I’m writing this with just two days to go until we are picked up by the Vavilov for our return to civilisation. Laura and Nikki are packing and I’m taking advantage of the final few hours of communications before we pack up the satellite phone along with everything else on this tiny little Austral summer base.  There’s so much to tell, but very little time, so I will do my best but apologies if this isn’t very structured!

Wildlife at Lockroy

The general concensus seems to be that the chicks have had a very good year at Lockroy. We’ve enjoyed some lovely warm and sunny days which are ideal conditions for the chicks who have been happy to lay on the dry ground and soak up the sunshine between frantically chasing their parents for meals!  The majority of the chicks are now a couple of months old and have shot up and out!  They’re so large now that both parents have to head off to sea together to find sufficient food to keep the chicks going.  During this time the chicks are left alone on the island and form a little crèche to keep one another company and seek safety in numbers from being preyed on by the Skuas. We keep these areas completely free of passengers to leave them space to huddle or run in the event whereby a Skua swoops down.  The only area which is a little bit tricky is the path to the hut itself which seems to be a favourite sunbathing spot for the chicks!  Since we need to get in and out of the building we take extra care to move slowly and carefully in this area but the chicks seem very happy watching life go by. With all the food brought to them by their hard-working parents, they are now, in most cases, larger than their parents and have a mix of soft downy fluff as well as new adult feathers all over their rotund bodies!!  They’re quite a funny looking sight and it’s hilarious watching these huge chicks scurrying around the island.  They often topple over their huge great big bellies and get out-run by their more agile parents!

With the change in the seasons, the snow has started to fall again and it’s been fun watching the chicks’ first encounter with snowflakes. They have been totally mesmerised watching the huge flakes fall from the sky and we’ve had many a Kodak moment taking photos of them catching the snowflakes in their hungry beaks!  They’re also uber curious now and love to check out the passengers who visit us at the base. We ask people to move very slowly and carefully, however if anyone stands still it’s normally only moments before a little chick is pecking at their boots, walking poles, or straps dangling from backpacks and they have a particular love of walking poles! Confusion always ensues if and when a chick decides to have a snooze on the wooden ramp leading to the hut during a visit or worse still, even wandering all the way into the hut as happened during a small-ship visit a couple of weeks ago. One evening during a visit when I looked through the window of the shop into the entrance hall there was a chick standing on the matt taking everything in. Clearly we couldn’t let him come any further but I somehow had to entice him out while keeping my distance – not an easy one!  Knowing their love of bright colours, I was finally able to entice him/her out by dangling Rick’s bright purple croc! We also have a few nests of very late chicks. One is just near the front door of the base at the bottom of the flagpole and we’re frequently asked about the chances of their survival. So far they seem to be doing ok and are already being left alone during the day as their parents go off in search for food. They huddle up together and yesterday they even seemed to be being baby-sat by one of the older chicks – it was very very sweet.  So far the Skuas have paid them no real attention and we can only hope it remains that way.

In the past few days we’ve had two elephant seals and a weddell seal come to pay a visit on Goudier Island. We still haven’t been too inundated by leopard seals ,as usually happens at this time of year, although the two resident leopard seals are often spotted patrolling the shores.  Passengers have seen them catching Gentoos during their zodiac cruises, but thankfully we haven’t seen so many ourselves.  The adult Gentoos who have raised their babies are also now moulting all over the island. They go off to sea for a long time to feed as once they start to moult they cannot return to the water for approximately three weeks until their new feathers have grown through and they’re waterproof once more.  The whole process requires a lot of energy and it looks so uncomfortable when you see quite long fluffy feathers all over their faces.  These are the feathers which take the longest to come through as they cannot preen them the same way they can peck at the rest of the feathers on their bodies. Again we are just grateful for the dry warm weather which makes the process slightly less harrowing for them and we always give these penguins a particularly wide-berth. We have also had a Giant Petrel hang around for a few days. These are huge pre-historic looking scavenger birds which fly on thermals. We had one here which was pecking away at the remains of a chick a Skua had caught.  He certainly didn’t leave much, but since the chick was already dead it didn’t seem quite so grizzly to watch although the photos really aren’t very pretty. On a lighter note, the little Sheathbill chick that hatched at the front door is doing well and there’s also another little chick at the back of the hut (right under my bed!).

Ship Visits and Other News!

