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!

Vodka, lingerie and baby penguins

Some fairly impressive sea ice encountered soon after departing from Rothera

As a good friend once told me, stereotypes become stereotypes for a reason.  Admittedly this gross generalisation doesn't always stand up to scrutiny, and will undoubtedly cause considerable offense to all sorts of different groups.  However, when you put sailors, Ukrainians who have just spent a year on remote Antarctic base and copious quantities of home-made vodka together, the outcome is pretty much as you would expect.  This was my second visit to Vernadsky and, just like the last time, we received an extremely warm welcome, some great food and shots of vodka (at around 11am).  The base is in a beautiful location and has a long history having opened in around 1947 when it was a British base called Faraday.  This explains why the bar area (interesting story there which I'm coming to) has a very English country pub feel to it.  Apparently carpenters were sent down one year with all the kit to build a jetty or a boat or something like that, but decided (I would assume after a couple of drinks) that what the place needed more than a that was a proper bar.  They therefore spent the season constructing a beautiful wooden bar from the wood meant for the other project and never quite got round to making what they were actually meant to.  I believe fairly soon after this they were told their services were no longer required as their employers back in the UK were (rather disappointingly, but not surprisingly) of the opinion that the jetty/boat was more vital to the base than the bar.  On the plus side, the bar is still standing, and I believe it may have been voted the best bar in Antarctica at some time or another.

A bemused Ukrainian and two very cheerful members of the crew

There are no women living on the Ukrainian base - apparently it was tried a few years ago, and to quote our guide 'it very bad, not done again.'  This probably explains how the tradition of collecting bras from women who visit the base came about and it's clearly been embraced by many visitors as they have a fairly extensive collection. Nowadays the base is visited relatively often in the summer months by cruise ships, and the awesome image of a rather mature and well-to-do female passenger whipping off her bra in the bar and adding it triumphantly to the pile did pop into my head at one point and made me smile.

A colourful and varied collection

After a rather unpleasant experience with vodka at the age of about 15/16 it really isn't something I particularly enjoy drinking these days.  I therefore had my one shot to be polite and made a swift exit to check out the Gentoo penguins.  Since these birds are living much further south than those we saw in the Falklands their breeding cycle is somewhat delayed.  This meant I actually got to see tiny little newborn chicks and some penguins still nursing their eggs.  They might smell a bit, but they are amazing to watch as they bury themselves in their parent's feathers to keep warm or shout petulantly for food!

Going for a little dip to catch some baby food

A slightly slow off the mark penguin

A little hungry I think

Very sleepy baby penguins and a doting mother or father

After some very enjoyable time ashore it was again time to head off to do some more science.  Some people required a little more encouragement than others to leave the base, but I think it would be reasonable to say that everyone had a really lovely day.  The science work we're doing at the moment basically involves collecting large amounts of mud from the sea bed with pieces of drainpipe.  Watching them deploy the equipment gives me something to do while I'm out on my verandah cycling, but generally I think I prefer the kind of science which requires interesting sea creatures to be caught, as opposed to the kind which results in large quantities of pungent mud being brought on board.  You can't have everything though.

Team orange about to launch the mud collecting device

Cleaning off the mud

As mentioned previously, it can be quite difficult to find ways to fill your time when at sea for long periods.  To help with this George (slightly stern Scottish Bosun) has been teaching me how to make bell ropes which has turned out to be a surprisingly relaxing and enjoyable way to pass the time.  He's also taught me how to make turk's heads and splice a 3 part rope which are possibly slightly more useful skills to have seeing as how I don't actually own a bell!

George looking decidedly unimpressed about the fact I'm taking yet more photos of him

My first attempt at a bell rope.  If anyone reading this has a bell that needs a new rope do let me know

Getting ashore in the 'real' Antarctic

Next stop Rothera!  The unfortunate combination of cargo issues in the Falklands, decidedly interesting weather on the way out of Stanley, and plenty of thick ice on the journey south, meant we arrived a fair bit later than expected.  The ship was carrying nearly all the base's supply of food and drink for the coming year, so it's probably fair to say our arrival just after New Year's Eve was less than ideal as their stocks of essential celebratory items had reached a critical level! 

The delay also meant the deck team were under a lot of pressure to get base cargo and science equipment for the next cruise organised as quickly as possible and all help was gratefully received.  On the whole shifting cargo is far more enjoyable than you might expect, though I suspect this is probably because it's always something I'm choosing to do rather than something I'm being made to do.  I spent a couple of days in the cargo holds putting strops on boxes and attaching them to a crane and helping to unload nearly 500 fuel barrels.  If I'm honest, I was rather hoping that if I spent enough time loading cargo onto the crane then I would eventually be allowed to have a go at actually driving it.  Apparently it doesn't work like that (health and safety regulations or some such nonsense), so crane driving remains one of many things on my 'to do' list for now.  Shifting 500 barrels is no mean feat, especially when someone thought it would be a good idea to rest the top layer on thin planks of wood rather than large boards.  All of us fell through a gap at some point during the process, and the bruises sustained after I scraped my shin down one of the lower barrels were a particularly attractive and long-lasting reminder of the experience!  My pride also took a bit of a battering when I realised that no matter how many times I was told there is a knack to tipping the barrels, it just wasn't a knack I seemed to have.  200 litre barrels are unsurprisingly quite heavy, and I suppose it was probably better for my back that Georgina (3rd mate) and I had to go for a two person approach, but good for back = bad for pride.

Barrel rolling in rather confined spaces

The ship's Chief Officer and Bosun looking surprisingly cheerful during barrel unloading

Barrels flying around over your head attached to a crane by chains and small hooks is a slightly unnerving experience

Colin looking very serious while driving the crane on a glorious sunny day

Despite the time pressures, base staff were keen to get as many of the ship's crew as possible out and about to see what Rothera has to offer.  The main attraction for most is the crevasse which is situated close to the base and can be explored with the help of a couple of guides, a rope and some crampons.  Having spent a bit of time in a previous life trying hard to avoid falling into crevasses, the idea of entering one for fun did seem a little strange.  However, everyone who had visited it on previous trips to Rothera were effusive in their praise for it.  The guides kindly arranged skidoo transport for the deck team as the 12 hr days they were working at the time meant they almost certainly wouldn't have enjoyed the walk up a rather large hill through slushy snow to get to the entrance!  I tagged along and was reminded that skidoo driving is something else I really do need to try one day - an ever expanding list.  Before this, the only time I'd been in a crevasse was when I was being taught how to get out of them were I to be unlucky enough to fall in one while crossing a glacier in the Alps.  That crevasse was cold, dark and extremely oppressive, and worlds away from the beautiful ice cave we found ourselves in on this occasion.  The photos don't really do it justice as my camera understandably decided fluorescent orange suits, blue ice and low light levels was just not a combination it could cope with, but hopefully they give some impression of what it was like.

Getting lowered down through the fairly small and slippery opening

Everyone looking very orange and very happy after the trip

Skidoos back to the ship

Other than cargo and crevasses I mostly spent my time walking round the coast late at night to check out the wildlife and enjoy the almost sunsets.  It was also lovely to catch up with Rose, the Rothera doctor, and swap some winter stories, but all to soon it was time to head off out to sea again to get on with some science.

Weddell seal pup picking his nose with his flipper - basically the best photo I've ever taken!

About as close at is gets to sunset at the moment

Crabeater seal yawning in the evening sun

Memorial above the base to those who have lost their lives down here

The RRS James Clark Ross - home for 5 months