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)..