February has been a very busy month with many back-to-back ships visits and a lot of yachts coming and going.  Two weeks ago we enjoyed our final visit with Prince Albert II and in typical PA II style, a real treat was in store!  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon when they came in and Captain Peter invited us all on board for the evening.  Sadly however towards the end of the evening the EL Ignacio decided that it was too beautiful an evening to stay at anchor in one place and asked Captain Peter if it was possible to change the itinerary and sail south down through the Lemaire. This is a narrow channel between two mountain ranges with stunning views all around. This would however mean that we would need to stay on board – DARN! . The only trouble was that we had two ships due the next day :-/. I’ll spare you the long version, but we had a little team huddle and agreed that Nikki and I would spend the next 24 hours on board and Rick and Laura would go on a trip to Wordie House (another old British base which the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust has just taken over responsibility for) within the next couple of weeks.  Within ten minutes our bags were packed and we were heading out the door. When we got on board we were ushered to the best suite on the ship once again, which was a huge treat and it didn’t take us long to make ourselves at home .  We had a delicious dinner with some of the expedition team before entering the Lemaire.  As promised it was a stunning evening and we sailed through, sipping champagne on the chilly deck, doing our best to take photos with our free hand!

The following morning we were up early and enjoyed not one but TWO zodiac cruises around Pleneau Island or the ‘Iceberg Graveyard’, as some call it. It’s actually a lot less grim than it sounds and is home to huge grounded icebergs which have been twisted and wound into all sorts of shapes by the tides and high winds that have swept against them.  It was a stunning, still day with beautiful blue skies so there were amazing reflections of the icebergs into the water. We weren’t the only ones enjoying the sunshine though as we cruised past crabeater and leopard seals snoozing on icefloes.

In the afternoon we sailed north back up through the Lemaire. On the aft deck, passengers enjoyed a BBQ, champagne and the two hot tubs with the stunning mountain scenery all around. It really was something else!  During this cruise we learned that our afternoon ship visit at Lockroy had cancelled and Rick said we could stay with the PA II for the afternoon as they were due to visit Dorian Bay. This is the bay around the corner from Lockroy that we visited with the team of the Ocean Nova earlier in the season. For the past few hours we had been in open water, enjoying the mountains and icebergs but had encountered very little wildlide. That ALL changed when we opened the door of the bridge and walked onto the bow – PENGUIN – ARGH!  Boy do they smell! It’s amazing what you can get used to when you live on a tiny island with 1800 penguins!  Even at anchor out in the bay it hits you like a truck – bless their little feathers!  We really enjoyed our final landing though and went ashore on the first scout boat with the team to prepare the site for the landing. We trekked up the snow hill laying out flagpoles as a guide for the guests, then arrived at the brow of the hill which allowed us to look down the other side and across the whole of Port Lockroy bay. We could see that a lot of icebergs and brash ice had blown into the bay overnight, which had made the main zodiac landing site inaccessible and a yacht was enjoying a visit. After they left we could see Rick back at work painting the windows. It was very strange looking down on life at Lockroy without us!  As with all good things, our little holiday had to come to an end. We said our goodbyes to the fantastic team and whizzed back around to Goudier Island by zodiac with our friends Captain Peter and Ignacio (the EL).  We enjoyed a final half hour with them enjoying a cup of tea and a Penguin biscuit .  Ignacio later emailed us to say it had been one of the highlights of his season . It was with huge sadness that we waved them goodbye and I just want to say thank you to everyone on board for all your kindness and hospitality towards our little team over the course of the season.

Soon enough it was time for Rick and Laura’s little sojourn and Nikki and I were home alone!  It was just for one particularly busy day (at our IAATO limit of 350 guests from Le Diamant and Quark’s Clipper Adventurer), but I amazed myself by actually loving giving the pre-landing briefings on board the ships and we had a great day .  Rick and Laura also had a very successful day at Wordie House (Argentine Islands) measuring up to work out what materials the Trust needs to bring south next year to restore the building to it’s former glory.

Having proved we could be trusted (!), Rick was happy to accept an invitation on board the National Geographic Endeavour to travel south across the Antarctic Circle to Detaille Island to check out the condition of another old British base. We had heard it was in fairly good shape, but given the Trust’s mission to restore and conserve British Antarctic Heritage it was too good an opportunity to miss.  This would be a two day trip and we were all fired up to run an all girl base!  Needless to say all the visiting passengers loved the novelty of it!  Over the course of the two days we enjoyed visits from Antarctic Dream, Polar Pioneer, Minerva and Shokalskiy. All the visits went really well and we were so hyper efficient that we even managed to fit in a bit of wildlife watching between visits. While waiting to be picked up from the whalers chains for the pre-landing briefing on Shokalskiy, we watched a couple of Minke whales cruising on by and in the evening enjoyed drinks on the rocks watching a couple of leopard seals playing in the water beneath us. Rick also really enjoyed his trip down to Detaille and I think it’s fair to say that a fun time was had by all.

