Delbert of Antartica Day 1 (now with photos)

This may get long and boring so the short version is "It was an incdredible trip"!


Plane was a King Air 300 operated by DAP airlines as opposed to the K'neeeooowwww 300 operated by Boro' Pat.

Flight time was 2.5 hours above the clouds and smooth. We were heading for Antartica generally but the South Shetland lsland of King George Is specifically. Named by a British sailor blown south from the Cape, I can't remember the year but it was in George V reign. There are a lot of English inspired names down here; Mount Livingston, Drakes Passage, Nelson Island to name but three.

As we approached the clouds cleared and we had a fantastic view of the white domes of the glaciers, rock outcrops and iceburgs.

George Island is the last stop before the South Pole and is home to 8 scientific stations from; Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Poland, China, Korea and Russia. All conditions are striclty observed by the Antartic treaty (42 members at the last count).

Just after we had arrived at the gravel airstrip (maintained by the Chilean Air force) a Hecules transport plane arrived.

The Hercules was bringing in supplies but was taking a lot of people off the island (they looked pretty happy to be going). As it is the end of their summer, each Station reduces to a skeleton staff to maintain these outposts - roughly dropping to 18 people from 60-80 at each station.The balance seems to be about 1/3 scientists and 2/3 maintenance and support staff.

We were met by THE eminent specialist of Antartica Alejo Contreras Staeding. He has spent over 30 years on and off Antartica, including skiing to the South pole and climbing just about every mountain on the continent. He has played host to a huge number of the great and good including Prince of Monaco, Bill Gates, Paul Allan (who came down on his Yacht Octopus) and Abramovic on one of his monster yachts.

I arrived in my Motorbike gear (it was all i had that was remotely appropriate to the weather) and was feeling rather conspicuous. Alejo took one look "ah a motorbiker & a proper bike too (seeing the BMW badges). He loves bikes, has a BMW 1150 and has raced them in the past. He intends to come and watch the Isle of Man TT one of these days. His love of bikes started from about 6 when his Grandmother used to take him for ice cream on the back of her Harley Davidson (the only one in Santiago at the time)!.  

So that was my street cred sorted!

The plane wasn't going back until we left the next day, i dont know where the pilots went as never saw them until we got back on the plane.

We were taken to the Russian Station, named after the 80km glacier Bellingshausen. DAP have an arrangement to use some of their factilities in exchange for bringing scientists in on their planes. This includes the Summer Staff accommodation block (which had just been vacated).

The Russian station is the oldest having been built in the 1960's - in part due to the Cold War. Each Station uses about 300 cubic meters of Diesel each year. The Russians built tanks to hold 10 times this amount - to fuel the submarines and ships! Not quite in the spirit of the Antartic treaty.

These big old tanks are now waiting to be deconstructed and removed. Everything has to be taken away, per the treaty so an Icebreaker comes and takes away tons of old equipment as it is not allowed to rust in situ.

It is also celebrating its anniversary today, so we are just missing a great party by a day, a shame as apparently it will be a very boozy affair with lots of Vodka.

Alejo introduced us to Jose, his wife Gloria and our orange Immersion suits. We were heading straight out on a Zodiak (a rubber boat with an Aluminium floor) to see the Glaciers.

The weather was unbelievable with clear blue skies and only a light wind. The Koreans had just arrived in their own boat so Alejo asked if we could visit their station later (it was near the glaciers). They are situated across the bay from the Airport and Alejo had only been able to visit it once in the last 4 years because of bad weather!

Scott & Shakleton talking about the good old days before eco tourists!.

So that was pretty good eh! Hopefully this video clip works.

We shot off and in about an hour we over by the towering walls of white & irridescent blue ice. The water was clear and blue too. Alejo had not seen weather this good for a long long time so even he was taking pictures.

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He took the boat right up to the ice walls and then he took us into the ice flows! This got our attention, even more so when he turned the engine off!

 This is Tommy, a plaintiff attorney but doesnt make him ALL bad

 This Corey (yet another Aussie, although he does live in the USA), Alejo found us this Iceburg all Correy said was he wanted some ice for his scotch.

He wanted us to hear the ice. The ice & the iceburgs make a sound not unlike Rice Crispies - popping and crackling away. I am not sure if the video will give you the sense of it but i wil try to upload it when i get a better connection.

