Week 1: Getting started
Week 1: Getting started.
Packing for 5 months is a lot harder than you think when you only have 23kg to check in and a 7kg carry on, Christmas calendar included of course. After almost two days travelling, it still doesn’t seem real that we were actually going to the Antarctic. Unfortunately or not, due to bad weather in Rothera, our flight was delayed a further two days in which we spent drinking Pisco sours in Punta Arenas. By kissing the Indian’s toe of the Magallanes statue in the central square of Punta, we ensured our safe return to land.
Aperitif at the Shackelton bar in Punta Arenas with new BAS members.
Heading South from Punta to Rothera took us about 4 hours and we knew we were close when the clouds finally started to clear revealing an ocean covered by broken up pieces of sheet ice, a surreal and breathtaking experience.
View from the DASH7 on our way to Rothera.
Then all of a sudden the ice sheets start to rise up into solid ground and snow covered mountains…..we have reached the Antarctic continent! A short while later we are aiming for a small dark strip of land in the endless mass of white, the runway of Rothera.
The Rothera landing strip with the base behind it.
We were greeted by the base commander, amongst many other smiles, who showed us into the base for a nice hot cuppa and a warm welcome. Rothera is based on the South-Eastern tip of Adelaide Island, one of the warmest and most rapidly warming parts of the continent and so a nice sunny day of -3 degrees C is not uncommon during this season.
After a quick tour of the base, we were shown our accommodation, a cosy room shared between either 2 or 4 people. After Fridays beer battered fish n’ chips, we went for a walk around Rothera point. Only a short walk from the base, we came across a big fat Weddell seal, our first native….
Weddell seal by the bay around Rothera base.
On a hilltop by the base there is a memorial dedicated to all the people who have lost their lives here, including a plaque naming all the Huskeys who were born and raised in the area, but due to environmental reasons were relocated to Canada. By now our watches were telling us it was night time, but the sun was telling us a different story as we all still had our sunglasses on.
The following day after our safety induction courses we finally got to the Dirk Gerritzs Laboratory, the Dutch Lab to everyone else apart from the Dutch.
Tristan at the Gerritz Lab.
To prevent snow build up, the Gerritzs Lab was built on stilts and can house 4 mobile environmentally friendly container labs. These can warm themselves by using residual heat from the outside air and solar panels for power. They are high-tech allowing us to work at a steady room temperature for dry-lab activities using specialised equipment as well as at the actual seawater temperature for working with the samples (preventing them from warming up too much).
We are looking forward to getting out on the boat to collect our samples, but for now, we are busy setting up 2 of the 4 containers we will be working in, whilst waiting for the sea ice to melt or to blow out of the bay.
The icescape of Rothera bay.