Brass Monkeys

The final week !

2008-03-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

We have just had conformation of the arrival of the 'James Clarke Ross'
The ship will be arriving here at Rothera on the 3rd of April and will be sailing on the 6th. This is when we will all wave to the new winterer's and wish them a great winter. I should be back in the Uk on the 14th of April and that will be the end of my 18 month adventure down here in the Antarctic.
The time spent here will always be very special to me, with excellent experiences and memories which i will always be able to share with the great friends that i was privileged to spend my winter with.

Dash 7 leaves signifying the end of the fiald season

2008-03-28T10:27:00.001-07:00

An unexpected visitor to the base a few weeks ago was this small Yacht the 'Seal' with a crew of 7 they had sailed quite a long way in a small vessel and no ice breaking capabilities. Very brave. The crew came onto land for a quick look around but did not stay for the night as rough seas meant they had to find some sheltered waters for the evening.

So the Dash 7 finally left on around the 8th of March and took the management staff home for the British spring. Since they left we have had a snow covered runway!

On the afternoon that the Dash 7 left we had a surprise visit from the LM Gould an American science cruise vessel. It was great to sea this ship again and the crew all came aboard for a base tour and have a look around our newly completed main building, 'New Bransfield House'

As we head into winter the weather too heads into winter mode. However we still have a few good days each week to head up into the hills and lay down some fresh ski tracks.

Ohh the memories, only 12 months ago it was me who was heading out on one of those winter trips. Strange to think how the time has flown by and now it is this years wintering crew who head out for a week in a Pyramid tent soaking up the views from the other side of the Island.

There are still plenty of Fur seals around the base as playful as ever. For some reason we haven't had the amount of Elephant seals around base as we did last year however the presence of so many whales has made up for it.

2008-02-23T10:23:00.000-08:00

Another Steve King fly by. He is new to BAS this year but has flown Twin Otters in the Arctic and Antarctic for over 20 years. I was lucky enough to get my final flight with Steve which was great fun!

Fossil Bluff closes down for the Winter

2008-02-23T08:40:00.000-08:00

Well after 15 months here i finally got to go to Fossil Bluff! This is a summer base and is used as a refueling depot through the summer months. BAS used to winter here and the last time it was wintered in was in the early 60's. It is a fabulous hut named Bluebell Cottage and has lots of history inside.

I was there to start the winterisation and remove some of the older skidoos for the winter.
I eventually got 3 nights there and got an excellent final flight back with one of our new pilots who has got over 20 years experience flying Twin Otters down here in the Antarctic.
That is pyramid in the background to the right hand side.

I was there with Tim the new wintering electrician. Here he is winterising the gas fired 'rocket bog' Unfortunately the ponds water level rose around 3 feet this summer hence the toilet will have to be relocated next season if it can be chipped out from the solid ice which will have formed around it at through the winter.

One evening we climbed to the top of Pyramid one of the local peaks behind the cottage. It took us about an hour and a half to reach the top just in time for our evening sched which we did over the iridium sat phone.

Fossil Bluff is aptly named as there are fossils all around the local area. This is a fossil of a cuttle fish and there are lots more os shells, snail things and ferns. It makes you wonder what the Antarctic was like millions of years ago and what animals lived there.

The Cottage is well equipped with a Rayburn and electric powered by a generator. We even had some fresh eggs so a fry up for breakfast was a must.

I even had the chance to have a go at baking bread. This was the first attempt which i was quite happy with.

I also baked an Apple pie which turned out a little overdone but tasted just right. If you read this mum, don't get any ideas!!

Borek planes return. But not quite in one piece

2008-02-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

Recognize this??? Well back in October this Bassler/DC-3 came through Rothera on the way to the South Pole for the American science pro gramme. Unfortunately it crashed in the field during the summer season and had to be rebuilt out on the ice.

The plane belongs to Ken Borek air and is the flagship plane for the company.

It really is amazing to see what work can be done in the field and the air mechanics have done a fabulous job to get this plane back in the air. I saw some pictures of the plane after the crash and the entire under carriage had ripped off and all of the propellers were bent.

A entire tail section has been replaced with one from a scrapped plane.

Its a wonder that the plane can fly with so much damage. The whole underside has dents and plates covering holes. Both engines have been replaced and the undercarriage. I'm sure it flys a bit to one side with the wing tip missing on one side!!!

Now thats what you call using your initiative !!!

Custom paint job!!

Well all they have to do now is fly that small leg of the journey up to Canada !!!

Sky Blu

2008-02-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

A few weeks the Lawrence M Gould came to Rothera. The ship come in every year for a party and fortunately this year i got back from Sky Blu just in time. This ship coming in is one of the highlights of the season as the band usually gets together and we have a good Saturday night of drinking and dancing! The ships crew are mainly scientists carrying out CTD's and work on Krill in Antarctic waters. Mostly everyone on the ship is American and they seem to know how to enjoy themselves. The ship is dry whilst at sea so the first beers went down rather quickly!!

Back to Sky Blu again !! This time for only a week....or was that two Andy Barker......
Anyway i had a great time yet again and there have been many improvements at the base this year. With the input of the new machine the runway can now be cleared with little effort, new weather havens for comfortable sleeping arrangements and the building of a new under ground garage for winter storage of machines and equipment the base is completely different to 12 months ago.
Whilst there i was involved in the uplifts of the remaining field parties from the other side of the Elsworth mountains. We were blessed with good weather and worked no stop for about 50 hrs to get all the guys out. You can see above the huge amount of carg that was up lifted.

You can never tire of watching the Dash 7 on the Blue ice.

Once the cargo was back at Sky Blu the Dash 7 could load it on and take it back to Rothera.

Our new CAT machine for clearing the runway and general base snow maintenance. We have lots of attachments for the machine including a snowblower, snow blade, runway brush, bucket and pallet forks for loading barrels onto the planes easily.

Introduction of two new weather havens has provided the base with a heated garage for machine maintenance and comfortable sleeping quarters.

My bed for the stay. The one on the right...next to the heater !!
The temperature is starting to drop quite considerably now at the base. Whilst i was there it was a steady -15 but did get down to -25.

The new under ground garage build this season for storage or machinery over the winter period in a safe place away from the 100 knot winds on the surface.

Twin Otter refueling during the field part uplifts. Is it night or is it morning....No one knows????

My red taxi coming into land.

I did get a couple more flights over the Elsworths which are out of this world but this one was taken on the way back to Rothera of massive chunks of ice breaking out from the King George sound.

Minke Whale

2008-01-11T16:07:00.002-08:00

last week i went out on the boat with Ali Massey our marine assistant and one of the summer flight followers, Owen to carry out a CTD. With camera charged up we hoped to catch a glimpse of a Whale or two.

This is what krill looks like. These are a Whales main source of food and this year we have an unusal about of Krill in the waters around Rothera.

This is the Krill swimming just next to our boat. From the air you can see massive shoals.

So as we were sat there a Minke Whale was spotted in the distance. It headed towards us for a closer look but we got a little more than we bargained for. After spotting some air bubbles coming straight for the boat 10 m away we got the cameras ready!! The Minke Whale surfaced about 5 m from our little inflatable boat. This huge animal got a good look at us with it's big round eyes and we too got a close up view of it. The Whale then proceeded to circle the boat and appeared to be very curios until it swam off into the distance. Minke Whales can be found down here quite frequently this season and are probably the most common Whale in the Antarctic.
I did manage to film the whole experience but as yet i can't download the file but will endeavor to get it onto this site as soon as i can!

2008-01-10T15:42:00.001-08:00

The Dash 7 leaving Sky Blu after yet another fuel drop

This year saw lots of new improvements to Sky Blu. The main improvement was the purchase of a new machine to keep the blue ice runway clear of snow. Myself and Alan were involved in this project which involved lots of modifications in order to get the machine into the Dash 7. This is us putting the cab back together.

