Big birds and tiny seals

Quite a few photos with this one!  By some massive stroke of luck, the first thing the JCR did after I joined it was go back to Bird Island to finish off the base relief there.  This was all meant to have been completed before I boarded, but relief at BI is a tricky affair as it all has to be done by cargo tender (absolutely no possibility for the ship to come alongside) and is very weather dependent.  It had been abandoned when the swell and wave combination meant the tender was rising and falling  several metres next to the ship - not the best conditions for operating cranes and shifting heavy loads around.  As far as I was concerned this was excellent news as it meant I would get an unexpected trip back to the island.  The last time I went ashore I spent the whole time sorting through medical kit and didn’t make it up to see the albatrosses - I assumed I’d see plenty on South Georgia.  This was just one of many occasions when I wish I’d done a little more research before heading south.  Almost as soon as I returned to the ship I was informed there were no Wanderer nests on South Georgia (or certainly not in the bits we could go to), and that I may have just missed my only chance to see them.  A little unfortunate! 

I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice, and this time Julie (new KEP doc) had already done the medical bits so there was plenty of time between tender loads to quickly run up the hill with Steph (albatross scientist) to see them.  Even though I’ve seen plenty of them wheeling round the ship, and even a couple of stuffed ones in the museum at Grytviken, I still hadn’t fully appreciated just how huge they are when they’re right in front of you, wandering around and spreading their wings.  I could probably have spent hours, if not days watching them.  However, the twenty or so minutes I got was absolutely incredible, particularly as it just wasn’t an opportunity I was expecting to get.

Just to give a sense of scale

A rather late moulter with awesome monk-style hairdo

After that it was back to the beach for more loading of fuel drums.  Since there was a brand new, less than a day old fur seal pup next to the jetty, I mostly just took pictures of him and let other people do all the work.  It really wasn’t the worst first day I could have had back on the JCR!

Forget kittens, this is definitely what I want as a pet!

Attitude pretty much from birth - seal pup telling a skua exactly what it thinks of him

I took A LOT of pictures of this guy for obvious reasons

BAS outings - as always a very orange affair!

The BI summer team

Definitely not the best week ever.....

As the time approached to leave (why does time always pass so quickly when you want it to slow down?) my manic phase continued.  Two of the new museum staff had been over to Harpon and came back with tales of an amazing ice tunnel they had discovered in the moraine.  We decided we had to see it with our own eyes and made plans for a super fast trip over.  The reason for the speed was that I was meant to be covering comms for the base and therefore shouldn’t really be leaving it.  Erny had very kindly agreed to cover for me in the morning, but I didn’t really want him to be stuck inside all day while I was off gallivanting.  As soon as the bread was out of the oven (comms person is also the bread maker) we headed off on a borrowed quad bike round to Grytviken (yes, yes, the height of laziness I know!) before striking off towards Echo Pass (without the quad).  We’ve actually got quite fit over the last few months, but were still fairly surprised to find ourselves down near the hut less than two hours after leaving base.  

The view of Grytviken from base with Mt. Hodges towering over it

A little bit of searching was required to find the tunnel, but it was definitely worth the trek over.  It was far, far bigger than the one we found at Glacier Col earlier in the year, but with the same incredible scalloped pattern and pieces of rock embedded in the ice making it look like something from outer space.  

Heading in to the darkness

Ok, so maybe the fish-eye lens makes it look bigger than it actually was, but it was still very impressive

Trapped in the ice

After spending a while exploring the tunnel we took Micky down to see the Lyell glacier as he hadn’t been out this way before.  It was then on to the hut for tea, bacon sandwiches and a lovely warm Tilley lamp.  The wind picked up impressively while we were eating, but it was in the right direction so we were basically blown home.

Lyell Glacier with elephant seal pups hanging out on the beach

Glacial ice stopping play for a male elephant seal

Bacon sandwiches = happiness

I continued to make crazy plans for the remainder of the week, few of which worked out well!  I had Micky get up at 4.30am on one day as I wanted to run over to see the first seal pup of the season and still be back in time for him to start work at 7am.  It was windy and horrible so we abandoned the idea, but luckily made it over in the evening when the weather was a little better.  Despite falling over in a bog and getting very wet and quite cold, I was still glad we went as the pup was completely adorable (no photos for now, but some will follow).  I also persuaded both Ella and Micky to get up at 4.30am on another day as I wanted to go up Mt. Duce one final time.  This time it was snowing and windy and all plans had to be abandoned.  Unfortunately I think the mania got worse the more sleep deprived I became, so I did a fair bit of running, wandering along towards Sooty Bluff and generally tried to avoid thinking about leaving as the tears tried very hard to escape every time I did.  One plan that did work out was an evening excursion up to Hope Point with sleeping bags, bivvi bags and a little bit of hot rum.  Micky and Ella gave me a beautiful frame they’d made as a leaving present with inlaid reindeer antler and penguins and it was all a bit emotional.  There is so much I will miss about life on South Georgia!

Probably the best leaving present I will ever receive!

