nearing the end.. sob...

Sorry (again!) for being so irregular with posting on here! It has been very busy and very interesting couple of weeks since my last post. We got out of Pine Island Bay, just in time according the next day’s sea ice map! We did a lot of trawls and some people went ashore to an un-named island in Pine Island Bay. This trip involved 2 boats, each holding one navigating officer (Tim – 1st Mate in one and Jamie – 3rd Mate in the other), 2 scientists (James and CD in one (GEOs) and Peter and Steffi in the other (BIOs)) and 1 other person (Ralph – 4th engineer in one and Tony – AB in the other). The objectives of the trip were:
To collect penguin guano (aka poo) from rock surface on the un-named island for radiocarbon dating.
Identify and survey raised beaches and sample them for organic material (penguin bones, seal skin etc) suitable for dating.
Got some nice photos of the boats on the way to the island, the internet is slowly improving so will hopefully upload some soon.
We also went trawling for corals, for dating purposes, which unfortunately we didn’t find. It was then off to the Polar front, looking for core sites, mainly for Claire, who wanted thick sediment, preferably ~10m of Holocene. This was pretty much the entire point of her coming on the JCR, but unfortunately she found very little of any use to her. So we then slowly made our way west looking for core sites as we went, and arrived in Rothera on the morning of the 3rd, earlier (!) than planned, after doing a live animal trawl in Ryder Bay just by Rothera. My shift had been very, very busy the night before, so I slept through the announcements about us arriving, and my cabin-mates getting up (Tara is now in mine and Hilary’s room too), so I missed our arrival.
Since we arrived, we have all been on shifts helping out with the unloading and loading of the ship. Most of the time, we have just been hanging around, but it has been nice helping out when we can. Yesterday we went down into the lower hold, and I went down a ladder to get there (it was the only way!) so I am feeling particularly proud of myself. Thursday evening we had an end of cruise party to which the Rothera winterers were invited. So drinks in the bar started at 6pm, food at 7pm (buffet including sausage rolls, and chicken satay sticks, plus a curry) and then sitting around chatting to everyone. Despite everyone on the ship knowing each other, apart from some introductions at the beginning, the room very quickly separated in scientists, officers and winterers! When there is separation like that, which happens most nights in the bar with some exceptions, I nearly always chat with the officers (mainly the engineers) as they have far more interesting stories to tell! They have all travelled all over the world with various ships (containers, cruise liners, RFA – Royal Fleet Auxiliary etc). It was a good party, finishing reasonably early due to Rothera’s normal rule of 2 cans per night not applying, and most people not doing any shifts (though some were on call, and the 2nd engineer – Tom was on duty) so everyone rather fell on the alcohol!
Today – skiing! In the morning we (GEOs) went to Fuchs House (Rothera) to borrow some skiing gear (skis, boots, poles) and then went to The Ramp (!). Here the two guys, who were field assistants, dragged us up the slope on skidoos. Those who were comfortable skiers were towed behind (2 behind each skidoo) and those who weren’t sat in the back space (1 person on each skidoo). The first time I went up on the back, and skied relatively happily down. The next few times I was towed up, almost as fun as the skiing, but very hard work on the arms as you go quite fast, up a reasonably steep slope, just holding onto a rope! The snow was really good, and the slope was just right for me (blue-ish), which was great. I felt pretty happy going down it, and didn’t fall over (until the end….). They gave me touring skis, which were interesting, as the bindings were very difficult for me to do up by myself. Each ski also attaches to each leg with a lanyard so if you fall over and the bindings release, the skis don’t go off on their own into the sea or into the fur seals near the bottom! We did a few runs each, then decided to head over to Vals aka The Bowl. This involved a 5 minute tow, I managed to not fall over on this and only let the rope slip through my grasp once. Claire – in the back of the skidoo, got the guy driving to stop and he came back for me. However this achievement has left me with very, very sore arm muscles, far more painful than my legs! We eventually all got there, but the skidoo ahead of us got bogged down in snow part the way up the slope there, so after some discussion and experimentation, it was decided that the snow was too soft for the skidoos to get up the slope, never mind tow anyone. So we sat in the caboose, a little hut containing a stove and a lot of food (mostly out of date!) and drank coffee. It took over half an hour to boil the snow in order to make the coffee! We also tried some of the biscuits and dried fruit there, and were dared to try the ‘French Rabbit’ Merlot (in a small carton like one for fruit juice) as it was considered terrible by the Rothera winterers! It wasn’t too bad…. Then after many pictures, we got towed back and did a couple of runs on the original slope. On the last one, I decided to try to do a little (very little!) jump at the end, and managed to do quite a spectacular ‘faceplant’ (Lewis’ phrase). It just went wrong from the moment I took off, landed, rolled a couple of times, and then went face first into the snow quite hard. My nose still hurts! A couple of the others were at the bottom and found it quite funny once I had given the thumbs up that I was ok. I then gathered my skis and started to walk back to the base, but halfway there I realised my glasses were gone, cue major panic and rush back to the bottom of the slope, where a few of us searched for them. I had almost given up when Paul found them, a little bent but intact. Phew!
More later….