Loading the machine at Rothera

Unloading at Sky Blu

On the way back in the back of the Dash 7. I think this is about 3am... A long day !

The boating slipway was put back into the wharf again this summer. After some major repairs where the icebergs had given it a beating it went in with little effort.

All in place ready for the boats to be launched.

Dash 7 on the blu ice

Our new machine unloading its cab from a Twin Otter

Spectacular! Its always worth just standing and watching the Dash 7 land at Sky Blu. It looks so out of place 400 miles south of Rothera.

One of the first Elephant seals this year sunning itself on the runway.

A cute little Weddell seal

A whole bunch of Crab eater seals on a burg just off the runway

Chinstrap penguins have been a popular visitor this summer around the point.

Myself and our building services manager, Dave digging a trench and installing ducting for the services to New Bransfield house which is due to be completed this summer.

Patriot hills and Sky Blu

2008-01-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

Right then !!!
Apologies for such a gap in up dating my blog site.
Ever since the planes returned i have been exceptionally busy but will try and fill you in on what has happened in the last couple of months.
Shortly after Sky Blu was opened up it was my turn to be the base mechanical services guy. However before spending three weeks at Sky Blu i got the opportunity as an ex winterer to co-pilot out to Patriot Hills to input one of the science projects working at Lake Elsworth. This was a very special flight and much sort after. Patriot Hills is an American run camp which leads expeditions up Mt Vincent which is the highest peak in the Antarctic continent. Lots of very rich Americans visit this base to complete a climb of at the 'Seven Summits'

We spent 3 days at Patriot Hills and ate and slept very well.
They have 2 runways there. One is a perfectly groomed ski way for the Twin Otters and the other is a 3.5Km Blue ice runway for the massive Elusion aircraft to land on. The Elusion is a Russian cargo aircraft which is bigger than a Hercules and can input over 120 barrels of fuel compared to our Dash 7 which can carry 18 drums of fuel!!

View of Patriot hills runway from the air. Similar to Sky Blu the base was chosen as the Blue ice is formed by the force of the wind rushing around the mountain. This creates a massive area of scoured snow and leaves just the bare ice.

To get there we had to fly over the top of the Elsworth mountains. This is the summit of Mt Vincent. We flew over here at 18,000 feet in an unpressurized cabin. This was a very strange feeling as people can suffer from altitude sickness but luckily both Nico (My pilot) and myself suffered no side effects and we got some great views.

Flying down one of many ice flows in the Elsworth mountains. Spectacular!!

Another stunning view as we passed over the other side of Mt Vincent.

With the massive Elusion which flies into Patriot Hills they have the ability to fly large snow grooming and snow clearing equipment into the base to clear their never ending runway.
This is a snow groomer and also comes in very handy in making a perfectly groomed ski slope up on the side of the mountains for the guests.

Another huge snow blower and lorry unit. This looks like it should be on a road in Scotland in the winter. Its hard to believe that a machine like this can be flown into the deep Antarctic field.

Another unusual tracked vehicle used for crane work and transporting barrels of fuel around site.

Eventually we made it back to Sky Blu where i was to spend the next few weeks. Re-fueling aircraft, servicing vehicles and supporting the field parties which skidoo issues deeper in the field. In the right of the picture you can see the remains of the Igloo which was built last year. It was amazing to see that there were some remains at all considering the exciting winds which blow at Sky Blu in the winter season.

The Blu ice runway was quite well cleared at the beginning of the season and didn't require too much clearing for the Dash 7 to start doing rotations in order to supply the base with fuel for next seasons field projects.

Working on one of the older skidoos. I had to make do and replace a broken seat hinge. I didn't have the correct parts so made do with a hinge off an old manfood box.

Whilst at Sky Blu i had to go on yet another co-pilot flight as one of the field parties had a broken suspension on a skidoo. Myself and Nico headed out into the field and this was us just checking the oil levels on the engines. It just happened that Liz had my camera with her and by coincidence took about 10 photos of us sitting on the engines !!

One the way back we took a team out from Rabid Depot. The team had been there for a few days digging up barrels and raising the depot ready for next years project. The snow accumulation was about 1 and a half meters so there was a lot of digging and they all slept like babies on the 2 hour journey back to Sky Blu.

2007-10-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

Co-pilot to Fossil Bluff

2007-10-19T16:11:00.001-07:00

Today i got one of the first co-pilot flights of the season with a trip out to Fossil Bluff to drop off the 'open up' crew and just make sure that the skidoos started before i left as they had been standing under a tarp for 7 months. Everything went smoothly and apart from one tarp being ripped open and a machine being full of frozen snow! When we landed it was -18 Celsius but with not a breath of wind we soon acclimatised. My self above with our Twin Otter for the day 'Ice cold Katy'.

The trip down to Fossil Bluff is spectacular and some of the best sights are seen on this 2Hr flight. The mountains are really beautiful and in them the sediment layers can be seen so clearly. Fossil Bluff is aptly named as there are thousands of fossils within a stones throw in any direction.

One the way down Rob, or meteorologist spotted a 'corona' sort of like a circular rainbow which was projected onto the ice below us. At one and totally coincidental point, the shadow of our plane appeared right in the center. Unfortunately the picture doesn't do the sighting justice, it was truly spectacular!

Fossil Bluff from the cockpit window. This base will now act as a refueling depot until the end of the summer season in February. The base is made up of 3 or 4 painted huts, with the main hut having a Rayburn, 4 comfortable bunks and lots of food. It is really cozy inside and is a bit of a holiday camp giving ample opportunity for plenty of baking which later gets sent down to Sky Blue. Sky Blue is an even deeper field base which will get opened up next week.
This flight really reminded me what an amazing continent i am on and how lucky i am to be here!

Dash 7 having just landed for the first time this season!

2007-10-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

2007-10-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning the Dash 7 returned to Rothera. Altogether about ten people got off the plane. Some here for the summer and some here for the next 18 months. My replacement in the workshop was on the flight so already i have started my hand over period. It is great to see new faces and more importantly taste the fresh fruit and veg!! I can't describe how good it tasted and how it felt biting into a green crunchy, juicy apple after over 7 months!!

Twin Otter Fly by

2007-10-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

DC3 taking off

2007-10-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

Borek Planes

2007-10-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

On Saturday our first planes of the summer arrived. These planes belonged to a Canadian company called Ken Borek and were the first planes on the Antarctic continent this season.
The two planes were a DC3 and a Twin Otter

This is the DC3 it is the company's flagship plane. Built in the 1950's it is in great shape. Two years ago its original radial piston engines were changed for turbo prop engines which cost in the region of 2 million pounds!! Fully loaded the plane weighs in at around 15 ton and has a massive wing span of about 95 feet. Needless to say pushing it into our 100 foot wide hanger was a little nerve racking!

The pilots and air mechanics were the first people that we had seen for over 6 months and they greeted us with boxes of fresh food and vegetables. Ummm!
They all left on Saturday and this is the view of the DC3 from below as they did a fly-by.

There was a small amount of work to be done to the Twin Otter. It landed on our gravel runway on wheels, there it was changed to wheeled skis. It then flew up to our snow covered ski way and was then converted to full skis. This is done as where the plane works for the summer season there is a blue ice runway. This conversion reduces the weight of the plane and allows it to carry more weight which is very important when working deep field.

This meant that myself and Matthew, my work college had to transport fuel and the Twin Otters skis 4Km over the snow to the ski way. It was a beautiful day and really reminded me how special this experience is!

Our two Snowcats with the Twin Otter. Not a sight seen everyday. 360 degrees of snow, ice and mountains and me stood in the middle.

Return of the Dash 7

2007-10-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

In exactly one week from now the Dash 7 and two Twin Otter planes are due back here at Rothera. They have been away for about 6 months and will be very welcome back for the upcoming field season. On there return they will hopefully bring in mail and fresh fruit and veg after we have been living on mainly tinned and prepacked frozen foods for the last 6 months.
When the planes return there will be plenty of chances to get off base to Skyblue and Fossil Bluff bases and maybe further into the field to do some depo work.

