A picture paints a thousand words......

I'm home, exhausted and finding it hard to put into words everything I have experienced over the past few weeks. But, I think these pictures say it all.....

5 days in 1

The past few days have been a little out of the ordinary…. as you would expect!! We set off from Ushuaia on Saturday evening and sailed down the very calm Beagle Channel to reach Drakes Passage. The evening on board the ship was relaxed with everybody sitting around chatting about the journey we were just embarking on. I went to bed around 11pm so that I could be fast asleep by the time we reached the Drake. Everything went to plan, I was fast asleep by the time we got there, but as soon as the boat started rocking, that was me awake. I spent the rest of the night rolling from one side of the mattress to the other, as the boat rolled around in the 2 metre swell.

We had an alarm call at around 8am the following morning, and me and my room mate both sat up and compared how we were feeling. I thought that I was ok, feeling that the rocking, whilst it had kept me awake, was actually fairly pleasant. My room mate agreed and we decided that because of the relatively calm seas, we weren’t going to suffer sea-sickness. So, we started to get ready for breakfast, and that’s when things started to look a little dodgy. We persevered though, and when it was announced that breakfast was ready, we both ventured down the stairs and stood in the queue. And that’s as far as I got – the queue!! The queue was fairly long and stretched out into the corridor. I’d been stood there for 5 minutes or so, waiting for my turn to go through into the restaurant. It was warm, it was rocking, there were no windows, there were lots of people…….need I say more? I ran out through the corridor, into the lounge and out to the back of the boat. Amusingly (or at least it seems so now!) as I was running through the ship, I was taking as many steps to each side as I was going forward!! I spent an hour or so stood outside with one of my colleagues as we both battled our queasiness, before we finally admitted that we needed to lie down. Besides, it was freezing outside and we kept having to go to our rooms to get extra clothes!

So, that was Sunday – spent in bed!!

Monday was pretty uneventful really. We sailed towards the South Shetland Islands where we would be meeting the advance party the day after. We arrived in the early evening and dropped anchor close to Bellingshausen. During dinner we had a surprise visitor. Robert Swan, who we weren’t expecting to meet until the day after, had mad an impromptu boatride from shore to ship to say hello. It was a really good surprise! He stayed on board for an hour or so before departing back to the ebase for his final night. Later on that evening, we had word that some bad weather was moving in and we were moving the ship to a safer position.

The bad weather from Monday evening continued with bells on during the whole of Tuesday. We were due to land at Bellingshausen station, but only half of our team managed to make it in the morning. I was left behind on board ship and had to wait to see if the weather was going to clear. At around 2pm it was announced that we were clear to go and had to get our cold weather gear on. What followed has to be the most miserable 4 hours of my entire life!! It was cold (-30 with wind chill), snowing, so very wet, slushy under foot, and very very windy. We spent an hour at the ebase and I was praying for them to say that the weather had turned really bad so that we could go back to the ship. But no! We were dragged out for a walk for 2 hours to see some seals (well we saw 1!!) and to see a bit of the island! I was so happy when I was back on the Zodiac boat heading back to the ship!

A couple of hours later I’d had a shower, something to eat and had started to warm up. It was only then that I could start to put the experience behind me!

Today has been the complete opposite! We were woken at 6.30 am to calm seas and clear skies. The wake up call was made by one of the team leaders urging us to get up on deck. We were entering iceberg alley!! And it was spectacular! Really really beautiful! Words really can not describe what it was like so you’ll have to wait for the pictures!

After that we had a few activities on board ship before getting ready to go ashore. In contrast to yesterday, it was an absolute pleasure! One of our activities on shore was to spend some time reflecting on where we were and why we were there. Myself and my partner for the exercise, Marianne, sat just by a huge rock. And as it turns out it was a bit of a main road for penguins! At one point, we had 3 penguins tottering past us within a couple of feet. It was just amazing. Then we went to do the obligatory photo shoot with our company flags, before heading back to the ship. I think for the first time I have really felt how amazing this place is!

Next stop ........... Antarctica......

The day has finally arrived. Today we are getting on board the MV Ushuaia to set off on the journey to Antarctica. We had a weather forecast last night and by all accounts the winds will be light and variable. That was a bit of a relief, as sea sickness has been the thing that I've been dreading the most. We will have 2 days on board the ship and will continue with the Leadership on the Edge program whilst we travel to the Antarctica.

There will be 73 people travelling to Antarctica as part of this expedition and when we arrive on King George Island, there will be a further 7 people to meet us. There is quite a mix of people here and it is interesting to see all the different personalities. My usual approach to situations like these is to sit back for a short time and observe how people interact with each other, and to see the different personalities come out. It makes very interesting watching!!

I spent a little time in Ushuaia this morning, just wandering around the shops and taking in the atmosphere of the city. It's quite an eclectic mix of shops, catering for tourists, travellers, mountaineers and locals. I imagine that the next time I see the city it will seem incredibly built up and populated after the desolation of Antarctica.

