Day 6 in pack ice December 10^th 2023

Like standing next to a friendly cow who occasionally bumps against you, it’s a nudge not a shove that makes you clearly aware that something more substantial is in your presence.

These 6 days in ice have brought us to a similar experience. Whilst we endeavoured to push and move through the ice pack in the first 3 days, the use of fuel and time on deck soon convinced our leader to rest, wait and enjoy the safety of the pack ice.

In the last 24 hours our ice boundary and protection around NanuQ has changed quite dramatically, the thickness of ice flows has diminished by at least 50% and the ice flow dimensions much smaller.

Yesterday it would have been possible to test the kites on the ice flows, today you would need a wet suite.

Sea temperatures still remain at -1.5 to -1.6 degrees C whilst air flows coming from the north have varied from -3.5c to +0.5 and this is a marked difference from 3 days ago when reaching – 6 C.

Like cows who see greener grass over the fence our ice flows are becoming impatient to move. In my sleep I enjoy my cows nudging and bumping softly, white as milk and gentle.

Forecast winds in the next 3 days will bring much needed NE to SE stiff winds which should open more of our route in the Bellingshausen sea to Smyley Island 290 nautical miles away.

68 02 South, 74 10 West

Stephen

 

 

4^th of December 2023

Life in a Dutch Oven

I’m living these days in a Dutch oven, possibly one of the most expensive Dutch ovens ever built.

Well, there’s ovens and then there’s oven’s and let me tell you this Dutch oven really “bakes the cake” so to speak.

Designed and built in the Netherlands nothing has been left out in the creation of what is possibly the pinnacle of polar expedition ovens, heat and energy by the bucket loads, cooling comes of course with the typical geographical surrounds and the owner prides himself in ensuring there is plenty of optimum fuel supply to keep the “Stokers” boiling.

Let me introduce you to the Stokers:

Grand poo bah and leader is Bart, top shelf stoker and owner who never lets anything hold him down (or back), solid, strong, reliable and born to win, impressive.

Arnold, holds his own in the line of stokers, and his presence is felt (and smelt) whenever he walks in the room, but forgetting all of that he has the most unique laugh that I have ever found on the planet, professional mountaineer who eats Everest for breakfast.

Sander, kind, sensitive, meditative, sociable with a cheeky school boy tendency combined with that jolly Dutch charm I often imagine him coming out of bed in clogs.

Jelle (pronounced Yella) brings the line-up of Dutch together with his passion for sailing, he can sniff out the nuts and bolts on board from a mile away, great in the galley along with a rolling chuckle that can only make you smile.

Imported Stokers on board come from opposite ends of the earth, both small islands with nice quirky people.

Ken from New Foundland is one of those silent but deadly people, small on words but when he speaks, he makes a statement. Professional stone mason and top shelf ice and rock climber Ken and I quite often look at each other across the saloon and silently scratch the inside of our heads trying for the life of us to understand what the hell are these Duch blokes are on about ?

And well there’s me, the wrinkly Tasmanian, oldest of the team, comes with a bucket of thunder in his pants on occasions, and endeavours to put a slightly different perspective to anything if it means there’s a chance for a laugh and a smile.

Current Dutch Oven position: 67 36 degrees South, 69 28 West, just off the SW coast line of Adelaide Island, western side of the Peninsular, outside temp at 5am is -2.3 C and the sea water temperature is -1.0 C, no darkness these days as we are well past the Antarctic circle, just some twilight which dwindles more as we head further south.

Let the methane roar as we stoke the oven some more !

Stephen

 

24^th of November 2023

Lord, shine a little light on me

The Falklands, have you ever been there ? hmmm maybe not, but if you like things a little English, well you have come to the right place.

The Falklands is more English than England in many ways, but that is slowly changing in the years that I have been visiting. Back in 2003 there were a few Saint Helenian’s living here with the Falklanders, and then slowly over the years the nationality pool is becoming certainly diverse, lots of Chilean, African, Filipino’s and the list goes on an on. Even to the point here in 2023 that its becoming quite difficult to find a worker who is actually a Falkland islander.

A word that seems to be regularly popping up in my vocabulary quite regularly since I arrived here 10 days ago is ‘Quirky” and that goes for so many aspects of life here in Falklands.

The many quirky things that you encounter and experience here are not always easy to put your finger on, like the fact that you can park a car on whichever side of the road, and in any direction you feel like. Or in the many pub’s that you may visit in the evening they always cover and close every window, so you never actually know whether there’re open or not until the door knob turns and you find that its packed with 60 people jammed into a tiny space (probably where the breeding often happens)

The Falklands may be close to the end of the world but the technology here is astounding, there are Wifi hotspots at the visitor center, coffee shop and even the supermarket ! all you need is a £5 or 10 pound Sure Spot phone card and you get incredible line speed which equates to a Tortoise climbing Mount Everest, but it gets better, every time your half way through sending a message the line drops out for a minute or two, so your laptop has to start all over again, brilliant I say.

But the really impressive thing is the Islands gave a 12 year communications monopoly to Cable and Wireless and its illegal to import any other type of communications system to the island for you to use. I spoke with a local last night and they said that on a normal month they spend £200 to 250 Pounds per month just with their normal life of phone and internet.

As a Tasmanian it is regularly said that you can experience 4 seasons in one day in the “Apple Isle”, Bah Humbug !! come to the Falklands and you get 20 seasons and that’s just in 12 hours, and if you get a bad spell then they throw in heaven and hell just to spice up your reflexes a bit for no extra charge.

But there are so many great things that you can get here which can never be bought in nearby South America, like; Cheddar cheese, Chocolate Hob Nobs, Pickled onions, Warm English beer and a right royal pain in the ass if your not polite.

Great to be back, but please lord could we have a little more sunshine.

Stephen