Snowblowing

2007-10-07T11:17:00.001-07:00

About three weeks ago myself and Matthew, my fellow vehicle engineer got the go ahead from Head office in Cambridge to start the snow clearing around base and in particular the runway and apron area around the hanger to allow the planes to land when they return on the 15th of October. We were both now about fed up with the consistent poor weather and being stuck in the garage working on skidoo's hence were delighted to get outdoors.
We have been working long hours over the last three weeks and unfortunately woken some mornings to find that a blow in the night and heavy snowfall has put us back where we started, however over the last week the weather has improved considerably and the runway is now clear for the planes which are due back next Sunday!!

Seal Pups

2007-10-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had a beautiful day and the opportunity arose for a trip out on the boats.
Two boats with eight of us headed out to the Islands and ended up at Ancourage Island. There we hoped to see some Weddell seal pups and sure enough on one of the beaches we found six proud mothers with their pups. Unfortunately i do not have a fancy SLR camera and the light was very poor but still managed to get some good photos of these very cute little seal pups.

Mark and Andy do Carvajal !!

2007-09-05T17:16:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago , myself and Mark Gorin headed out for what was to be my second and final winter trip of the year. For this trip i had only one expectation and that was to visit Carvajal base at the Southern most tip of the island. With the inconsistent weather that we had been having we decided to set off a day early in order to guarantee traveling the 80Km in a single day and also getting through the notorious McCallams Pass which you need good weather and contrast to do.

When traveling by skidoo across the Glacier you always have to be linked together. You also have to carry loads of unnecessary gear aswell and this is all packed onto two sledges which we towed behind each skidoo.

We had beautiful weather and saw some amazing scenery like this freshly fallen avalanche.

Everything was going good and we were making excellent time. We stopped for a bit of lunch and a drink about half way into our journey. Sitting pretty! Until !!

Disaster stuck as Mark's skidoo snapped a fan belt and ceased up. We admitted defeat and presumed that we would never make it to Carvajal and this was now a week in a tent! However as we had just finished putting up the tent i tried the engine and it had cooled down and un-ceased. We're in!! I fixed the fan belt, we took down the tent and we were on our way, again.

However we didn't get too far before something else happened. After a glance over my shoulder to check the sledge i happened to notice that we we in fact towing something else behind the sledge. Thats odd, i thought and quite sharply applied the brakes and signaled to Mark the field hand signal for, 'Shit, we've lost a tent'. If your wondering how this signal looks it involved me putting my head in my hands! Anyway we had indeed lost our poo tent but still had our main Pyramid tent so we decided that we may as well carry on to Carvajal and no doubt we would pick it up on the way back in a day or two as we expected good weather and our tracks were marked by GPS coordinates.

We finally made it to Carvajal without loosing another item. This is me on top of an old Twin Otter plane which crashed at the base years ago.

There were lots of old fuel barrels lying around which we quite un sightly.

I managed to get on of the bases old Alpine two Skidoos running so thought it would be good to give it a run up the hill to the plane.

Carvajal was the first base in which BAS built on Adelaide Island. It now belongs to the Chileans.
The buildings are very cold inside and are pretty rotten. The Chileans don't actively run the base but do visit once every couple of years just to keep their claim to land in the Antarctic.

Anyway we soon got board of the base and decided to make a move home and maybe do some climbing on the way back. However this didn't happen as Mark's skidoo suffered a massive heart attack and i had to perform open heart surgery. Well basically we were now confined to a pyramid tent until someone else brought us a new engine!! At this point we hadn't found our poo tent either and we suffered winds of up to 50 knots. I won't go into detail, but number 1's & 2's had to be taken outside in blowing snow and temperatures of down to - 15 !!

We now had 3-4 days lie up ahead of us as bad weather had closed in. The i-pods battery's were running low fast so the solar panel came out! Just hang it up and it charges the battery's! Sounds so easy doesn't it! However yet another thing we had broken and we attempted to fix it. A broken wire was found and bodged back together. Were in business and the tunes were once again flowing!

Finally a beautiful day so we packed up and just had to wait for another group of winter trippers to turn up with our new engine. So we waited...........and waited....................and waited.................
We just couldn't understand where an earth they had got to and then we heard on the HF radio that they had slept in and were running late!!! My face, NOT impressed!!!

This was me looking for my sense of humor!

Eventually the new engine turned up at 3pm. I fitted it in record time, we loaded the sledges, got on our skidoos and i said to mark 'drive it like you've stole it'.
We put the pedal to the metal and we managed to get home safely before it got dark for some hot dinner and an even hotter shower. With all the things that went wrong it was the most enjoyable trip I've been on so far and myself and Mark had a lot of fun and laughter.

Winter trip Number 2!

2007-08-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

Watch this space!
I'm off on my second and last winter trip tomorrow for a week, before we have to start thinking about clearing the runway of snow for the return of the planes in October.
Myself and Mark Goring (GA) are going to attempt a visit to Caverhal which is a base which belongs to the Chileans. It is unmanned through the winter so it should be nice and peaceful. I'm looking forward to having a look and exploring this old base as i have heard so much about it from others who visited back in April.

Darts and Casino night

2007-08-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we had our first winter darts match. We played best of three games against King George Island and lost 2 games to one. Pretty disappointing as there are only 4 people wintering at that base. However they have no pool table so guessing they have been practicing there technique.

last night Dickie organized a cocktails and casino evening. It was a black tie event and we have a roulette table and blackjack table. Unfortunately the evening didn't go on too late as most people were very tired after we have a brilliant day, weather wise and spent the whole day snowboarding.

Jim as our croupier

A visit from Royalty

2007-08-24T16:21:00.001-07:00

Today we were visited by a very welcome animal. An Emperor penguin appeared on the runway. Usually an Emperor penguin or two are seen on the base each winter but they only usually come when there is sea ice so this was quite unusual as we have no sea ice and it was quite windy today. This seemed like a juvenile as it was not yet fully grown and the closest Emperor penguin colony to us is a juvenile colony.

CTD

2007-08-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

Today i went out on one of the Avon boats to help our marine assistant, Allison with a CTD. (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth) experiment.
This involved driving out to a site marked with a GPS co-ordinate. Once there we dropped the CTD machine over the edge and then reeled in out to a depth of 400 meters. Then reeled it back up. As the machine descends in automatically collects water samples at different depths which Allison then does tests on for things like Salinity and organisms living at different depths.

Shortly after dropping the CTD a massive Leopard seal surfaced about 5 meters away from the boat. Needless to say our hearts were beating pretty fast as we struggled to get our cameras out. Leopard seals are the Antarctic's No. 1 predator and are highly dangerous animals to be around. It is also quite rare to see these animals as they are quite uncommon. The seal had a good look at us then swam of. We were very honored be have such a close encounter. On the way back to the Wharf we spotted another seal on an iceberg and assumed it was a pregnant Weddell seal but upon closer inspection (4 meters) the beast woke up and low and behold it was a smaller Leopard seal! We got pretty close to this seal for some good pictures, but as soon as it slipped into the water we thought we'd call it a day as they are far more comfortable in their own environment.

Sunday Chef

2007-08-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

Every Sunday our fabulous chef Cyril has a day off so we all take in turn to do a 'Sunday Cook'
Last Sunday was my turn so i treated the base to my culinary delights. Yum!
A full fry up for brunch and then a traditional roast Turkey with all the trimmings for the evening meal. I even made little sausages wrapped in bacon. Followed by rice pudding for desert.

Needless to say no one complained and i think it reminded everyone of a home cooked Sunday roast, which is one thing i miss more than anything being down here.

Cyril does an amazing job cooking for 22 of us every day with no complaints. He must find it hard coming up with ideas and having to improvise with ingredients as we have no fresh food, salads and have to use powder milk.

