Hello from Claire,
Coming on this expedition I did not realise what to expect but it has
gone way above my expectations. Ushuaia, so called town at the end of
the world due to its location, was just a lovely little place with
stunning scenery all around. The hotel was lovely, and the town had some
great restaurants and shopping. Our visit to the museum which was an old
prison was a trove of knowledge with regard to the prisoners that were
incarcerated years ago. The ship the Ushuaia that was taking us on our
journey was waiting at the dock. It was wonderful, its an old American
spy ship used to monitor activity in Cuba way back. I met a great group
of people, from Pat Falvey to all the different teams on board- the
scientific, education and support teams. The initial part of our journey
to South Georgia took approximately 5 days on the high seas. First stop
off at King Haakon Bay was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions,
but traverse team were able to start their trek.
The next morning we went out to Salisbury Plain, when we first got to
see the Empire penguins and Fur seals with some Elephant seals with
plenty of mud. I took many photographs. In the afternoon we went to
Prion Island, it was snowing and after a walk up the boardwalk we got to
see an Albatross in her nest with a chick. There was a beautiful view of
the isles.
Sunday we went to Bay of Isles and we climbed up to see the glacier, it
was quiet a trek and once we returned to the ship we got to see the
Traverse team coming over the mountain where they would camp for the
night on the beach we had visited earlier. The ship gave a few toots of
its horn in greeting to the traverse team for their arrival back. We had
an early start the next morning where we began our walk to Stromness. We
met up with the Traverse team after 4 hours of walking where we
completed the final part of Shakleton journey together. My personnel
achievement was, amongst others, was climbing up from Fortuna Bay to
Stromness. One of the guides Danny escorted me the whole way so I would
not damage my hip. It was exhilarating sliding down the snowy mountain,
everyone really enjoyed it! On the way to the beach we visited Shakleton
waterfall and we took a bottle of pure spring water with us, it tasted
great. The final part of the trek was seeing the abandoned whaling
station at Stromness and avoiding the fur seals. Once the whole team had
arrived back on board we serenaded the traverse team with a song that we
had composed about each member of the traverse team. It was met with
great applause and there will be a copy for every member of the
audience.
One of our trips on the zodiacs was great fun, as we went around the
icebergs in Fortuna Bay. Monica was our driver and we got to race the
student and film crew on another zodiac. It was another highlight as we
won the race.
Next day we sent sail for Grytviken, a small community where Shakleton
is buried. It was most moving experience. It was a hub of whaling but is
now obsolete. Now it is part of the British Antarctic Survey research
centre and it is visited by British naval ships every few months with
supplies. We visited the little chapel on the island where Shakleton was
laid out before he was buried and I got to ring the church bells. We
also went to his memorial cross that was erected by his crew members,
its in the most beautiful part of the island with a stunning view. The
walk up to the cross was an adventure through the colony of fur seals.
The little post office had a selection of souvenirs and special day
stamps and we were able to post our cards from there. That evening we
had another concert for the Fisheries officer and Queens representative
on South Georgia, Pat Lurcock, he brought along his wife (the post
mistress) and some of the research scientists from the BAS centre.
Next morning the zodiacs could not land on account of bad weather, I was
advised by Monica, the ships co-ordinator, not to go as it was too
risky. Earlier one of the Team David had a mishap and was actually
thrown from the Zodiac by a rogue wave, thankfully he was not hurt so
instead of landing we did a zodiac cruise to see the Macaroni penguins.
James kindly took my camera and took some great shots for me so I
wouldnt miss anything.
Drygalski Ford was in the afternoon, it was spectacular- what a day.
Blue skies, fluffy clouds and amazing icebergs. My finger was worn out
from taking shots, so far I have taken over 1500 pictures. We have now
left South Georgia and are now on our way to Elephant Island and the
Antarctic Peninsula. Again we had dreadful days and nights crossing but
we were entertained by the lectures provided by Fergus, Monica, Liam and
Danny. Liams lecture on Climate change and our carbon footprint finished
with a great slide of Danny and me sledging down the snowy mountain
side. All of the crew, staff and leaders are helping us have a
wonderful time. They could not do enough for us; they are so
knowledgeable. Pat and all his team leaders couldnt be more obliging to
us. The restaurant staff and chefs are excellent, there has been a
fabulous variety of food and we are being very well fed. Getting plenty
of exercise so burning off all the calories. Mountain climbing is next
on the list and maybe a nights sleep on the ice!!
Will blog again after Antarctic stop over,
Claire.