To be out in a boat next to these huge glaciers falling in to the sea and hearing it too was the best experience ever! I wont go on about it but will just put a few more photos.

We then headed over to the Korean base named King Sejong after a scientifically minded king from the 14th Century. Newer and smarter than the older Chlean and Russian posts, where we got a very warm welcome - with a cold Korean Ice cream, very nice it was too.

 Everything really is upside down

The head of the station then handed us over to the winter site manager who gave us a tour of their site;
oil tanks, generator shed - 5 massive Catapillar generators each producing 275 Kw - 3 running, two on standby. Their equipment sheds with lots of great toys for the snow! They also have a building for growing fresh vegetables under UV throughout the winter.

Their two accommodation blocks - one purely as an emergency should the main one catch fire (it happens apparently). A Chilean building burnt down last year and the debris is waiting to be removed

We were shown the science blocks from the outside. There is a fair bit of competition amongst the nations (if not the scientists themselves) with regard to data so they didn't let us look at that bit. i wouldn't have understood it anyway!

Last but by no means least their entertainment centre with Golf! Yes, i can now say I have played golf in Antartica, IF ONLY i had kept the brogues!!! Alright it was a computer screen version but it was a proper club & ball. Corey took a picture so if i get a copy i will post it to prove it!

One sad part, at the entrance is a statue of a student who was killed in a boating accident. One of their boats got in to trouble, they sent a rescue boat out and this poor lad, who volunteered to help, fell in the water and was killed. The water is only 3 degrees so, even in an immersion suit you only have 30 mins.

They really were very nice people and to cap it all gave us some stickers & a sew on badge! I told you your priorities change on a trip like this - they dont weigh anything and they are a record of where you have been!

We headed towards a beach full of penguins but the wind & tide had made it impossible to get to shore for all the ice in the water.

We returned to Russia for some lunch and a walk up the hill to their Orthodox church. It was built in 2008 and they even have a priest on site (he does a full time job on camp). Seems rather bizarre to build this when the basic needs of life are so hard to get here. Beautifully built and maintained too, lovely smell of cedar wood inside.

The picture may give a false impression of size - i should think 10 could squeeze in (but i bet they never have). Apparently Russian Orthodox churches have no seating, so you stand for the service! I didn't put it to the test.

After lunch we visited the Post Office at the Chilean post. A lady scientist runs it voluntarily. We had been pre-warned to buy and write cards before we got here as they only have stamps! I can tell you it was quick and pleasant unlike my previous experience in Argentina.

You also get a stamp for your passport!

We got back in to our Teletubby suits and went back to the Penguin beach. We managed a landing through the ice and wandered down the pebbly beach.

I was hoping to see "Ricky the Rock Hopper's" cousins but no luck, these are Gentoo and Chin Strap versions.

As with the people the wildlife is already leaving for the winter. There were still plenty of Penguins but at the peak there were 8,000 nests = about 20,000 penguins

The first thing you notice (and David Attenborough doesn't tell you this) is the smell! 20,000 penguins produce a lot of fishy smellng poo!

Once you get over this Alejo tells you to lay down and wait. The penguins are curious and come up to you, they are very inquisitive and not at all bothered by your presence.

The Fur seals are a different matter! They are grumpy, growly buggers and can "run" as fast as dogs so you are warned to give them a wide berth!

There are a few late hatchers still with their fluffy plummage, still pestering their hard working parents for regurgitated krill. They will struggle to be ready to head north in time.

Makes you wonder why we find Penguins so attractive when they throw up and poo everywhere!

Back to base camp. Alejo wants to show us the Uruguayan post by car, which is few kms away. We got half way there before the track became impassable and had to turn around. And this is the summer!

He then took us to the Chinese camp called "Great Wall" a few kms the other way. This is rather smart, new construction (akin to the Korean post). Not a soul is about so we look around the outside and headed back to watch the sunset.

I am not sure if you can tell in this picture but this is the dome of the glacier - not cloud.

Dinner was another "packed" meal microwaved to perfection. They had been kind enough to provide a few bottles of Chileans finest so we were happy.

The rooms were "utilitarian" to say the least & no showers in the block. If it was a prison in the UK there would be riots but it was good enough for us.........curtains would have been a nice touch as the sun set after 10 pm and was back up at 5 am.

Amazing experience and even more so considering we were the only 3 tourists, everyone else works here!