Typical winter weather

2007-08-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

Well it certainly is winter here at the moment. We thought we had finally got decent sea ice last month and after spending a day measuring the thickness it was decided that we needed an extra week before we could travel safety on it. With that along came a weeks worth of 30 knot plus Northerly winds which blew it all away overnight along with the divers wooden boards which covered the dive holes. Bugger!!!
This week has however brought strong Southerly winds which are extremely cold. The temperature has plummeted to a chilling -25 and the sea ice has been blown back in. But for how long???

On a personal note it was my Dads birthday this week, so happy birthday to you. Miss you loads.

2007-07-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Moving the Caboose is a monthly thing during the winter to prevent it from being buried by the snowfall and drifting snow.

End of July already!!!

2007-07-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

Well we see the end of July already and the next rounds of winter trips. Due to bad weather, they have been mainly restricted to base apart from the odd day trip.

Last Sunday Drew our field GA and myself went for a quick scramble up a route on Reptile ridge. It was great to eventually see the sun again after being without it for nearly three months.

Yes it really was that steep and i think we both had a bit of 'Disco' knee at one point!

I try and help the dive team out as much as i can with diving through the ice. This week i was chainsaw man cutting two new dive holes in South cove with a ridiculously large saw and more PPE than you could move in!! The ice was about 30cm thick!

We are now completely surrounded by the sea ice which is great. It looks like there is land for as far as the eye can see. When the ice gets to 20cm thick all over we will be able to take skidoos out on it and visit some of the islands usually only available by boat in the summer months.

Over the last two days we have had a really large dump of snow which is very welcome. We haven't been able to ski or board for what seems ages because of the hard snow and lack of powder, so when we get these conditions we make the most of it.

Nunatak

2007-07-08T17:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend saw the Live Earth concert, organised by former Vice President Al Gore.
He organised this gig in order to bring awareness to global warming. Our resident band performed for the gig live from our base here in Antarctica. The band members are Ali Massey, Rob Webster, Tristan Thorne, Roger Stilwell and Matt Balmer.

Swimming Penguins

2007-07-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

Ice diving Vidio

2007-07-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

Ice Diving

2007-07-08T11:53:00.001-07:00

There are now two ice holes which have been cut in Hanger cove with the use of a chainsaw. These holes will enable the divers to carry on with there work over the winter. On Saturday i lent a hand in which was the first ice hole dive carried out down here this year.

Kelvin and Birgit just about to take the plunge to collect Brittle Stars for an experiment.

Jim on Com's and Allison reeling out the line which both divers are attached to.

Round the Point

2007-07-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

Now we have sea ice in Hanger cove the GA's have started to drill it to check its depth so we can walk around on it.

Large pancake ice formed around the point

One of many beautiful red Sky's

Ice so clear that you can almost take a photo through

In the S**T !!

2007-07-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

Well this week has been rather eventful so far. On Monday we discovered frozen waste pipes which go from our living accommodation down to the sewage treatment works. This involved Myself assisting Steve our base plumber in thoring out the pipes and then washing them through.
Being brought up on a dairy farm this job wasn't as unbearable as it may have been to others on base, however still not that pleasant!!
With temperatures of -18 and with a windchill of -30 the pipes were freezing just as fast as we could thor them out. But we eventually managed and the system was working again by Wednesday evening.

Cold Snap

2007-07-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

Today we saw the coldest temperatures and highest winds since we all arrived back in December.
The lowest temperature was recorded at -16 Centigrade and the wind was recorded at 60 Knots!!
Just thank our lucky stars that we are not stuck out in a tent!

Cool clouds

2007-07-01T13:23:00.000-07:00

These are the cool clouds that we see sometimes down here. They look luminous.
Proper explanation on what they are and how they are formed coming soon!!

The sea ice is coming!!!

2007-06-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Fingers crossed. The temperature has dropped quite a bit now and the Pancake ice has started to form over the last few days. Hopefully the wind will stay low and the temperature will keep dropping then we will be able to get out on the ice for some day trips over to the islands of Lagoon and Leonie.

There is still the odd Penguin around the point. This cute little Adelie was spotted just this week.

There are also the grumpy Fur seals around!

This is a Crab eater seal. It was spotted around the point last week with really bad scars probably caused by the Leopard seal which is the number one predator in these cold Antarctic waters.

Leopard seal eating a Chinstrap penguin. These seals are massive and eat all types of penguin and seals. They can grow up to 6 to 7 metres long and have a reptilian shaped head like a lizard or snake.

Mid-Winter

2007-06-25T16:17:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the neglected blog site in recent weeks.
Last week we celebrated our Mid-Winter solstice it was on the 21 June and it is when we have our shortest and darkest day. To celebrate this we all had the week off and it was treated just like Christmas, we had all the Christmas decorations up and organised events every day.

On the Sunday evening the GA team and myself accompanied with a Snowcat groomer went up to Vals and built 3 Quincy snow holes for accommodation for the evening. These snow holes and made by piling snow on top of rucksacks then digging them out leaving a kind of rough and ready igloo. They are designed to be used as an emergency shelter and usually take about 2 hours to make. With the aid of a Snowcat we made one in ten minutes!

The GA's organised a winter Olympics day on the Tuesday. Events included absailing, snow sculpture, bog chisel throwing, mukluk throwing and a skidoo trials course. We were in teams of three and i was in a team with Jim the boatman and Mat our electronics engineer. Our team was victorious, winning most of the events and eventually being crowned Rothera champions!

Cyril cooked an amazing meal for Mid-Winters day meal. We had a suckling pig and he even managed to find an apple to put in its mouth!

After our meal we all got a bit of a surprise when Dickie came out dressed as Santa. To our surprise we all had a gift which had been sent down in the summer from our parents, girlfriends and loved ones. It was really nice and some people found it quite emotional.

The BBC world service also broad casted personal messages from our friends and family back home on mid winters day which has been previously recorded back home weeks before. It was really nice to hear their voices wishing us all well.

One evening the Much talked about Rothera bar crawl took place. Each department, i.e Tech services, Bonner Lab, Met lab, made up a bar and them we proceeded to have a tipple at each. We started off at the 90 minute club!

At the Irish theme bar, O'Bonner's, they managed to make After Eights into a drink withs lots of cream!! It would have been nice for the camera man to tell us we had some on our faces!!

Tristan and Matt managed to beaver a hole in a large snow drift and sculpture the most amazing snow cave bar.

Our resident Doc, Ali had an assortment of testubes for our fancy and also plenty of other concoctions in the drips!

The GA's created an adventure bar and out came the famous bungee run. Much amusement was had in the sledge store.

We also spent a night in the Crevasse which is quite near to base. There were 9 of us in total and it was great to spend a night off base.

Scott, just having 30 winks!

My bed for the night under some beautiful icicles.

Scott getting he P bag our ready for a cool nights sleep!

It is a tradition down here that everyone hand makes a personal present for someone else on base which is given out in Mid-Winter week. Lots of effort were put in by everyone and some amazing presents were produced.

I made a set of Dominoes out of Stainless steel and Scott our joiner assisted me in making a box for them. I like most was very happy with my present and didn't want to give it away. I eventually however gave it to Kenny our generator mech.

I also made this candle holder from parts off an old Primus stove and parts off a Tilly lantern, both still used today in the field party kits and part of the British Antarctic Surveys heritage.

I received an Ice axe off Kenny who had beautifully enlayed it with copper and attached it to a length of wood and made it into a walking stick.

It also makes an ideal Fur seal prodder!

I also received a wooden puzzle from our winter base commander, Mike. It is called a Pentacube and it is the puzzle which inspired the production of the Tetris game.

Everyones presents were layed out on the pool table for the next few days for everyone to admire!