Try as we may however, it’s hard to ignore that the season is coming to a close. The weather is still very good (unusually so according to Rick), however the dark evenings are drawing in and we’ve now said goodbye to many of our new friends. We’ve had some fun nights on board a number of the ships including karaoke on Corinthian (I’d like it to be noted for the record that Laura hid behind a pillar while Rick, Nikki and I were left to fend for ourselves singing Dancing Queen!) and Cosmo cocktails and a special Port Lockroy serenade by Dan, the flamenco guitar playing kayak guide on board Shokalskiy. That was a particularly memorable night and long after we were returned to the island, Nikki and I were still sitting down by the whalers chains in our immersion suits, giggling and laughing, looking back out at the ship’s lights in the bay.  You’ll be pleased to hear that Dan’s brilliant serenade was all captured on video and will be posted very soon!

One of the biggest surprises this month was a guest who came to stay.  During one of our scheduled maintenance days, we were sitting in the bunk room with the door shut having lunch when we suddenly heard loud footsteps in the hallway. It’s not the first time this has happened but it’s always a little disconcerting when you think you’re alone in the bay and all of a sudden you have unexpected company!  There was a knock at the door and when we cautiously opened it there was a sailor dressed in all his waterproofs. This was Daniel, a solo yachtsmen who is currently sailing around Antarctica single-handed.  Quite a feat.  Daniel is a former Czech psychologist who has so far sailed his boat the ‘Waterbird’ from New Zealand.  He stayed with us for a couple of days, enjoying meals and company with us and helping us out with some of the maintenance tasks around the base.  He fitted in beautifully in one of our bright orange Dickie suits, paintbrush in hand . It really was a breath of fresh air having him around. We were bit worried about him one night when we woke up to the base shaking, as a huge glacier calved right behind the Waterbird. We jumped up with our torches, but it was so dark we really couldn’t see much. The following day he said he slept straight through it and we discovered he’s obviously even more hardcore than we realised ;-.  For anyone who’s interested in following Daniel’s progress, his website is www.polarka.com.

We’ve also done very well food-wise this month with two particular treats.  Before Christmas I received a small but very heavy parcel from a town in Scotland where I definitely didn’t know anyone!  It was all very mysterious until I opened it to find a mail order Clootie Dumpling!  Most of you reading this are probably still none the wiser (!), but Clootie Dumpling is a traditional Scottish pudding of deep rich fruit, a bit like Christmas cake, which is then steamed in muslin to cook it. Delicious!  We were going to save it for Burns’ Night here, but I was loath to eat it without custard!!!  Eventually however we were given some and finally enjoyed that decadent treat. It happened to be while Daniel was here and I think it’s fair to say he also thoroughly enjoyed it as he had a grin from ear to ear!  The second surprise food-wise was from our friends Jack and Jean, the doctors on board Endeavour on our route south. They have worked on various National Geographic Lindblad expeditions throughout the season and have been very kind to us.  During our route south and over the course of the four months, Laura has become well-known for her fondness of ice-cream and during their last visit to us, Jack and Jean brought us all an ‘Ice-cream Revolution’ ice-cream maker  all the way from the US – GENIOUS!  It is essentially a plastic ball which you fill with ice and rock salt then you fill a metal cylinder in the middle with cream, vanilla essence and sugar, then shake and roll the ball around for 20 minutes. Laura and I were out gathering ice faster than you could say ice-pick and we had a delicious bowl of ice-cream, stewed apples and cream. Port Lockroy heaven! Thank you so much Jack and Jean for such a thoughtful gift. We will definitely be recommending that rock salt is added to the 09/10 Port Lockroy shopping list so that our successors can enjoy the same treat .

So that’s you all up to date.  It’s now a day later and our final full day at Port Lockroy.  My Post Office Peli cases have gone back to Stanley and our suitcases are all packed.  All that remains is for us to thoroughly scrub out Bransfield House and say our goodbyes to our little penguin friends.

This truly has been the most incredible experience.  We’ve met so many kind and inspirational people who I will never forget.  I will be incredibly sad to say goodbye to our temporary home and all the people that we’ve met, but I am really looking forward to coming home and seeing all of my friends and family, who I have dearly missed.

Tomorrow morning we will receive our last groups of guests to the Living Museum, Post Office and Shop, before we join them to sail north back to Ushuaia on board the Akademik Sergey Vavilov. En route, we will make a couple of landings before crossing the Drake Passage, arriving back in Ushuaia on 7 February. We will have one day there before flying north to Buenos Aires on 8th and arriving home on 12th March.

I will try to make a couple more short entries on the way home, but just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me with this and followed my progress over the course of the past few months.   Extra special mentions must go to Mum, Dad and Lorna ,as I don’t think I’d have been brave enough to do this without their support and also to Ralph and Elaine who have provided a home and taken such good care of Chloe, my much-loved furry friend .  Thank you.

Well all that remains is to say a final  ‘over and out’  from Port Lockroy and I can’t wait to tell you all about my adventures in person when I get home.