Where am I now?

Its certainly been an interesting few weeks, and I have now made it back to the UK. I have certainly learnt at least one lesson over the last few weeks, and that is that if you are going to get ill, then a ship in the Antarctic probably isn't the best place to choose as a starting point.

After almost a week at the base at Rothera, I finally managed to continue my journey home, taking a 5 hour flight back to the Falklands in the BAS DASH 7 aircraft.

The flight arrived into the Mount Pleasant airbase in the Falklands, where I spent a night in their medical centre awaiting an onward flight to the UK.
Then for the final leg of my journey I was passed into the hands of the RAF aeromedical unit, for the flight from the Falklands to Brize Norton. The aeromed unit were great and the service that they provided was excellent. So after 10 days, and a ridiculous amount of miles, I arrived back into the UK on Saturday morning.

The planning that has gone into getting me home has been increadibly impressive, and I owe thanks to an awful lot of people who made the journey as hassle free and fast as possible. Particular thanks have to go to the BAS docs, and the crew on the Shack for their support over last few weeks. Cheers guys!

Its been a very quiet few days for me, with no real photo opportunities (unless you really want to see my room from a whole range of different angles).

I arrived at the base at Rothera on Friday evening, and have since been waiting for an onward flight to the Falklands.

Rothera is the British Antarctic Surveys largest base. Currently there are about 80 people on base, which will drop to about 22 for the Antarctic winter. The base is located on Adelaide Island which is on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula at about 67 degrees south.

The scientists at Rothera carry out a wide range of activities including biology, atmospherics, and geology work. Rothera is also the main base for the BAS air unit, who operate the twin otters and DASH 7 aircraft from the hangar and runway at the base. The planes are only south for the Antarctic summer, and during this time they are used to support the various field parties. The air unit is also the reason I am currently here, as the DASH 7 provides the only alternative to the ships for getting back to the Falklands and the rest of civilisation.

As for my return to civilisation, as long as the weather is good, I will be flying to the Falklands on the DASH tomorrow morning. Then after a night at Mount Pleasant I will catch an onward flight to the UK, arriving into Brize Norton on Saturday morning.

So a final photo of the view across the bay at Rothera.

And just incase anyone did wonder... I have even provided a photo of the 4 walls that I have become so aquainted with over the last few days.

I promised more good pictures, and hopefully I will deliver. My thanks must go out to Jason for the amazing ariel shots, as he was sitting in the co-pilot seat and had a much better view.

My journey home continues well, with the latest leg taking me on an amazingly scenic, 7 hour flight from the base at Halley, across the Antarctic Peninsula, to the base at Rothera.

The transport for this latest leg, was one of the BAS Twin Otter planes.

Not the biggest of aircraft, but as there were only 3 people onboard, I had plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy the view. After take off we had a final glimpse of Halley from the air.

Then it was out across the coast, which gave me a whole new perspective on the pack ice. After a few weeks of crunching slowly through the ice, it was amazing to see it from the air. I was hoping that we may be able to catch a final glimpse of the ship, but she was back doing science work, and too far out of our way.

For the middle bit of the flight, the only view was the clouds. As we slowly headed westwards, leaving the ice shelf and pack ice behind us.

Finally the clouds cleared, and the final hour of the flight was absolutely increadible, as we flew across the Antarctic Peninsula. There really is no point even trying to put it into words. I just hope the pictures do it justice.



Then it was a nice smooth landing at the base at Rothera.

And a totally new view for me, as I am more used to seeing the base from the ship, which ties up at the other end of the runway.

So thats all for now. I have a few days here, then I will continue my journey on Friday as I head back to Stanley on a slightly bigger plane. In the mean time I will see if I can track down some penguins to photograph, as I am getting withdrawal symptoms.

I suppose I may as well get the cheesy picture of myself out of the way first of all.

Another busy few days here, with plenty more great opportunities for photos. The seal tagging continues well. We have now tagged 9 seals, which are busy doing seal type things and providing the scientists with lots of useful data, which is sent back to the UK via satellite each time the seal pops up.
The count should really have reach our target of 10 by now, but this little chap got away.