Daylight hours

2007-06-03T16:13:00.001-07:00

Myself and Scott had a go at skiing on the ramp yesterday. Little bit scary and icy but just had to make the most of the daylight hours.

Scott snowboarding. Note the moon behind him. This is 2pm in the afternoon. We won't see the sun at all now for the next 4 weeks as it obits very shallow around the Southern hemisphere during our Mid-winter.

Snowcats. The only way to travel in the warmth in the Antarctic. These vehicles have to endure temperatures down to -30 centigrade.

Halloween

2007-05-29T18:48:00.001-07:00

Yes. A Halloween fancy dress in May! Another one of Mad Liz's ideas, like 'Sing along to the sound of music' and 'Hunt the Easter egg'. Say no more but every one made an effort and it passes the day getting ready and making costumes.

Scott came as the invisible man and Birget as the mask from Scream. I think she took the mask off in this photo!

Myself as Beetle juice feeding Hannibal Lector. It took me ages to make my costume. Amazing what you can do with a can of road line marker and a Lab coat. Don't think they'll miss it in the Bonner Lab. Probably haven't noticed its gone yet!

The Invisible man, Freddy Kruger and Beetle juice!
What a mismatch group.

Cyril made a slight effort and put a headband on over his normal work gear.
Think we had that bacon for Sunday breakfast!

Steve as an uncanny Uncle Fester from The Adams Family

After a quiet drink Beetle juice challenged Freddy Kruger to a pool game using a broom. Can't quite remember the outcome though!!

Caboose Moving

2007-05-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

At Vals we have a little hut called the 'Caboose' in the hut there are facilities to make hot drinks and numerous boxes of manfood. If you wish you can also stay the night and the Caboose if you feel the need for some personnel space away from base.
With the strong winds and continuing snowfall the Caboose slowly gets buried and ends up in a big hole. So every couple of weeks it is one of my jobs to relocate it on level ground. I commandeered Jim the boatman and Kenny the Genny mech to get off base for the afternoon and give me a hand.

Firstly we had to break the skis from the ice using a hydraulic jack, then groom a ramp for the Caboose to be pulled up. Then by attaching a think steel wire rope via some heavy duty shackles we pulled the Caboose out of its hole and relocated it.

It came out better than expected and the whole job took us only about two hours from start to finish.

On the way back down to base i spotted a lonely skidoo. The skidoo belonged to Mark Gorin, Steve Boulton, and Dickie Hall who had gone climbing for the day on Reptile Ridge.
I just couldn't help myself!!!!!!!!!!

At least we left them a shovel to dig it out.

Tech services day out

2007-05-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

With the ever decreasing sunlight hours we really have to make the effort to get out on the weekend as it is far too easy to just sit around and watch movies. Sunday was a nice day and we even managed to drag Kenny up to Vals as the generators and fuel problems seem to be sorting themselves out.
Left to right: Scott (Joiner), Kenny (Generator mech), Myself (Vehicle technician) and Steve (Plumber). We had a really good afternoon and ended up boarding until it had gone dark.
Some great wipe outs were had by all!!

Winter trippers and power downs!

2007-05-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

This week has been particularly poor! The weather has been fairly shocking with constant winds of over 30 Knots. The four people that are out in the field at the moment were due back on Saturday but due to the weather are unable to pack up their campsite and come back to base. They have been laid up inside their tents for over four consecutive days. I have been in this situation at the Sky Blue base during the summer and there is only playing cards and reading to pass the time, and of course sleeping!
Unfortunately during the summer the base had a contaminated fuel delivery which is now causing problems for Kenny our Generator mechanic. Running out of fuel filters fast, we seem to have a power down at least twice week which is unavoidable. Every time the power comes back on everyone has about an hours work each, re-setting breakers, priming water pumps and resetting all the radio and Internet gear. Doesn't really help when two of the people stuck out in the field are the Plumber and Electronics engineer.

Diving in Antrctica 'Without getting wet'

2007-05-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

Now that there are only 22 people on base we all try and help others out with jobs if more people are required. As science and diving is one of the most important things which still carries on through the winter it has to be done safety and back up procedures need to be in place. As the diving done here is for a business then it is classed as commercial diving so carries even more legislation. One of those being the need to have the facilities of a Re-compression chamber. In the case of a diver having a rapid uncontrolled ascent they would have to be put into the chamber to be treated for De-compression sickness or 'the bends'. The chamber can also be used for other illnesses including Oxygen toxicity and Helium toxicity.
The chamber here at Rothera is a twin lock chamber, which means there are two parts to the chamber enabling people to pass through the primary pressure lock into the main chamber without having to de-pressurise the whole chamber

As an advanced first aider and diver i had the opportunity to get trained in the use of the chamber and gain a PADI qualification from our base dive officer. Today i had my first dive in the chamber. I was sent down to a depth of 18 metres and whilst at that depth went through a thorough examination by the base doctor who was also in the chamber with me. Unfortunately you can't take any cameras, watches, jewellery or anything magnetic and clothing must be pure cotton as there is a very large risk of fire in the oxygen enriched atmosphere. So no photos of me inside.

This is the depth gauge showing the depth of 18 metres. It is quite a funny sensation as you go down and have to constantly equalise the pressure in your air spaces. Every ones voice gets high pitched at depth and it feels like you need to be talking with a slight Irish accent.
I will get the chance to do quite a few more dives in the chamber during the winter for training purposes.

'Winter Trippin'

2007-05-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

So through the winter we all get two winter trips. One at the start of the winter and one nearing the end. Each trip lasts for six days and they are a good chance to get off base, see some more of the island out of the normal travel areas and also gain more practise in rope work, climbing and general life out in the field in temperatures of down to -20 degrees Centigrade.

For my winter trip i opted to go skiing and climbing. We were very lucky with the weather and only had one day of lie up. It was just far to windy and the contrast was too poor to drive the Skidoo's in. As there are crevasses all around you need, good contrast to move from the campsite. Above is Roger my Field General Assistant for the week and myself setting up our Pyramid tent.

The tents are heated by the use of Tilly lanterns. These lamps run off paraffin and are very effective at heating the tent and providing bright enough light to read and cook under.

Roger half way up Trident one of many Mountain peaks which we climbed. When climbing we are always linked together via a harness and rope. We both carry a 'rack' on our harness which has things like slings, pulleys and screw gates on. These are essential bits of equipment needed to pull your climbing partner out of a crevasse if the unfortunate happens.

All the Skidoo's had to be covered with specially made tarpaulins so that the engines didn't get filled in by the blowing snow as this can cause a big problem.

On our penultimate day we climbed up Orca, a peak on the way back to base. This was the massive wind scoop which could be found and the base of the peak. Caused by the naturally Northerly blowing winds scouring the snow and ice from around it. The snow can be very abrasive when combined with the power of the wind. The scoop was at least 30 metres deep.

The very top of Orca required us to climb up a very steep piece of loose rock. But is was all worth it when we got to the top. The descent was a lot more fun. Absailing down about 50 metres of sheer rock with a 400 metre drop below off the edge.

Liz and Rob had a three man Pyramid tent in which we all congregated in, on the evenings for a drop of Whisky, Port, Wine and anything alcoholic which was on offer.

The tents lit up by the Tilly lanterns look so magical when the sun goes down.

A snow flake perfectly formed

At the top of Gwendaline. The first mountain that we climbed. As there are no ski lifts here we have to climb the conventional way to the top. We has ski's with bindings which release at the heel and pivot on the toe. Then we fit skins to the bottom of the ski's. These skins allow you to slide forward in the snow but they then grip so you can essentially slide forward up the mountain without sliding backwards. This is actually a sport called 'Ski Mountaineering'
It took us about four hours to get to the top and then about half an hour to ski down in the most amazing powder. For a minute i thought i was back at a ski resort in Europe!

