The visiting Sir David Attenborough research ship brought much excitement. For me, a new roommate. For others, a shopping opportunity, a new bar in town, the opportunity for some ice cream..? 

The ship stayed from Wednesday until Saturday night, which allowed time for tours, shopping and also a Saturday afternoon game of football and rounders. Except rounders was quickly swapped in favour of a game of Swedish longball which seemed to be a mix of rounders, cricket, ball dog and Crocker! 

Saturday evening was a BBQ on the wharf. The chefs worked hard to move everything south and set up grilling by the boat shed. After food, the band played. 

The Sheldon Glacier had a big calving event on the Saturday night, so South Cove was filled with ice by the morning. It clinked around the ship like ice cubes in a glass. Because of this, the captain decided to leave Saturday night, rather than Sunday morning as planned. On the last note of the musicians song, he announced the crew should return to the ship by long blasts on the horn. The ship was cast off and bid us goodbye!  P

We didn’t have to wait long before we were visited by the American Research Vessel, the Roger Revelle.  I gave a tour to some of the crew, showing them around the labs, the makeshift sauna and the view from the ops tower. It was cool to see base through the eyes of another, especially as the blue skies really showed off for us!  The US scientists were excited to come on to land, maybe because it turned out there ship was ‘dry’ and they were interested in our bar! Rothera put on a good show, a big meal, a Saturday night full of festivities, and many of them filled their pockets with chocolate for their onward journey. There was a frenzy of merch swapping between ship and base as many were trying to illicit deals throughout the night! 

A visiting yacht passed by as we were all partying in the small boat shed on folk night. To see passing traffic is very strange, especially in such a small yacht. Whilst around 150 of us piled out of a small corrugated iron shed to wave, they were not permitted to come to land. 

Any opportunity to get on the water was seized! Getting dressed involved base layers, a woolie onesie, an immersion suit, wellies, hat, buff, suncream, sunglasses, life vest, gloves and spares! A good dose of the Antarctic faff right there!  The boat is lowered into the water by a crane, then you climb down a rope ladder into the rib. My first trip out was to drop botanists on nearby Leonie Island. I remained on the boat and helped winch to collect water samples which form part of the Rothera Time Series, measuring conductivity, temperature and depth. A humpback was generous in giving me a lovely fluke!  Wilson’s storm petrels became a firm favourite by performing their signature water dance. They actually feed by catching prey in their feet and delivering it to their mouth, and this has earnt them the nickname of the Jesus bird. 

The next time we returned to Leonie island, I was able to get off and accompany visiting Italian Scientist, Francesco.  Francesco’s botany was unpopular with the resident Skuas. He took out his sterilised spoons to begin sampling the mosses and would be instantly divebombed. He was studying the interactions between bryophytes and other organisms in the soil, but the Skuas were certainly studying his staying power.

My roommate is part of the POLOMINTS team. A sciency acronym meaning POLar Ocean Mixing by INternal TSunamis! (More about that in another post!). I got to accompany her on one of her regular trips out to do micro sediment sampling (MSS). This should be noted as a gym workout. A controlled launch the large equipment down on 200metres of cable, followed by it a recovery, 10 times!! Her work as a physical oceanographer looks at the sediments in the water to gain understanding on the mixing of the ocean and the impact of underwater tsunamis caused by glacial calving! 

The other part of her team are bio-geochemists, carrying out water sampling to understand the mixing through nutrients found in the water. They have launched underwater submersible machines which autonomously collect data. I also got to go onboard the boat to help collect one for its software update.

At the beginning of April, the MV Stevie swung by to take 340 shipping containers away from our quarry like home! There has been lots of development at Rothera with the building of the new Didcovery building, and now complete, 6 older buildings have been demolished. It was fun to watch the cranes working at the wharf, stacking and neatly slotting containers onto the ship. Despite some very windy days, progress was fast from our colourful lego block home, to a much vaster feeling site, which then promptly received its dose of snow to start off the wintery feeling!  I volunteered to give the crew a tour. This time, it was the wilder side as we went wildlife watching around the point. Whilst the walk was more of an adventure with its new found white covering, we saw lots of penguins and fur seals to keep them happy, but they were happier returning to the warmth to join us for dinner and internet! 

Once the Stevie departed, we could use the boats for recreation again. Robbie took us out for a trip around Ryder Bay. The waters were so calm, but filled with ice which proved the perfect perch for fur seals. One iceberg has being used by a slung out leopard seal, looking even meaner with a red eye and scarred skin.Even with an impossible amount of layers, it was freezing. After 2 hours on the water it was biting at my fingers and toes. 

The next expected ship will be the Sir David Attenborough, to begin emptying the station ready for winter!