We're just approaching Rothera this morning after 10 days at sea.Yesterday was one of these days that will stay with me forever…..I'm just posting some pics for now until we get off the ship and the internet connection is better.
Ok, in my bunk finally at Rothera…….. it's past midnight and still light outside. It doesn't matter that I know why its 24hrs daylight, it still feels bizarre and makes me feel that i shouldn't really be in bed, so I thought I'd write this instead.
The last 2 days have been a blur of sensory overload.
We all got up really early yesterday on the ship because we knew we'd be sailing through the spectacular Gerlache Straight (a narrow channel between Anvers and Brabant Islands and the main Antarctic peninsula). At 5am, the light was already blinding into the cabin – no more going outside anymore without putting on all the proper cold weather gear we were all issued with. There was a profound quiet on the top deck of the JCR that morning as we all tried to take in what was all around us. We use words like breathtaking, awesome, spectacular, so often that when we want to really use them for what they mean they've lost their impact. All of us were left hopelessly attempting photographs which could never touch how we felt on that cold, blindingly bright December morning before breakfast.
Birthday Long Island tea on the top deck, and a jolly off the ship to the old BAS base Faraday, now run by the Ukranians and called Verdansky all got squeezed in too.
Arriving today into Rothera has made me feel a bit low. It's been brilliant fun living on board ship……. a mixture of too many late nights, early mornings and excitement have kept me on an high. Now our ship has landed and we all change.