Drying our sweaty wet socks at the end of the day

Admiring one of the spectacular views. This one off the top of Orca

One of the awesome sunsets over the campsite. This was at about 6pm as the sun disappears behind the peaks of Trident

Climbing at Stork Middle

2007-04-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday and Liz, Steve and myself ice climbed up Stork Middle. We were blessed with an amazing clear day so made the most of it.

Our footsteps as we headed from the summit back down towards Stork bowl

The amazing view from the top of Stork Middle over to Stork North which i climbed last Sunday.

If you follow the ridge to the very end you'll be at the top of Stork North.

One of the crevasses which we stepped over. I fell down my first crevasse on Saturday. Only down to my knee but it made my heart beat a little faster for a second.

Our picnic at the top.

Steve and myself at the summit

Extreme!

Sunday and Cyril's first day off

2007-04-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday and Myself, Stephen and Cyril our winter chef headed up to Vals for the day.
It was Cyril's first full day off since arriving on base so he was keen to get of base even just for a few hours. We had a really good day skiing and i managed to practise my jumping skills as some of the Morrison's guys had built some jumps before they left.

Climbing 'North Stork'

2007-04-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Myself, Rob and Mark went climbing on North Stork.
Myself wrapped up warm, ready for the day ahead.

Mark, our GA for the day looking at his map! He did this quite a lot! Mark is a very good GA and he's also very thorough.

Rob, Mark and myself at the summit of North Stork. One of many local and very good peaks to climb. We set of at 8am and managed to reach the summit at 2.30pm. We just happened to choose the coldest day for a long while. Climbing in the shade and at a temperature of -10 it was a bit chilly to say the least.

But it was well worth it. This is the view at the summit. In the background is McCallums pass which is the main route to the rest of the Island. And the route i will be taking on a Skidoo next week when i will go out on my winter trip.

Rob and Mark having a well deserved cup of tea and a bite of a frozen Mars bar after the assent.

After a warm up and photo opportunity we headed across Stork ridge towards Stork bowl. We were linked together at all times just in case one of us were to slip or fall down a crevasse.

'Just the 22 of us'

2007-04-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well the JCR left about two weeks ago now so its just 22 of us now until the Dash 7 comes back in October. We all waved off the crew and the Morrison's staff who have been with us all summer building the new Bransfield House. Unfortunately they could not complete so will be back later in the year to finish the final touches.
Kenny with a flair. I've not seen him this happy for such a long time! Think he was into Pyrotechnics in his younger days!

Skidoo's

2007-04-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

Waving goodbye to the Ernest Shackleton

How many Skidoo's can we get in the garage!

An Alpine 3 two stroke engine. Umm interesting!

Before a De-coke above and after below.

With the introduction of 9 newish Skidoos from Halley the last two weeks have been consumed by servicing and repairing these skidoos ready for next years field season where they will spend around four months out in the field with our trusty field general assistants. Lucky really as the weather has turned quite bad recently and we welcome indoor work when it gets too bad. However working outside in -10 with a 40 Knot wind seems very pleasant after two weeks working on these things!!

Welcome Snowfall

2007-03-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the week we welcomed the six inches of snowfall which was desperately needed. The only down side was that the Shackleton was due in the next day for relief and all entire Wharf and ongoing cargo was covered in snow. It was really amazing to witness how fast the snow falls.
The view down the runway. You can see the Ernest Shackleton moored up against the Wharf in the distance. She departed on Thursday morning with all of the 2006 wintering team on board. Many of them will be doing some sort of traveling through South America on the way back to the UK and some will sail all the way back on either the Ernest Shackleton or the James Clarke Ross.

An evening down a Crevasse

2007-03-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

Last night Steve Boulton, Jim Elliot, Mark Borin and myself went down a crevasse which has been open for quite a few years at the top of the ramp next to the base. It is about 400 feet long and as you can see from the photos it really is an amazing sight to see.
We spent about an hour down there walking from one end to the other admiring the ice and its structure which has taken years to form.
Through the summer months the crevasse melts which causes the stalactites to get longer. But now winter is nearly here they have all frozen solid again.

Farewell to great friends

2007-03-04T14:52:00.000-08:00

Adam and Sue-Ann left this morning on the Dash 7. We have all become great friends over the summer months and i wish them a safe journey home and all the best for the future.

Till we meet again!

Dance party in the boat shed

2007-03-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

Saturday provided entertainment in the form of a Dance party in the boat shed organised by Mark Saunders who left today after wintering 2006. The night was a complete success and when the doors were opened for sunset the view was amazing with a brilliant red sky!

Lagoon Island

2007-03-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

Jim the boatman and Kelvin drop us off at Lagoon Island for the evening.

We stayed in a little hut for the evening. Very comfortable and so nice to escape from the base even if just for a short period.

Beautiful Sunday morning sitting outside in the sun!

Thankfully Adam had gained his campfire badge in the past at Cubs so the fire was no problem for him. Half a gallon of petrol does wonders too!

On the South side of the Island there are a load of Whale bones. You can see by the way that Sue-Ann models them how big they actually are.

Two Fur seals playing in the water. They look very cute by can be quite grumpy so keeping your distance from seals is advisable. As they tend to chase you if you get too close!

Evening at Stork Bowl

2007-03-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

The first footsteps on fresh powder! Pete up front followed by Ally and myself.

Sue-Ann. On her way back down the mountain!

The fantastic view from the top of Stork. Beautiful clear evening.

2007-02-18T13:22:00.000-08:00

The odd Fur seals are starting to arrive around Rothera point. These seals have long whiskers and are very grumpy. Lessons have been learnt in the past as they will chase you and a bite can be very nasty and infectious.
Two RAF mast erectors have been here for the past few weeks installing a new mast up on Rothera point.
North cove is very susceptible to icebergs blowing into it. With low spring tides at the moment Adam and myself we able to get out onto them.
The fleet of snow blowers at Rothera is quite impressive at the moment! Three JCB wheeled diggers fitted with V8 CAT and Mercedes engines and one tractor fitted with a snow blower on the front linkage.

Two weeks at Sky Blue

2007-02-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

As part of my work down here servicing and maintaining the machinery it was necessary for me to go out to Sky Blue for a period and repair some of the machines there. Sky Blue is a deep field operations base which provides support for field parties and refueling of the Twin Otters as they pass through. The base is located about 4 hours flying time further South on a Blue ice Glacier which is over 400Ft thick. The Blue ice is amazing when you first see it and is so smooth it is possible to ice state on it.
The runway is 900 meters long which is the same length as the runway at Rothera, hence the Dash 7 can land with ease dropping off drums of fuel at every opportunity through the summer season. It is very common for the weather to change and deteriorate rapidly for this reason i was delayed in leaving for about another week.

My home for three nights at Sky Blue. The Igloo was made by Anne and Chris two artists that came down with BAS. I'm pretty sure that the trip gave them lots of inspiration!
Me in the igloo. Note i didn't take my hat off!
The amazing view of the roof in side the Igloo which i saw in the morning of the three nights i spent in it. Looks very pretty and at -20 you just want to stare at in all day from the comfort of your warm Goose Down sleeping bag.
Three of many Pyramid tents which i stayed in. These tents sleep two people and are really well suited to the conditions. There are made in Glamorgan, Wales, so at least they can test them at the right temperature through the winter months.
Sky Blue acts as a fuel station for the Twin Otters as they deploy and retrieve field parties which work from the base. I was lucky enough to get a co-pilot flight out to the Elsworth mountains which are the highest peaks in the Antarctic. The temperature when we landed was -20. Breathtaking views of the peaks and the permanent sea ice. It is amazing to see crevasses and the sediment layers in the mountains as they erode. In my two weeks away i managed to clock up an impressive 7 co-pilot flights. Its pretty amazing to be able to fly a Turbo prop plane for hours on end and then land on a runway marked out by flags made of snow and ice.
We were unlucky one evening to have about three centimetres of snowfall. This meant clearing the runway with the two small snow blowers as the Dash 7 is unable to land if there is any snow on the runway. However the Twin Otters can still land if they put skies down.
The view into Sky Blue runway. You can just make out the runway. It has a slight covering of snow on it. If you get 25-30 knot winds the runway will completely clear and becomes the most amazing blue colour.
The Dash 7 landing at Sky Blue. However many times you see this plane land and take off it is still brilliant to watch.
Another one of Chris the artists creations. A vortex or Whirlpool made on the runway. The blue underneath is the ice of the glacier.
A welcome site after so much time in the field. Rothera runway and the sight of some good food, running water and most importantly a hot long shower.
Back on base and back to work. Lots of people are slowly disappearing back to the UK so the work load for us mechs is starting to tail off. This was just a bit of stress relief scrapping one of the very old base Skidoo's.
And what better way to do it that drive over it with a 15 ton CAT Bulldozer. We're just a bunch of kids in the workshop really!