The ongoing tagging has also provided me with a few more opportunities to get out onto the ice, and add to my ever increasing library of penguin pictures.


And just incase anyone has wondered how we actually go about getting onto the ice? The answer is by using a contraption called a Wor-geordie, which is lifted up by the ships crane.

The seal tagging and science work is now finished for me, as I am on my way home. The ship made her way alongside the ice shelf at a lovely spot called creek 4 this morning. I then disembarked to start my journey home.

So this is my last picture of the Shackleton for the season.

It was then a very sunny snow cat journey to the base at Halley.

Halley is our furthest south base, and it is the first time I have ever had the chance to visit. Unlike all the other British Bases it is constantly on the move, as it sits on a moving ice shelf.
The base is currently in a time of big change, with the current base nearing the end of its life, and its replacement in the process of construction.

The above shot shows the exising Halley V, with the next showing the first completed pod of the new Halley VI

My journey will see me flying out of Halley tomorrow. Heading to the base at Rothera, and then from there onto the Falklands and finally the UK. I'll keep you posted...

There is only one word that can aptly describe the last few days for me, and that is amazing!
I thought I had seen and done quite a lot in my past seasons down here, but I realize now that I have barely touched the surface.
Since my last post we have made it down to the edge of the ice shelf in the Weddell Sea, taking the opportunity to see the condition of the mooring sites that we will be using in a few weeks when we visit the base at Halley.
Then after the recovery of a buoy from the sea bed, we have headed back into the pack ice for more science. The work is a mixture of ship based activities, such as water column profiling, and air sampling. And then there is the fun stuff (no offence to the water and air sampling folk)...

The above photo shows an intrepid group of scientists heading off across an ice floe to fix a tag onto a Weddell Seal. In total we need to find and tag 10 seals, which sounds easy enough, but there seem to be a distinct lack of Weddell Seals in the Weddell Sea.

For seal number 2, I managed to join the shore party, so had my first experience of working on an ice floe. So with the ship thrusting up against the floe, I was landed with a party of 5 scientists to carry out the task of tagging the seal.

Luckily the Weddell Seals are fairly docile, and easy to approach which made the whole process much easier. I got hands on with the work, and helped measure the seal (in between taking photos).

With the work completed, it was back to the ship. With a chance for a final few photos on the way. This time, it was an inquisitive Emperor Penguin, who popped up to see what the big red ship was doing.


And of course a final photo call to prove that I did manage to escape the bridge and help out with the work.

Another long delay, but hopefully the start of several Antarctic posts over the next few weeks.

Despite the fact that this is my 7th season down here, it is all new for me this year. For a start I am on a different ship, and secondly I am getting the chance to visit places that I haven't ventured to before, while also to carring out work that is entirely new to me.

For this season, and hopefully many more to come I have transferred across to the RRS Ernest Shackleton. She is the sister ship to the James Clark Ross on which I have spent all my previous time south. The biggest difference between the 2 ships is that the Shackleton tends to do more logistics work, with the JCR tending to do more science work.

I joined the Shackleton in the Falklands on the 19th January, then had a very pleasant week alongside in Stanley while gear was made ready, and the science team arrived for the current cruise. While we waiting, the RRS James Cook paid her first visit to the islands.

We sailed from the Falklands last Friday, heading out for a 7 week science and logistics cruise. The cruise will be a real mix, with the logistics taking me to BAS's furthest south base at Halley, which is located on the ice shelf, deep in the Weddell Sea. We have also already made a flying visit to Signy, and will return later in the trip to close down the base for the winter and pick up all the base staff.

As for the science, it will be a real mixture. It has started well with lots of fun for me crunching through pack ice to find locations to deploy scientific instruments. We have managed 4 so far, but have lots more to deploy in various locations. We will also be heading out onto ice flows to tag Weddell seals and to collect ice cores. All in all it should be a really interesting and varied few weeks.

In the mean time I will leave you with a selection of pictures taken over the last few days as we have headed through the pack ice, to our present position just of the ice shelf to the east of the base at Halley.