the cloud closed in, the wind picked up and we had to do battle with salopettes, jackets, gloves and hats before heading back down to find somewhere vaguely sheltered to enjoy a chilly lunch of cheese, marmite and oatcakes.  

The Nordenskjold Glacier as seen from somewhere near the imaginatively named 'Peak 591'

A remarkably cheerful Ella

The day of departure unsurprisingly dawned clear and bright and, as we headed back to base on the RIB, the hut was busy being bathed in glorious morning sunshine.  Despite the dubious weather it was still an excellent few days away and I returned to base feeling surprisingly refreshed, but conscious that I really do need to improve my vocabulary if I ever hope to win a game of Bananagrams.

Sunshine across the bay looking back over to base

The delightful Greene Hut