Firm ground (ice!!!!) at last

Following a quick safety briefing from the Halley Base commander, we were ushered to our cabins to finish packing and change bedding and clean up in readiness for disembarking our dishwasher, sorry ship. It has been a bit confusing at times....

Beautiful blue skies, a gentle but icy breeze ( about -2 but with windchill -5ish) a skidoo with painful looking trailer and a welcoming party of about 30 penguins. Kitted out in our thermal winter togs and bags offloaded, now it was our turn. The gangway was impossible to use because of the distance to the ice so we were dropped onto the ice, by the war geordy ( not sure if thats spelt right) and the smaller crane. Once on the ice it was straight onto the skidoo and up the ramp to the ice shelf, and to the caboose, to wait for the rest.

The views were fantastic, the winds bitterly cold but glorious sunshine to boot, the only thing missing were a few sledges for a run back down the ramp..

It took about 20 minutes to offload everyone ( 9 of us) and luggage ready for the trip over to Halley V and the Halley VI construction site. After we have left the ship the Relief begins in ernest to offload the Cargo of food, materials, equipment and some 2500 fuel drums. The ships crew and team from Halley work around the clock for anything up to a week to complete this operation then load the ship with the waste from the previous 12 months to be dropped at the Falklands.

Preferred mode of transport for the journey, which is actually 15 km inland ( ok ok ice....) was by Snowcat and trailer but what the hell we (the 4 intrepid male explorers) opted for the hardcore trailer along with 5 ton bags of timber sent over for the bbq (braai), tight squeeze but worth the experience all day long. This also gave us our first taster of the ferocity of the south polar sun, the relentless power of the high uv due to the hole in the ozone (which by chance is right above us!!!), and was discovered by BAS at Halley, but also the reflection from the snow and ice. The sunburn reaches places you wouldn't believe....

I am struggling to get photos uploaded from here but I have the IT department working on it for me ;)

On the Continent!

It seems like ages since i've updated the blog but hopefully now we are settling in to the Halley way of life, it will be easier to update. I thought things were slow and awkward with the computers on the ship, but believe me that was luxury compared to Halley ( about 6 computers between about 70 of us).

There's been a lot to take in since we arrived last Saturday so i'll have to bring things up to speed over the next few nights.

Halley is the name of the British Antarctic Survey research station on the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. There have been 5 over the years in varying forms ( will post some pics when i get chance of the previous bases) with the fifth coming to the end of its life recently. Halley VI is a totally new design concept ( or at least it was 6 years ago when the project started) and I am privileged to be part of something so unique, challenging and amazingly remote!!

We eventually reached the Brunt Ice shelf on Saturday morning (25th December) at about 08.30. There are a number of options as to where the ship can dock alongside the sea ice creeks but unfortunately due to the harsh nature of the weather and environment mooring the ship to enable the safe unloading of the immense amount of cargo was going to prove challenging.

A few days prior to our arrival a team from Halley had prepared the creek with marker flags, tested the stability and suitability of the sea ice and carved and groomed a ramp up through the Ice shelf. The preceeding weather had caused quite a bit of erosion to the upper levels of the sea ice leaving a large ice foot (or underhang) beneath the surface that the Shackleton was unable to break off despite numerous attempts. How bizarre to be standing on deck as the ship crunched head long into, and glided gracefully up on to the thick slab of ice. Only then to slide back to the waters in defeat.

The captain eventually decided that he would moor at this location as the remaining creeks were pretty much the same. This meant that there was quite a gap for the ship to safe ground ( hey too easy to forget you're on ice!!!) we were joined on board by Matt the Halley Base Commander in readiness to land on Antarctica and journey on to Halley.

sorry but its getting late and i've got quite a bit to catch up on, more to come tomorrow........

Update

Just thought I would let everyone know that we might not hear from Neil for a few days. I spoke to him yesterday evening and he confirmed that they had arrived at the landing bay that had been prepared for the ship. Unfortunately the weather over the last few days had caused ice to build up around the landing bay which made it impossible to moor. This bay is 12km over the ice to get to Halley and if they couldn't moor there the other option they had was a landing bay which is 50km from Halley, so not ideal. They were eagar to moor and unload as the materials that are on the ship are desperately needed at Halley. Anyway when they do finally moor there will be a few heavy days of work to unload the ship and to get settled in their accomodation. Communication is poor at Halley as they only have 3 computers to share between everyone and for some reason he will not be able to use his laptop whilst he is there. This means that opportunities to update the blog may be few and far between. 

Amanda

We've arrived

Christmas Shackleton style!

Merry Christmas from the RRS Shackleton!!!!!!!