I was very lucky to have a much longer handover period this year with the new doctor than we managed last year, as the JCR was alongside for three days doing base relief.  I did have to spend a few hours in the foodstore generally being bossy and contorting myself into bizarre positions to try to fit all the new food in, but we still got plenty of time to catch up.  I suspect I didn't tell her many of the important things she'll need to know about the job here, but it was excellent to have a chat about life on the ship, the base and be able to enthuse about the wonders of South Georgia.  I also had to spend a fair amount of time packing (maybe one day I will learn to be more organised), yet still left Ella and Micky with a vast amount of stuff to put back and generally deal with as I just ran out of time.

Eventually the time to depart arrived and I could deny it no longer.  Unfortunately, the problem with leaving on the JCR is that it takes about an hour for the gangway to be brought up.  You say your goodbyes ashore and it's horrible, but then you have to spend an awfully long time looking down at the people you really didn't want to say goodbye to while the gangway gets put away, more slowly than you ever thought possible!  You also have to try incredibly hard not to cry as you've just joined a ship full of people you don't know and really don't want them to think you're an emotional wreck!  Anyway, we eventually pulled away and the ship received the traditional send-off from the remaining base staff.  

Mexican wave send off from KEP

Possibly my last ever view of KEP

We then sat around in East Cumberland Bay (about half a mile from base) for the entire day doing science work.  I spent the morning inside as I didn't want to be reminded of the fact we were still at KEP and I wasn't ashore, but then the sun coming in through the surgery window got the better of me and I headed up to the Monkey Island with a book.

Being back on the ship really isn't so bad!

Back to hanging out on the Monkey Island in the sun

Whilst I am going to miss South Georgia enormously, I will miss the people far more.  Luckily I will be able to see them again in the not too distant future when I finally return home and it will all be ok.  I have already started to remember how much I enjoyed living on the red floating palace last year and I'm sure the next few months will be fairly exciting as we potter round in the ice.  Obviously the reason for the sudden flurry of blog posts is that I have a little more time on my hands these days!

Probably the best week ever....

If anyone told me when I decided to come to South Georgia that my parents would be down to visit me there is absolutely no way I would ever have believed them.  However, this week that is exactly what happened and it was absolutely awesome!  I think it's fair to say the decision to visit was quite out of character, as they have never been on a cruise ship before and haven't travelled this far from the UK for a number of years.  However, I guess they had seen enough of my pictures of the place and listened to me wittering on about how wonderful it is to persuade them they should see it for themselves.  I was more than a little apprehensive about the whole thing as the seas around here can be very rough, the weather can be awful for days on end and there was absolutely no guarantee they would even be able to land at KEP.  As it was, on the day they were due to arrive all the morning trips ashore to Fortuna Bay had to be cancelled because of high winds, so it wasn't looking good.  I was trying to keep myself occupied and distracted by helping Ella with non-stick stuff on one of the jet boats (yes again, but not the same one), but I must have asked her about twenty times whether she thought they'd be able to get boats ashore or whether she thought the wind was getting stronger or dropping.  In the end there was no problem at all and my worrying had been for nothing as they had clearly settled in to life at sea extremely well and were enjoying seeing all the wildlife immensely.  It was wonderful being able to show them around base and introduce them to the people I've been living with for all these months.  It's usually the case when you go on big trips that when you get home you can never quite explain to family and friends what it was really like.  I am incredibly grateful that they were able to see it for themselves as I'm sure I'll end up talking about South Georgia far too much when I eventually return to the UK, and at least now they'll have a much better idea of what I'm talking about.  Saying goodbye was very hard as I won't see them again for nearly 6 months, but having them come and visit really was the highlight of the whole season.

My parents in the KEP bar!

After their visit it really was time for me to face up to the fact it was nearly time to leave and that I only had about a week left until the ship arrived to pick me up.  You might think that this would spur me into action to start packing and sorting out things for handover etc etc.  Unfortunately this was not the case.  All this realisation did was send me into a slightly manic phase where I started panicking about the fact I wouldn't be waking up in South Georgia for much longer and should therefore make the most of it.  Twice daily runs were instigated and a final overnight trip to Penguin River was decided upon with only a few hours notice.  Since Jo was no longer with us the sun did not come out this time as we pitched the tents, but it didn't rain and Micky, Ella and I had a lovely evening drinking wine, chatting, listening to music and eating amazing chocolate brownies.  I am going to miss nights away on South Georgia so, so much!

Looking slightly manic and very pleased with myself in our beautifully erected tent

The morning dawned clear and bright so we were awake very early.  When I heard gravel crunching outside the tent I just assumed Micky was out for a morning stroll, but when I opened the tent I realised it was in fact a large male elephant seal heading our way.  I initially assumed he was just passing by, but when the noise go closer and I looked again it became very apparent he had decided our tent was another seal and he was coming to investigate.  Neither the tent nor Ella and I would do well in a fight with a male elephant seal so I dived out of the tent at high speed and proceeded to give him a piece of my mind while waving a big stick about.  Luckily he seemed to get the message, but stayed watching us from nearby for a long time until we started to take the tents down and the whole scene just got a bit much for him.

Having stern words with the seal

I like to think he looks suitably chastised and repentant

We had to be back at base by 8am so there was just time for a quick cup of tea before packing up and heading home.

An audience for breakfast

The all important first cup of tea of the day

It's going to be really quite tricky to beat this as a view to wake up to!

Micky and I - I'm having a bad hair day as usual

The elephant seal pups are growing up incredibly quickly and this guy has already moulted, got himself a lovely shiny new coat and some serious attitude.