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