Our Christmas festivities have been brought forward to the 24th due to our iminent arrival at Halley and the Brunt ice shelf, so to begin with style for our Christmas Eve the crew joined us in the red room and we proceeded to drink the beer fridge dry! and then some!!!! the supply of beer and cider appeared endless. We joined Matt ( who is going to Signy as Base Commander) in the galley to assist with making a nice pan of Mulled Wine. I took charge of the music and DJ Nej rocked the night away with some classic tunes from the 90's followed by some corkers from the 80's......have some good video clips of the dancing.....most of us had turned in by about 04:00 with the prospect of a 09:15 Sit Rep and Relief briefing!!!! funnily enough there were no hangovers as most were still inebriated ;)

The real wake up was at 10:00, the captain managed to find a suitable slab of ice to wedge the ship into, and the game was on!!!!! Football, extreme Antarctic Style!!! We played for about an hour! What a scream! ended up a bit of a mix of football and rugby due to the fact that the pitch (ice) had a good foot or so of surface snow!! To think that we have played football in one of the most extreme locations on earth, in the Weddell sea, on the sea ice (approx 1 metre

thick) with about 3.5km of water beneath us was absolutely mind blowing!!!

The series of unbelievable events is the only thing that is managing to keep the edge off the fact that this is the first Christmas away from my beautiful wife and children, and belive me that's b****y tough!!! I love and miss you guys more than i can ever tell you!!!!!!  xxx

12:00 and we congregated on the Foc'sle (the front part of the ship) for the traditional Christmas carols, Mulled wine and mince pies.. between us we put on a pretty good show!!

14:00 and time to be seated for Christmas dinner. Ray and Rab did an astounding job in catering for us with an impressive 5 course feast that would easliy grace the tables of any top notch restaurant!!  Well done boys!!

Needless to say the beer fridge is nearly dry again and its only just 11pm, although the steward was prepared for tonight with a few crates in reserve.... The music is blasting and spirits are high ( should make for some interesting sights tomorrow)

Not far to go now until we should reach open water for the final leg to Halley although we have been informed that they are expecting a blow this weekend.

Merry christmas to all the followers of this blog, your interest and messages of support are fabulous and i'm chuffed that my gorgeous wife has been able to set this up to enable me/us to share our experiences on this trip of a lifetime..

On that note i'd better dry my eyes and try and find my beer!!!!!!

CHEERS!!!!!!!

So near yet so far!!

Well that basically sums up our current situation!!

It's been such a mix of good progress and dead ends, thin ice (half a metre or so thick) to pretty good thick ice ( between 10-15 feet ) the best being 2 days ago when we were jammed solid.

The crew displaced all of the remaining fuel to the starboard tanks, then the main crane was swung around to no avail. On with one of the shipping containers and that was swung over the ice! Final task was to flood the ballast tanks with 40 tonnes of sea water with not alot of movement at first. Then the ship gradually began to list to about 20 degrees, which made walking around quite interesting ( just as well it was too early for a beer!!!!)  I think that was the longest we've been stuck (or temporarily stopped as the bridge like to call it) approximately 12 hours. Cant believe how much time we've spent drifting with the ice!!

On Tuesday we managed to arrange, with Jamie the chief engineer, for a tour of the computer rooms and the engine rooms. What an awesome setup! To understand and appreciate the technology ( albeit a tad dated) that is involved with the ships operation was amazing. The ability it has to divert power and energy via various routes and the operations that the ship undertakes in the north sea during its summer as a DPO vessel (dynamic positioning). I will go into a bit more detail sometime when i've got a bit more detail myself...

The captain decided that yesterday would be a good opportunity for a group photo. Jen the doc volunteered to act as photographer and was placed onto the ice with Duncan Cameron (logistics) who has been south before as an outdoor guide for a winter. Very jealous of that experience!! If you look very closely you can see me on both of the Christmas photos.

We are now amongst the lucky few to be able to say that we have travelled in the Weddell Sea!!!!! I think we are currently in the Deutschland Cove??? The satellite pics of the ice are proving interesting, I think we still have a good 50-60 miles of ice to navigate but do seem to be heading in the right direction.

Prep is under way for tomorrow! Christmas dinner on the RRS Ernest Shackleton yet another first!!! For our 24th December celebrations we have.....

10:00 (weather and conditions permitting) football and photos on the ice!!!!!!!!!!

12:00 carols in the red room, which i'm led to believe Rich has been recruited as head choirboy due to his welsh heritage....

followed by

14:00 Christmas Dinner!!!!!

The menu is pretty impressive too with a selection of starters, crab soup, springbok steak and a fancy pate. A choice of Turkey, belly pork and roast beef. Brocolli, roast parsnips, cauliflower gratin, roast pots, a fancy mash and croquets followed by xmas pud and brandy, Trifle and another that I cant remember....Then cheese and biscuits with port and all topped off with an irish coffee. If I am not careful they will be rolling me down the walkway when we arrive :)

As i type we have ground to a halt yet again!!!

I think it will be another night for the film club - me, Richie and Jaibo- although we've already managed most of the good films and the complete back catalogue of only fools and horses!!!! Class viewing..

The wildlife has been a little sparse, with a few leapord  and elephant seals, a mild splattering of penguins (which are difficult to capture with a point and shoot) and a good selection of Petrels. Oh and a sighting of a whale in one of the pools.

Well after being diagnosed with tendonitis, i'd better go and put my feet up with a nice cold beer or 2 or 3..........

Merry Christmas