Six and half days after leaving the UK I arrived on station on Thursday 28th October. We were basically travelling the whole time. Due to runway resurfacing at Mount Pleasant Airport in Stanley (Falklands) the planes can only land once a week so as not to disrupt works. The plane left at 6am on Friday morning from RAF Brize Norton which meant a 2am wake up call as we had to be at the terminal for a 3am check in.

Mum and Dad took me to Brize on Thursday evening and we had a great pub dinner in Burford. I was put up at the Gateway Hotel which is on station where I managed to get 4 hours sleep before it was announced on a hotel wide PA system ‘those going to Falklands on the 6am flight this is your wake up call’. I felt sorry for the people not going getting woken up! As they were weighing our check in luggage as part of the 54kg baggage allowance I had to transfer my skis to one of the BAS HR ladies who was flying down on the same flight to get all my possessions on the flight without a large fee of 18.42 pounds per excess kg! Mum and Dad turned up at 3:30 am to say good bye along with Katy and Sam’s parents. The flight was run by Air Seychelles the poor flight attendants have a horrible 6 week schedule where they flight one 9 hour flight per week. They fly from London to Brize the first week spending at week in the Ascension Islands where we stop to refuel then the next week they fly to Falklands spending a week there then the next week back to the Ascensions, then back to the Falklands for another week until their 6 weeks is up. Our landing was rough in Stanley as there was quite a brisk crosswind. It had been stormy weather for the last week with up to 60 knots for a few days.

27 hours after waking up for the flight at Brize we were stumbling to our bunks on the ship which was to take us to South Georgia after a brief safety discussion. The Ship is an ex weather buoy service station that worked in the western isles of Scotland, so she was built with only 4m draught and therefore rolls quite a bit even in a very moderate seaway. The job of the Ship is as a fisheries patrol vessel for the South Georgia and Sandwich Islands Government (more on that later). We had the luxury of our own en suite cabins which is the last vestige of privacy for a while as station is going to be very full this summer with so many projects occurring. Unlike Rothera there are no air strips in South Georgia so people can only come and go once a month on the Ship. The other methods of getting to the islands not use by BAS are cruise ships, private sailing vessels and British military patrol vessels. Also a few times a year the BAS ships the Shackleton and James Clark Ross call in to provide relief for the station – taking away rubbish and bringing in food and supplies.

Only 8 hours after arriving we were due to be at the Governor’s mansion to meet the Governor of the Falklands. He is also the Commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands – apparently someone can only be a governor if they live in the territory. Rob our base commander was sworn in as the magistrate for South Georgia apparently the legislation that is being put in place in the next few years will increase the magistrate’s power. After his swearing in we were given a talk by the various members of the government regarding our role in South Georgia and a little more about the projects that are meant to occur over the summer season. Afterwards I went with Ruth and Kieron (government officer based on South Georgia – more on this later) to the Chandlery (the biggest supermarket in the Falklands) and opened up an account. Unlike Rothera because we have a monthly ship visiting base we can order food from the Falklands. The rest of the group headed off to the museum however, seeing as I have already visited it once this year I relaxed at Shorty’s before taking the launch back to the ship as she was anchored in the bay. Saturday evening we had a buffet dinner with the government officers at the hotel Malvena our last meal at a restaurant for 14 months for some and 2.5 years for others!

Sunday morning we pulled anchor and set out through the narrows for South Georgia after the obligatory ships drills and safety briefs. We all got to experience the famous rolling of the ship for five days at sea to our new home. When at sea there is not much to do aboard besides sleep, eat, read books and watch movies. A little bit of bird watching on the aft deck which gets Alastair (one of our beakers) very excited.