A walk in the hills

Well, the Leadership on the Edge program started proper today. We met early, 7.30, and had a presentation from our team leaders. At 8 am, Robert Swan appeared on the screen live from Antarctica and spoke for about 10 minutes to introduce the program and to talk about what he has been doing down there in the south.

Following on from that, we embarked on our first challenge. It was a 4 hour hike to see a glacier. And it was a challenge! Firstly, we were dropped off a the start point with no map, and only the sketchiest of instructions. From there we had to walk about 2 1/2 kilometers to the bottom of the glacier. The first 3 quarters of the walk were fairly straight forward, but then followed a section that was really quite challenging. It was a really steep slope, up loose stones that were wet, and therefore very slippy. The group became very strung out as everyone has different levels of fitness. But, we got there, and it was totally worth it. The views were spectacular, and it was amazing to look up at the glacier. We stayed at the foot of the glacier for around half an hour or so taking photos and chatting, before we headed back down to the hotel.

Once we'd had lunch, we continued with the Leadership on the Edge program which had us talking about teams and how they function. We then had to make an assessment of how we thought we'd worked as a team. The discussion was really illuminating and shows that different people can have significant different experiences of the same event.

The journey continues

This morning we got up at a truly unreasonable hour to travel down to Ushuaia. I couldn't believe it when the alarm went off at 5am! But I managed to drag myself out of bed to get ready for the early flight. We'd arranged a minibus for 6am to take the 12 of us (and a significant amount of luggage!) across to the airport. Almost everyone else seemed to be feeling the effects of the early morning and it was luckily a very quiet journey to the airport. Once there, it was like being on autopilot - check in, leave luggage, coffee, security, wait at gate, bus to aircraft, seatbelt, safety demonstration - then back to sleep!!! There were lots of other people from the expedition who were also taking the same flight down to Ushuaia. This resulted in lots of introductions, but I decided that in order to retain a certain amount of sanity I would save the introductions until we arrived. So, I sat and pretended to read a magazine. It was comical really, as my eyes could hardly focus, but it seemed to do the trick and I was spared having to join in conversations!! There's plenty of time to make up for it!

I missed most of the flight, apart from when they brought the food around, and then woke up properly as we were decending over the mountains and in to land. The scenery was incredibly - snow topped mountains, rivers, forests set off by an amazing coastline! When we landed we were met by a group of people from 2041 who ferried us up to the hotel. It's a hotel quite high out of the city and the views are incredible!

We were allocated rooms and had our gear checked to make sure we had the right kind of cold weather clothes, then we were left to our own devices for the rest of the day. I spent some quiet time writing in my journal and taking in the views from the hotel. I'm now writing this sat in front of a huge open log fire, and keeping an eye on the sunset, which is just spectacular!

The team reunited

Another great day in Buenos Aires! This morning we travelled to the airport to meet some of the team arriving on the early flights. It was so good to see them come through to the arrivals hall as it was the start of our team getting together again for the first time since January. James, Eric and John arrived this morning so we had the rest of the afternoon together having lunch and getting to know each other again. Then this afternoon Delando arrived and amused us all with stories of his exploits getting through customs. This evening we went out for dinner, but made sure we were back to meet the rest of the team who were all arriving together on a late flight from Europe. Once we were all together again we had an hour or so just chatting about our travels and what the next 2 weeks hold for us.

It's been a good start to the expedition and I look forward to spending time with this group of people and getting to know everyone better.

Now, though, it's time to turn in for the night. We have an early start tomorrow - we have to be checked out by 6am in order to get to the airport for our early flight!!

A wander in the city

My first day in Buenos Aires has been just fab!! After all the trauma of yesterday’s flight problems it was nice to finally land in Argentina. I was met by my colleague Alan from the US which was great as it meant we could travel to the hotel together. Once at the hotel we decided on a quick turnaround before we were to go out to explore the city. And what a great time we have had! First off we went for some lunch and just got our bearings. Then we wandered down to the marina and had a walk along the waterfront before sitting down on a bench and just letting the world past by. It has been a really relaxing day. The perfect antidote to the hectic few weeks I’ve just had. Then we got a cab to another part of the city and wandered around for a little while before finding a little bar for some refreshments.

We had time to really chat about the expedition and talk about our expectations and fears for the next couple of weeks ahead of us. It’s a great shame that none of the other members of our team managed to get out here a little earlier to share in our experience today. It really has been perfect!

As I landed this morning, I received a message from a colleague who I worked with a number of years ago. It was such a lovely surprise. The message said that everyone I used to work with in Industrial Coatings in Darwen, Lancashire would be following the events of the next few weeks. So I would like to say hello to Lynda, June, and everyone else in Industrial!!