This is a picture of a King Penguin on the beach across from base. They wonder into base all the time last week I was coming back from my bike ride and about 20 had formed a crocodile and were walking from the wharf in single file to the accomodation block. It is hard not to smile when you see them.

This picture isn’t pretty but it shows the harsh reality of nature. This poor elephant seal pup was rolled over by a large male and unfortunately died. The skuas made pretty quick work of the carcass. There are elephant seal pups being born on the beach every day. Unfortunately some do not make it. The other day we saw one that had been abandonned by its mother it was getting weaker everyday without milk. The jeeps and skua actually started eating him while he was still alive as he didn’t have the strength to scare them away. Sorry for the downer posting today….

The marine team here in South Georgia is used not only for science but also to support the South Georgia Government. We are basically glorified ‘taxi drivers’ for the two government officers as they need to board fishing vessels and also visit nearby visitor sites. They also go on cruise ships to do customs however, the cruise ships normally send their own zodiacs out to take the officers onboard. Anyways in order to do passenger transfers at sea while this ships/fishing vessels are moving we have Harbor Patrol Jet Boats. They are called Pipit and Prion.

Tommy is the new electrician on base. He is 25 and is from the Midlands in the UK. He loves snow boarding and can’t wait for the snow to be good enough to start boarding on – he will have to be patient though! A very good artist with a bouncy personality and learning how to play the guitar. I took this picture up Brown mountain at the weekend when we stopped at the top for a break. At the moment we are having to keep him on base more than he would like to be after an operation on his knee just before coming south. In real life he is a refridgeration engineer.

After a great bonfire night on friday I had a saturday of exploring. After my normal 10km bike ride in the morning Sam (the docter) and myself walked over to Myviken to the beach. From there after a quick look in an old sealers cave we headed uphill and into the ‘lake country’. There are terraces after terraces of small lakes on the hill sides here some are still covered with snow and ice. The round trip was 14km with quite a bit of up and down! The clouds have been low and the sun has been replaced with gray cloudy days with the odd snow flurry.

After I got back to base Tommy (the electrican) had spent the morning drawing three penguins for me as a present which was a great surprise. He is a good artist. He was heading out for a hike so I went with him for a lap of Gull Lake which is where our hydroelectric dam is so another 5km or so! We got back in time for a BBQ on a visiting ship that went late into the night.

This morning (Sunday) I was on earlies – which means getting up at 5:30am. You do rounds of base checking in all the rooms for leaks, fire etc. including all the electrical panels, alarm panels etc. Also the bread is made in time for 7:30-8:00am breakfast. As it was sunday we didn’t have to cook anything else as it is a day of rest for everyone however, I could resist. So I made chelsea buns for breakfast, minestrone soup for lunch/dinner and a upside down pineapple gingerbread cake with custard.

Tommy and I went off for a walk to the end of Gull lake and along the ridge of Brown Mountain. We talked to some people who sailed in on Pelagic that are attempting to circumnavigate South Georgia by kayak unsupported. The resident yacht Wanderer III came back from a trip somewhere else on the island on friday so we have two yachts in at the moment. The Dr from last winter left on a ship today on her way to Halley for the summer as they have two drs on base during construction. This was quite sad for the old winterers as their group is now being broken apart.

After a dinner of bangers and mash which I made for a few of us and a big bowl of cake and custard we watched Letters from Iowa Jima. Sunday night is film night at KEP and the movie is chosen by the person on earlies. So that is my busy walking/cooking weekend! Hope you had a good one.

Today is Guy Fawkes so we are celebrating on station with a beach bonfire as we have lots of old wood to burn from last years relief. I am introducing everyone on station to an american classic – smores. Seeing as I don’t have graham crackers I had to make homemade ones and unfortunately I didn’t have corn syrup to make homemade marshmallows so we are using our precious bag of some that have been saved for the occasion.

This morning we took the jet boat around the boating area of east and west cumberland bay up to all the glaciers and looked at all the landing sites. The clouds are low and it has become a bit gray. This morning on my morning bike ride it tried to snow a bit.

Smores – homemade graham crackers

Last Saturday night appetiser…

This week we have had a large cruise ship in, the JCR came in on relief and we had some building experts come in on another ship. Meanwhile I have started my exercise program of 10km bike rides in the morning, gym at lunch and hiking in the evening. It has been a week today that we arrived on base and everyone is settling in well. On Saturday and Sunday last weekend I went for a hike up Mt Hodges and Mt Duse. This weekend I am planning on going over to Mytviken to see the penguin colonies with a shorter hike on sunday as I am on earliers (more about that at some point).

Saturday meal was amazing cooked by Ali (base commander) and Paula (boating officer) with a starter of poached pears in a phylo basket with blue cheese. Main was toothfish skewers and veg and dessert of white chocolate mousse.

Will try to get some pictures up at some point. Have a great weekend.

This is a picture taken of base from Mt Duse on Sunday.

From left to right the buildings are as follows….

Larsen house – self catering accomodation (this year used for museum staff, rat eradication program, external science staff, building staff)

Sat B dome – put in by american project sending siesmic information to their program

Container next to the blue one (so red one) is the sauna

Building next to containers (short one) is the old jail which will be refitted for storage

Long building (from left to right) Shack villa (government officer accomodation self catering), accomodation for base staff, bar, dining room, kitchen, temperature control facility (aquarium), labs for scientists, offices, post office, conference room, communications room

Sat C dome on tower

First detached building after long building – Carse house – government officers accomodation self catering

L shape building – Discovery house – old labs – not in use and in need of renovation

Small red and white building between L shaped and green – food stores

Green building – boat shed, garage, garbage facilities, gym, carpenter shop, generators

Green building in foreground – fuel storage

Small square white building between two green – biosecurity building

Wharf with two jet boats tied up

Yet another beautiful blue sky day today and it was a busy day on station. The James Clark Ross arrived this morning so we unloaded all the food and supplies for the next year. We loaded on all our garbage neatly divided into cardboard, plastic, tins, glass and landfill and also the outgoing winters personal posessions. I still got my 10km morning bike ride in around to Grytviken passed a french yacht which pulled in yesterday and left today. After a very brief visit the JCR took off for the Falklands to start a science cruise which will see them finishing up doing relief at Rothera in a few weeks time. So the food stores are now full to bursting and we the new winters have all our kitbags of gear and personal items – lets see if we can fit them in our rooms!

Ship alongside the morning after we arrived.

Got to station after 6.5 days of travelling. Weather is absolutely stunning so instead of writing my blog I am off up a hill for a bit of scrambling so will write more later! Already did a night ops last night on the jet boats.

Station in evening light yesterday