It's tricky to write this entry without sounding like I'm
just showing off; in fact, it's so hard that I've given up trying and am just
going to embrace it. It's also difficult to imagine that things could get
much better than a job which allows you to take the afternoon off to go skiing
because the sun happens to have come out that day. However, it would seem
they can. A job that actually requires you to go out on long boat trips
in the sun, to go to the snout of a huge calving glacier to measure how far it's retreated,
to watch a massive leopard seal hanging out on some floating ice and drive
boats really fast just to check they still work (ok, maybe that wasn't strictly
speaking 'required') is probably about as good as it's ever going to get. As
mentioned previously, there are several huts on South Georgia which can be used
by BAS staff or other people living here for holidays. The huts
all contain medical boxes, and I had been thinking that I should probably check
them over at some point so I know what needs replacing when the new kit (and new doctor)
arrives in November. This had only been a vague idea which resided mainly in the back of my mind (well behind plans to get myself a tame penguin), but when
the weather forecast starting saying that the coming week would be
glorious it suddenly seemed so much more important that we get on with it. The huts fall under the responsibility of the South Georgia Government
so Jo needed to inspect them too and check their structural integrity, and the
occasional inventory is useful so people going on holiday know what they do and
don't need to take. All together this was enough justification for the
trips and Ella was not entirely adverse to the idea of taking us out on some
longish boat trips on sunny days.
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| Heading over to Sorling hut with Nordenskjold Glacier in the background |
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| Snow and wind was not part of the plan |
So far we have visited five of the six huts we need to check
out, but I left my gloves at one of them so we probably need to go back there
at some point to hunt for them in the snow! It would seem I'm actually
getting more, rather than less, scatter-brained with age - I took
a very nice picture of the hut in question with my gloves hanging neatly
outside it just prior to leaving and still managed to forget them.
Considering I live in a fairly confined environment it's probably quite
an achievement to have permanently lost a pair of sunglasses, a watch (maybe
two, but it's too early to say), two pairs of gloves, a hat, innumerable socks
and a buff in the short time I've been here; not to mention temporarily
misplacing a number of coats, wellies, passport and, at one point, the keys to
the controlled drugs cupboard (so well hidden I forgot where I'd put
them). Exactly what will happen when I return to the real world and the
environment in which I live increases in size exponentially overnight is
anyone's guess. I suspect I will need to get lots of sets of keys cut.
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| Harpon Hut |
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| Harpon Bay with the Lyell Glacier in the background |
What's quite nice about going out on the boats these days is that, since a few of us are now signed off as a cox on both the RIB and the jet boat, we can swap around drivers and Ella can actually leave us in charge of the boats for a bit and go ashore herself to have a look around the huts. Usually it's only the team on the RIB that get cold (despite this most people still prefer the RIB as it's a little more 'interesting' to drive), but on the trip to Harpon, Carlita and the Neumayer Glacier we were out for about 6 hours and everyone was a little chilly by the time we arrived back on base. It took over an hour for complete sensation to return to my feet and, since bits warmed up at different rates, for a while I had the rather strange sensation of walking around with what felt like sections missing from the soles of my feet. Interesting, but probably not totally ideal.
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| Carlita Bay |
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| Hut inspection team (L-R: Rod, Jo, Joe, Ella, Nik) |
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| Neumayer Glacier |
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| Pipit (jet boat) doing some glacial inspection |
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| Rod, Jo and I checking out the Neumayer on the RIB (photo Ella Du Breuil) |
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| Ensuring the RIB still works properly |
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| Proper tourists - everyone likes Leopard seals! |
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| A very fat Leopard seal just hanging out on his iceberg |
Saving the best for last! The final trip this week was
to Greene Hut and only Ella, Rod and myself were free to go so we only needed
to take one RIB. Initially it didn't look good for making it through the
impressive amount of ice which had collected at the entrance to the fjord, but with a little
persistence (and an unwillingness to return to base too soon on such a nice
day) Ella eventually succeeded. After this achievement it then seemed like
a good idea to just go and check the glaciers were still at the end of the
fjord, so we took a (not exactly insubstantial) detour which allowed me to take
lots of pictures of the mountains reflected in the water. Unsurprisingly the glaciers were still present, but I guess it's always good to check these things!
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| The skyline behind King Edward Point |
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| Harker Glacier at the end of Morraine Fjord |
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| Making our way back to base |
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| Kelp - bad for propellors, but really quite beautiful |
Ok, that is a lot of photos, but it was very tricky to
decide which ones to use as they were all quite nice. Luckily the
internet surpassed itself today by actually allowing me to upload them all at
something slightly quicker than the snail pace it usually favours. The
weather here is definitely NOT always like this and I think maybe my next blog
should just contain pictures of grey miserableness to emphasize this!
