Northern Mode

The "South" season finally came to an end as we headed north from Stanley. A three week cruise northwards across the tropics. Just what the Doctor ordered after our time in the ice.

We stopped off very briefly at Cape Verde for fuel and then continued north enjoying the tropical weather. all on board were now looking forward to arrival in the Uk and signing off after a long but enjoyable three months on board.

Southern Ramblings has pretty much shut down for the Southern Winter and will pick up once we are headed south again.

In the meantime this July finds us in the Northern climes, Stavanger in Norway to be exact. This is about as far north as Stanley in the FI's is south. Long endless summer days.




We're mobilising to go out into the North sea where we will supply subsea ROV support for the attachment of a new Azimuth pod for a FPSO. This is a change from out normal activities out here, which revolve mostly around tedious inspections on Subsea installations. I am not complaining it pays the bills.




We will be in northern mode until mid October sometime when once again we will dock in Immingham and prepare ourselves for our journey down south. Another season down south awaits.

THE WEDDING

On the morning of Saturday 26th March a very special celebration for our ship was conducted in the Island’s beautifully preserved old Chapel. Julia Forde (Chef) and Tim Patterson (AB) were married in a service given by the ships Captain. The preparations for this had begun two weeks prior as the vessel departed Stanley when we all discovered that Tim had proposed. Cakes and Origami flowers were made. Dresses prepared Speeches and readings practiced. The whole ship and the KEP base got behind the idea of a wonderfully unique wedding.






Nothing disappointed on the day. The KEP Govt Rep Bob Patterson led Julia into the chapel with bagpipes. Captain Harper set a warm, heartfelt and humorous tone. This was followed by several choke backed readings from sources as varied as The Bible, Tom Waits, The Velveteen Rabbit and more. Rob the base commander accompanied our rather rusty singing attempts on the fiddle. The Church bells announcing the the union to some rather startled looking seals and penguins.



Once the ceremony was completed we all gathered outside the chapel for photographs and a toast to the newly wed couple. They were piped down the hill to their waiting Limousine, a pick-up truck, which ferried them back to the ship.

"So if you find someone
Someone to have, someone to hold
Don't trade it for silver
Don't trade it for gold

I have all of life's treasures
And they are fine and they are good
They remind me that houses
Are just made of wood
What makes a house grand
Is not the roof or the doors
If there's love in a house, It's a palace for sure."

The celebrations continued into the afternoon and were capped with a Brazilian style barbecue prepared by Ralph, our chief mate, who is a resident of that country. Huge big swords stuck in the earth with sides of cow skewered thereto and glowing coals all around. Something different and exotic to enjoy and yummy it certainly was.






Later on the wedding cake appeared with figurines handmade by Andy Rutter of the engineering dept. A few more speeches and messages from absent friends were read out. This pretty much concluded a very busy and memorable day for all.

Thanks to all who contributed to making this a special occasion that will be talked about for a long time to come.





































































































The Vessel headed off early the next morning for Bird Island were we back-loaded cargo and personnel in less than ideal conditions. We then departed for Stanley, our last call before heading north to the UK. An amazing season down south comes to an end.

We arrived back in Stanley on Wednesday the 30th in the evening to discharge cargo and disembark Base personnel not coming north with us. The cargo work got underway first thing on Thursday morning and the those not involved scattered in the Falkland winds to go and explore.

The few evenings we had in port were well used in trying out the feeding troughs and watering holes of the Island. There are more of these than the layman may think. This culminated in a spontaneous bash on the ship on Thursday evening that carried on into Friday morning. Music and dancing and even a song along with lyrics supplied to what has now become a Shackleton standard. "The Sloop John B". The messroom was almost empty at breakfast, a clear sign that a good night had been enjoyed by all .

The end of these cruises always evokes a melancholic mixture of emotions, happiness to be going home and sadness at missing new friends and the wonderful places the ship has taken us. It now seems pretty empty and quiet around here.

We are now on our way north to the UK and due to arrive in early May. Hopefully there will be some good warm weather along the way.

Potted Men

Images by Andris Kubulins, Andy Walder and myself

South Georgia - King Edward Point (KEP)

On Friday the 25Th March we approached Bird Island early in the morning just as it was getting light. It was immediately obvious that the seas and winds were not favourable. It was thus decide that we go on to King Edward point to complete out work there. This is close to the site of the old Whaling station Grytviken that was closed in the early sixties. Everybody was looking forward to what we had deemed the highlight of our trip and we were not disappointed. As we approached the weather cleared and winds dropped to present us with a near perfect day. WE were tied up by 11am and soon the cargo work was underway. Every person on board not involved in cargo was very soon on the way ashore exploring the various aspects of the Island. The Whaling station and Shackleton's gravesite were two of the most visited sites.

On a personal note after almost seventeen years of trying I have finally made it here and it was with great reverence that I sat beside the gravestone of one of the all time greats of Human exploration. The setting is awesome and scope and the magnitude of this man's achievements can scarcely be measured or appreciated in modern terms. Humbling indeed.

The brief opportunity given to us walk around and admire the island and it's history was greatly appreciated by all. Thank you Captain John Harper.

Rothera - Lamaire Channel - Deception Island

The ship arrived at Rothera Base on Thursday 17th of March. Once the vessel was tied up work on the cargo and fuel transfer began immediately. We were quite pressed for time and needed to depart by Sunday morning at the latest to make our various other commitments.

On Friday evening the Over wintering team were hosted on board for a farewell dinner, which was enjoyed by all. The partying went on into the wee, wee hours.














Saturday afternoon a lucky few were given the opportunity to go crevassing with some of the base guides. After kitting up we headed to the slope nearby the base and were soon wriggling our way through a narrow hole and down into the crevasse, all roped up of course. The cameras
were soon clicking away furiously trying to capture
ice crystals and huge icicles dangling from the
roof of the crevasse. Unfortunately it was not a sunny day and the ultra-violet translucence was not visible. We were very grateful for the experience as we made our way back to our waiting Mother ship.













































































We departed Rothera at first light on Sunday morning and with whoops and cheers and few fireworks, bid farewell to the wintering team. We made our up north through the Gullet without much trouble rounding the top of Adelaide Island in good time. We came up to Vernadsky in the fading light that evening and saw faint glimmer from the base. We slowly entered the Lamaire channel, luckily the visibility was good and there was some moonlight to help guide us through. The ship’s search lights doing their bit to assist as well. As we progressed a light was spotted ahead which was rather strange for this time of year but turned out to be the passenger vessel Ushaua that was hove to until daylight before proceeding. We silently glided passed her and headed up the Neumeyer channel.


































T




he next morning dawned grey with the weather picking up a bit. We made way for Deception Island once again and arrived in the afternoon. Conditions were not as good as the previous time we had been there and the winds were gusting up to 50 knots occasionally. People were ferried ashore in the rubber boats and given ac few hours to explore. There was no question of going for a swim in the volcanically heated waters this time no matter how hot.













Everybody was back onboard by 5pm and we headed off towards South Georgia. Immediately we were in open waters the vessel started bouncing about uncomfortably. The next morning there were a lot of people missing from breakfast as King Neptune claimed his dues. This continued for two days after which the weather turned to behind us giving a much more comfortable ride.

We arrive off South Georgia tomorrow morning (Friday 25th March)..