2007-01-21T14:24:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons that the Princess came down to Rothera was to Bury a time capsule under this large rock which was filled with relevant articles placed in it by workers here at the base and is due to be dug up and opened in 2107. Don't think i need worry about seeing it opened again!
Myself and Tommy giving the Princess and her husband Admiral Tim Lawrence some pointers on skidoo driving before they went for a ride around up near Vals and Stork Bowl. They both thoroughly enjoyed this and even requested to drive the skidoo's all the way back down to the base.
Princess Anne on her first day at Rothera. Very pleasant lady and down to earth. Admiring the view from North Cove out into the bay.
Very crevassed area which the Princess and the Royal party viewed on one of their trips out on the Lynx Helicopters.
One of the two Lynx Helicopters which neatly fold up an fit into a hanger on the HMS Endurance

Happy Bithday to me!!

2007-01-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

Well what a day! For my Birthday Jim and Bernard our boatmen promised me a nice little jolly on the boats with the ITN news crew who are currently down here filming for the news this week. After leaving the Wharf at 10 o clock we only got about 200 metres into Ryder bay when two Finn Whales came up right next to the boat. Bernard said he organised it especially but think he may have been pulling my leg. Anyway after we dropped them off at Anchorage island to do some filming we went over to Lagoon island for a coffee. Whilst there one of the boats seemed to be grounded as we could here it scraping the stones in the water. As we approached we soon realised that it was the presence of a huge one ton elephant seal which had jumped onto the side of the boat which was making it bottom out. Cheeky little thing. Anyway we managed to shoo it off then Bernard fed it a few biscuits and we filmed it for a while.
In the afternoon we took the ITN crew and Mike Austin out on the boats to film some icebergs and some seals. As we floated past one iceberg a massive piece collapsed and for any of you watching the news tonight you would have seen exactly what happened. Myself and Jim were in another boat and were a little closer than the camera crew. In all the excitement i happened to get a little wet and unfortunately the camera is now unusable so apologies if there are no photos appearing until i can get it replaced.
To finish off the day i went up to Vals in order to rescue and fix a Skidoo before returning for dinner to find Cyril our French Chef had baked a Birthday cake and brought it out to me with candles burning and everyone on base singing Happy Birthday. Later i watched a film with a friend and then Dash 7 landed with Princess Anne on it who has been around the base today having a tour and speaking to some of the 2006 winterers.
'Perfect day in Antarctica'.

2007-01-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

The base snowcat feeling a bit down in the dumps after melting a bearing in the gearbox. It just squeeked and then stoped! Aparently!!!! Ummm!!!! Biterly cold working under this machine at -5. However after a day or two we had the beast running again and serviced ready for the Royal visit. When Princess Anne will spend a few days here at Rothera on the 15th. The day after my birthday. Hope she brings a present for me.
We eventually got the slipway into place after much rearrangement and foul language!! The boatman is very pleased with our handy work and can now launch and retrive his boats with ease.
Tommy V and myself in the sledge. Part of the RAC (Rothera Automobile Club) on the way back from a breakdown.

2007-01-04T18:00:00.000-08:00

Ahhh how cute. Quick someone throw it a ball!!
Pull my finger Jim and I'll show you what happens!!

2007-01-04T17:29:00.000-08:00

New years eve was an amazing night. The band had very little time to rehearse but did a fabulous job of entertaining us all.
Work goes on for us busy mechanics. Fitting the slipway, which will enable the boatman to launch his boats into the water with ease. It has to be removed at the start of each winter as the sea ice is that powerful that it would just rip it out of the wharf and take it out to sea.
Two Adelie penguins not impressed after i rudely woke them from a short nap next to the runway this evening.
Allison in one of the many boats waiting for a lift by Bernard our current boatman whom Jim will take over from. On the top of the Wharf are Jim and Helen one of the Marine Biologists.
Football over at the aircraft hanger is quite popular on a Thursday evening. For the fitness enthusiasts, that is.
Stephen and Adam. Rocky Balboa eat your heart out!!!!!

2006-12-29T14:38:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas came and went this week. It was a strange day for me as i have never spent a Christmas away from home. However at 9am in the morning i was up the mountains snowboarding so it can't be all that bad. In the evening our fabulous chefs had cooked traditional Christmas dinner and we even had little pigs in blankets. Boxing day brought a full day of snow and Stephen's birthday. Using our imagination Adam and myself managed to make a card and a really resourceful present to give to Steve. Lucky we know exactly what he likes!
There a quite a lot of seals about at the moment. Mostly Weddell seals but this is a female Elephant seal which we spotted on our walk around Rothera point.
Adele Penguins are very common around the base and we often get then waddling into our workshop.
After our day of at Christmas it was back to work and one of my many tasks this week was to fit a set of snow chains to he newest member of machinery to the fleet, a JCB loading shovel. This machine will do lots of lifting of pallets and containers throughout the summer and then in the winter it will have one of the 5 Ton snow blowers attached to it for clearing the runway in preparation for the arrival of the Twin Otters and the Dash at the beginning of there next summer season.

2006-12-24T15:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve and no better place to spend it than up in the mountains snowboarding. Think that is my idea of heaven. Despite the fact that there is snow all around here it doesn't feel a bit like Christmas. We now have lots of Christmas decorations in the dining hall and our fabulous chefs Alan, Riet and Cyril baked loads of mince pies and a massive two tier Christmas cake today. I'm looking forward to Christmas dinner tomorrow. Little sausages wrapped in bacon! umm! That's Jim by the way, the winter boatman on one of the base skidoos that are purely for recreation use.
One of the skidoos towing two people up the ski slope, Vals. Unfortunately we don't have the luxury of chair lifts. However it is a lot more fun getting towed by a ski doo!
As this is my first Christmas away from home i do miss the atmosphere and wish all my friends and family a very merry Christmas, especially my mum, dad, nan and grandad, James, Kelly, Kiani and Finian.

2006-12-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

The JCR has now left the base and the mad rush to complete relief has ended so it was time to get on with my module 3 training with will enable me to be able to co-pilot the twin otters and get away from the base and down to Sky Blue and Fossil Bluff in order to repair and maintain the machines at those bases. The training included erecting and camping out in a pyramid tent and cooking food from man food boxes using Primus stoves and Tilly lamps. With exceptional forward thinking we picked a particularly good camp site up at Vals, our local ski resort, so most of the evening was spent on the boards.
The pyramid tents are excellent. After erecting them you empty your personal bag. In your p bag you have a self inflating mattress, thick sheep skin rug and a very well insulated goose down sleeping bag. It really is very comfortable and i slept like a log all night.
After waking this morning. We cooked breakfast, took down the tents and then it was on with the next part. We have to learn all about ice travel and falling down crevasses. As you can see i had to carry a fair amount of gear including ice axes, climbing rope and all the jingly jangly things that i needed to rescue myself or my partner if one of us was to fall down a crevasse.
Scott (Of the Falklands) and myself practicing our descending and ascending on an ice cliff.
You may notice some genuine Antarctic beardage going on in some photos as razor blades are a bit of a commodity down here!
As we are now into the summer season here at Rothera a lot of the snow is melting around the base exposing the bare rock. All around the sea large lumps of ice are continuously breaking free and end up as icebergs floating in the ocean. You can just about make out the ripples in the water after a lump broke off earlier today whilst i was up on the mountains.
We also saw the return of the Dash 7 again today. I never tire watching the planes take off and land. There are usually at least three or four flights a day at the moment and we will continue to be very busy with the aircraft throughout the summer as so much time was lost earlier in the season with aircraft problems.

