Day 6 In the morning we landed in Port Lockroy. A British outpost built in the 1940s. This was the time pre antarctic treaty when people we trying to stake their claims to Antarctica. A post office box was officially placed there specifically for this purpose. The outpost became an important scientific research base recording important meteorological data and making the first measurements of the ionosphere critical for the understanding of radio communication. The cabins are now a museum occupied during the summer months. You can still see all their scientific equipment, bunks, clothes, tools and skis,. The site is now occupied mainly by Gentoo penguins, there were also two other curious creatures- a Welshman and his American wife. They were carpenters occupied with the maintenance and upkeep of the cabins. I decided this would be a good chance to try and snap a photo with my Irish flag and wheel with some ice bergs and penguins in the back ground. While setting out my flag a was visited by a very curious penguin. He hopped about on the flag and pecked at the unusual colours, he even had a look at the penguin that was drawn on my flag. A curious fellow indeed. He waddled about me pecking at my jacket and pants and generally checking me out. He spent a good ten to 15 minutes hanging about, playing and wondering what type of idiot brings a wheel to Antarctica?. After a while he figured he knew as much as we wanted to know and waddled off with his wings thrown back. We spent a few hours there observing the thousand of penguins and, absorbing the beautiful surroundings. After that in the afternoon we headed back to the boat for some lunch and in the afternoon made a second landing at another site on the other side of the bay to see the remains of some giant whale bones (that were now penguin furniture) and observed some resting Weddell seals. Back on board we were treated to a barbecue on the outside deck. Fully geared up with hats and coats eating outside in below zero temperatures. Shorty after the barbecue some of the group was shuttled off the boat and landed in at our original landing sight for our nights camping on Antarctica. Everywhere on the island was coated with a layer of snow. We all straight away went in search of our camp spot. The previous night for the campers was beautifully clear but in the morning a storm had swept in. Bitter cold winds swept through the campsite during the early morning. To give us some shelter I got a shovel and dug out a section large enough to fit three sleeping bags and built some raise mounds around us to protect it from the wind. The space was sufficient to attract 2 female occupants. I can only imagine Sir David Attenborough narrating the scene for one of his BBC wildlife programmes And so, in an attempt to win the females favour the male picks up a shovel a begins to build a comfortable nest. The females watch curiously unsure whether the males efforts are worthy of their occupancy. When it looks like the male has built something resembling a nest two females move in. One female (Celine) decides to move her bag and quickly the space is occupied by another female. The male surveys his nest and concludes that the sweat he has now built up on his back and that is likely to freeze during the night causing him hypothermia has been worth it. Men are rather short sighted individuals. The little nest was occupied by a German girl by the name of Ines and a lovely Scottish lass by the name of Emma Thomson. Emma was a free lance writer who has published work by the Independent in the U.K and, National Geographic among others. When our sleeping arrangements were made up Pablo our Argentinean camping guide came and told us the story of the island and how a young mans demise lead to the island being given its name. The island was named after an unfortunate young sailor by the name of Carl Wienke. Weinke was a sailor on the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897-1899 lead by Adrien de Gerlache of which Roald Amundsen was the first mate. Later of course Admundsen would lead his own expedition to the claim the South Pole for Norway narrowly beating Englishman Robert Falcon Scott who died frozen in his tent with 2 other officers on their way back from the pole; having discovered the Norwegians flag already in place. Weinke was working with another crew member taking speed measurements by counting the amount of knots on a rope being pulled out by the vessels movements. As he did so he was pulled over board by the rope. When he fell into the water he held on to the rope. The crew frantically pulled him in but it was too late the icy grip of Antarctica waters took him. He was only within an arms length of being rescued but severe cold had froze him and he slipped off the rope and into an icy grave. They say 3 minutes in the frozen Antarctic water will kill you. With darkness descending we decided to turn in for the night. The only equipment we had was an arctic sleeping bag set. So we would be sleeping unrestricted under the Antarctic stars (or clouds in this case). The sleeping bag set included one cotton sleeping bag liner, one large down sleeping bag, one outer water proof sleeping bag, another water proof outer Gortex breathable water proof outer layer. A Therma-rest sleeping mat and beneath that another foam mat. The set was sufficient for around -30 C I figured. We however would only be sleeping in around -5 to -10 C during the night. Have you ever stripped off to your underware in the snow and got into a sleeping bag without having a tent and ground sheet to stand on? Its more difficult than you think. There was a lot of stumbling and around and inventive maneuvers made to get into the bags without getting too cold or wet or falling over. When we were all settled in Emma asked me to tell them some stories of some of the adventures I found myself in on my trip. At the end of my third story I inquired of the girls whether they had heard enough. There was not a peep out of them. I had put them to sleep with my apparently not-so exciting stories of high adventure. I had been babbling on to myself it seemed. Though i did hear a compliment back from someone that Emma said she went to sleep with the soothing words of an Irishman, so that made up for it. That night i spent I spent a very uncomfortable night. Snow had been falling on us all night and my little breather hole was saturated with melted snow and began to trickle into my bag. Every movement inside the bag seemed so loud as to disturb your neighbours sleep so I tired to limit my usual rolls and turns as I searched for that illusive sleep inducing comfort position, but I never found it. We were woke up at 5.30 am by Pablo.We packed our gear in the snowy morning and were shuttled back to Ortelius for some warming grub and a wee snooze. My snooze was cut short however when I was called from my cabin and told I was up for Kayaking due to a drop out. After about a seconds contemplation I was back putting on my gear preparing to hit kayaks.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 21:14:03 +0000
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