Crossing the Antarctic Circle was a big deal for me and I was on the bridge when the satnav ( SURELY IT WAS A BIT MORE TECHNICAL THAN THAT) read 66° 33’ South!!! On the morning of 1 January 2008 - we had made it. A huge grin on all of our faces. and a little relived as we would have felt cheated had we not been able to come this far south. That was always a distinct possibility as the sea ice around Antarctica was greater this last winter than since records began. So much for global warming.
We landed at Detaille island, which was san abandoned British Antarctic Survey base. They had left in the mid 50s when Gill and Deryn were mere girls, over 50 years ago!! None of our team had ever been there before and they estimated that only about 200 people would get there in any one year, and we were the first 50 in 2008. The island was populated with crabeater and weddel seals and skuas However, the main attractions were a small number of wooden huts, untouched since the 50s. As Antarctica is technically a desert and gets less than 10cm of rain equivalent snow per year, the air is very dry and so nothing rots, and the huts were in an amazing condition. They looked as if the previous inhabitants had left in hurry, mail was scattered about, pots in the sink, coats and skis hanging up, beds unmade and the stores of food – HP sauce,, tins of porridge oats, pickle, biscuits, salad cream, were all stacked neatly in the cupboards, it was fascinating and we felt privileged to see all this stuff.
However, the main excitement of the day was to come. After dinner, Martin informed us that those of us who had elected a nights camping ( seemed like a good idea last March in London) would spend the night under polypropylene (modern day canvas?) on Detaille Island that night – buggers and we were just getting comfortable. So back into our multilayered cold weather gear, back onto the zodiacs and at 9pm we were flattening the snow (in a blizzard) and pitching flimsy, dome tents designed for somewhere else. Derek and I were to share a tent (and he had complained about my snoring keeping him awake in the cabin )– this was going to be a nightmare for him – but not for me as I would be asleep !!
Tents pitched, we had taken a chemical loo ashore and it needed to have some nice snow walls built around if for privacy and so this was the next task. I managed to avoid the tough job of building the walls of snow, but did manage to get a spade into my hands for the photo!!
By now it was 10pm, broad daylight – so what to do now as sleeping was going to be tough. We climbed to the top of the island, and were rewarded with great views, but also got dive bombed by large skuas protecting their nest. We saw where the dogs would have lived for the Brits sledging exhibitions to the interior, and we watched the seals, you do have to make your own entertainment as there is not much Antarctica night life!!!! However, I had a secret stash, although we had been told not to take any foreign materials ashore – I had a bottle of Veuve Cliquot and a Cohiba which 5 of us shared sitting in the snow outside the tent (like kids behind the bike shed!) and a memorable bottle and cigar is was too.
I slept like a log – Derek didn’t.
We landed at Detaille island, which was san abandoned British Antarctic Survey base. They had left in the mid 50s when Gill and Deryn were mere girls, over 50 years ago!! None of our team had ever been there before and they estimated that only about 200 people would get there in any one year, and we were the first 50 in 2008. The island was populated with crabeater and weddel seals and skuas However, the main attractions were a small number of wooden huts, untouched since the 50s. As Antarctica is technically a desert and gets less than 10cm of rain equivalent snow per year, the air is very dry and so nothing rots, and the huts were in an amazing condition. They looked as if the previous inhabitants had left in hurry, mail was scattered about, pots in the sink, coats and skis hanging up, beds unmade and the stores of food – HP sauce,, tins of porridge oats, pickle, biscuits, salad cream, were all stacked neatly in the cupboards, it was fascinating and we felt privileged to see all this stuff.
However, the main excitement of the day was to come. After dinner, Martin informed us that those of us who had elected a nights camping ( seemed like a good idea last March in London) would spend the night under polypropylene (modern day canvas?) on Detaille Island that night – buggers and we were just getting comfortable. So back into our multilayered cold weather gear, back onto the zodiacs and at 9pm we were flattening the snow (in a blizzard) and pitching flimsy, dome tents designed for somewhere else. Derek and I were to share a tent (and he had complained about my snoring keeping him awake in the cabin )– this was going to be a nightmare for him – but not for me as I would be asleep !!
Tents pitched, we had taken a chemical loo ashore and it needed to have some nice snow walls built around if for privacy and so this was the next task. I managed to avoid the tough job of building the walls of snow, but did manage to get a spade into my hands for the photo!!
By now it was 10pm, broad daylight – so what to do now as sleeping was going to be tough. We climbed to the top of the island, and were rewarded with great views, but also got dive bombed by large skuas protecting their nest. We saw where the dogs would have lived for the Brits sledging exhibitions to the interior, and we watched the seals, you do have to make your own entertainment as there is not much Antarctica night life!!!! However, I had a secret stash, although we had been told not to take any foreign materials ashore – I had a bottle of Veuve Cliquot and a Cohiba which 5 of us shared sitting in the snow outside the tent (like kids behind the bike shed!) and a memorable bottle and cigar is was too.
I slept like a log – Derek didn’t.