2006-12-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the long period since i last updated. All computers had to be checked before connecting to any networks also relief and induction training has taken preference this week.
On the way into Rothera we had a very smooth journey but did wake up on the Friday morning to the sound of banging against the ship. When i went outside to see what it was i was confronted with this fantastic view of sea ice which we were battling through. Luckily the JCR is an ice breaking ship and can bash through ice over a foot deep.
As you can see from the photo the ship had to take some diverse maneuvers away from some of the large icebergs which were in our path. It was fascinating to sea the penguins, seals and sea lions sleeping on the icebergs as we slowly sailed by.
Friday morning at about 11am we finally docked and Rothera Wharf. It was such a relief to have actually be there and i had to just take a minute and have a good look at my new home for the next 18 months.There was a nice welcoming party up on one of the hills and it was really good to see some old faces which i hadn't seen for a few months.
After my initial induction i was put straight to work operating machinery unloading the cargo from the ships holds. It's all hands on deck whilst the ship in at the wharf helping unload the ship as quick as possible so it can get on with its science schedule.
This week saw the Dash 7 return to Rothera. There are two types of aircraft which BAS operate, those being the Twin Otters and the larger Dash 7. Unfortunately there as been countless problems with the aircraft this season as many science projects have had to be either shortened or cancelled.
This is an aerial view of Rothera. The main base is all on the right hand side, with the fuel store and aircraft hanger on the left. My work area, the vehicle workshop is quite close to my accommodation and also the dinning room which is handy. I was glad to finally get to work and make myself at home in my new place of work. No rest for the wicked however, yesterday and today i have been hard at it replacing worn bearings on a large tracked vehicle.
I finally found my snowboard today and thankfully it is all still in on piece, so three guesses what I'll be doing tomorrow evening.

2006-12-14T16:54:00.000-08:00

Our last meal on the JCR. From left to right, Myself, Adam, Stephen and Scott. At precisely 25 minutes past six! We always seemed to be the first ones in for meals. You'd wonder why, when there are so many things to do on the ship! As you can see we are all a bit 'red faced'. Caught up in the excitement of the day we all forgot to put the sun cream on!
Umm sweet. The fabulous 4 stewards on the JCR. A real friendly bunch of chaps who will be missed dearly when we all get to base. Mainly because we'll have to make our own breakfast!

2006-12-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

I saw this iceberg really close up from one of the ribbed boats on the trip back from Vernadsky. It feels so surreal to be here and be close enough to touch these frozen lumps of ice.
Later we stopped at a former UK base, Faraday. It is now owned by the Ukraine and is called Vernadsky. I was lucky enough to get the chance to visit the base via one of the ships ribbed boats. This was an amazing experience and felt very privileged indeed. Whilst there i got the chance to sample the bases Vodka and even got the time for a quick game of pool.
A Crab eater seal sleeping on an iceberg as we slowly sailed by. There was also a presence of Humpbacked whales nearby.
I awoke today to the feeling of Adam tickling my feet through the curtains of my bed. He was like a kid at Christmas. It was 5am and he said to put some clothes on and get outside. When i did this is just one of the many Breathtaking views which i saw.

2006-12-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

This morning i woke to the sight of yet more white covered land in the distance, surrounded by glimmering icebergs. We stopped mid-morning and a cove just off King George island where two of our ribbed boats were launched and sent into a Chinese base, Great Wall to collect a field assistant and a scientist who had been in the field for the last three weeks camping. They were both very happy to see us but happier to see the sight of a good square meal. Un be knowing to me when i took this photo there are actually two penguins just behind the crane jumping out of the water.
This evening we all celebrated the birthday of one of the artists who is going down to Rothera for the summer, with cocktails on the monkey island. Anne who is 21 at heart has taken lots of inspiration from her journey on the JCR I'm sure this will be the most memorable of all her birthdays.

2006-12-12T14:19:00.000-08:00

Well. Whales yesterday and the first siting of icebergs today. I am being spoilt. At about 10am i sited my first iceberg in the distance and also the tip of the Antarctic peninsular. Funny enough that was white as well.
Everybody's mood on the JCR seems to be lifted now as we get closer and closer to Rothera. As the JCR is a science ship and the British Antarctic Survey's flagship we are doing lots of science work on the way down to Rothera which put us slightly behind schedule.
The weather deteriorated as the day went on and as i look out of the window as i type it is now snowing.

2006-12-12T06:23:00.000-08:00

Before leaving the Falkland Islands i changed ship from the Ernest Shackleton onto the James Clarke Ross, Bas's Flagship. The JCR is slightly longer than the Shack and things on-board and done a little different. We all have to attend dinner wearing a shirt and tie which is one minor difference.
Yesterday i went for my daily walk out onto the deck and to my surprise there was a pod of Fin whales around the ship. It was the first time I'd seen whales and it was breathtaking. The pod included around 15 whales and they circled the ship for at least an hour. Other sighting were made through the rest of the day which included Minke whales and Cuvier's Beaked whales. Yesterday was also the day that we passed over the Antarctic Convergence zone. The temperature is definitely getting colder and colder everyday.

2006-12-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

Some other great sights around the Falklands were those of the many ship wreaks. This ship is called the The Lady Elizabeth. The story is that she was deemed not sea worthy by the harbour master after receiving damage out at sea. The ship was moored in the harbour and on one rough night broke her moorings and ended up stuck on the sand bank where she remains to this day. Rumour has it that she was sea worthy all along but happened to be carrying a shipment of hardwood and this cargo seemed valuable to the local residents.

2006-12-12T05:37:00.000-08:00

The next stop off was the Falkland islands. We were blessed with fabulous weather for the whole week and i took full advantage of being able to get off the ship for a while. I did lots of walking and saw most of penguin species on the island. Above are King Penguins. I also saw Gentoo and Magellanic penguins. As i looked out into the harbour there were always seals and Commerson dolphins to be seen. The penguins were great and if you sat long enough on the sand they would come right over to you, and just watch you for a while.

2006-12-12T05:21:00.000-08:00

On the way across the Atlantic we were forever on the look out for dolphins and eventually we saw what we were waiting for. As we crossed the equator the weather was fabulous and i took the opportunity to enjoy the heat while it lasted. The crossing the line ceremony was a real good day of fun however one crew member did manage to break his ankle. (Oops)
We stopped off in the port of Monte Video in Uruguay for about a week. Whilst there myself and two other lads got the opportunity to leave the ship for a couple of days so we headed up the coast to Punta De Este. A beautiful resort where we spent a few days sunbathing, drinking beer, sightseeing and admiring the sunsets in the evening.

2006-12-11T15:22:00.000-08:00

Over a period of a month on the Shackleton you certainly get to see some amazing sights. Just like this breathtaking sunrise which was seen as we sailed past the port of Vigo, Spain. There were just as many awesome sunsets too. But i am yet to see the illusive green flash which can occur at the precise moment that the sun disappears below the horizon.

2006-12-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

This is the Ernest Shackleton, Originally named the MV Polar Queen, the British Antarctic Survey purchased it in 1999. I joined the Shackleton on the 30 October 06 at the beginning of my adventure to the Antarctic peninsular. I will be there for a period of at least 18 months and up to a period of two and a half years. I will be working as a Vehicle Engineer on the base servicing and repairing an array of unusual machines designed specifically for working in some of the most inhospitable climates.