Now that we've had sufficiently prolonged cold temperatures and a calm period, the sea ice has thickened and solidified enough for us to go onto it. The dive team and GAs have been monitoring it for about a month while it has been too thick to use the boats, but not thick enough to walk on, as they are keen to get back in the water to carry on with their science experiments.
To travel on sea ice we wear a dry suit and skis. We also take a sledge with spare clothes, and rescue equipment. Sliding onto the ice was a strange feeling, but it felt reassuringly substantial once I'd gone a few meters away from the crumbly bit at the edge where it gets broken away by the rise and fall of the tide. As we went out further it was interesting to look back at base, and also very cool to see the icebergs trapped in the ice. We reached an area of newer ice which was being monitored, and the GAs drilled a hole and determined that ice not to be thick enough yet, so we skirted around the edge past the runway and into a different cove. This was where the dive team had been practicing with the chainsaw, so we each had a go at jumping in, splashing around and the trying to get back out. It really wasn't as cold as I'd feared because the immersion suit and the dry clothing underneath keeps you warm, but my hands were a bit cold. We carry ice axes in case of falling in, so used these to dig into the ice to pull ourselves back out again which wasn't too bad as the air trapped in the suit makes you very buoyant anyway (hence me looking rather fat in the photo - I haven't actually put on 20 stone!).
Wednesday afternoon was the equivalent of a family trip to Tesco. Food is stored in a few different places around base, so that if there is a fire we don't lose the whole lot in one building. First we went to the deep freezes in Fuchs House and formed a human chain to pass out chips, scampi and chunks of Argentinian beef so large that I'm sure if we'd let them defrost they could have just walked over to the kitchen by themselves. Next was the food store in Old Bransfield for 20kg bags of pasta, 2.5kg tins of tomatoes, enough bread flour to sink a small battleship, and other assorted dry goods. Everything was loaded on to sledges, which were then pulled by skidoo over to Bransfield House where it was stored according to the dictator's chef's instructions.
Most excitingly, we also found 2 fugitive tins of spaghetti hoops lurking at the back of a shelf. Roll on Sunday morning!
So, what's the windspeed?
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