Grytviken, South Georgia

March 2

This is another post I have been meaning to write for a few days, but did not get around to.
On Thursday March 2 a lot of us not sampling on the islands got a chance to go to shore and be tourists for a day. And oh my god was it an amazing day.

The storm was approaching, but still quite ways behind us and sheltered by a little bay we had the most perfect day one can imagine. It was warm, almost windless, sunny and gorgeous when we landed on South Georgia around lunchtime. We walked along the beach toward Shackelton grave. We were greeted by the locals:

King penguin

Antarctic fur seal 

Elephant seal

Some locals were more open to a dialogue, while others were less pleased and roared on us. 

The ones that roared do not get a privilege to be part of this blog ;)

We then continued on to visit the Argentinian helicopter crash site. I was walking with my favorite helicopter engineer Ian, whom I mentioned several times in this blog as he has been super helpful with launching SOCCOM floats and finding creative solutions to fix  various things that needed fixing. Ian was quite keen to visit the crash site, as he was in the Navy during the Falkland war and remembers it quite vividly. We found the helicopter in a despicable condition - even Ian couldn't fix it anymore.

Ian at the crashed helicopter site with Tryoshnikov in the background.

After visiting the site, we had to hurry back to the main pier - we were due back on the ship in a couple of hours and I was keen to visit the post office and send some postcards. They were ridiculously expensive, but who cares, I spent all the UK pounds I borrowed. Due to the time and price limitations, I only managed to send a few, but hopefully within the next few months some of you will get them.

The weather started to turn as the storm was catching up with us. It got worse and then worse and then much worse during the following days. I already published a post out-of-order about the rolling we experienced on March 5. By then we were banned from going outside onto the deck.

Here's a little visual for you.

This was the view of South Georgia in the morning of March 2nd

And this is the view the following day.

We are still in the storm, but the worst part is hopefully over for us. We are still rolling somewhat, but nothing compared to the angles we experiences all last night and through the day. We have big plans to continue work tomorrowas all ocean work was suspended due to bad weather.

Hello from the center of the storm

March 5

Forget everything I wrote about the rocking and rolling before. I have to say we have not experienced any of that “for realz” till today.  The waves are much bigger than I remember and the washing machine effect much more dramatic.

My roommate and I spent most of the night securing thing that we thought were quite secure already. It is hard to explain (and predict sometimes) what will be unstable. For example, the non-skid cover on the table is amazingly helpful for many items big and small. Even small and lightweight items manage to roll without it. Heavy items are sometimes more stable, but you want them secured as well, as they will be rolling more dramatically.

All closet drawers need to be locked, otherwise they can open and annoy you with sounds in the middle of the night. Also beware about opening up a closet door as the conglomerate of things inside is unpredictable and it might fall out of unexpected places. I learned it the hard way ;(

I also have no pictures of it since during the crazy dance of the ship I am mainly holding for my life. I only managed to take a picture of the computer screen which record rolling angle:

it does not seem like a big number, but think about a 12 degree slope you are going down by foot, by bike or by car - it’s pretty big!

Despite the heavy rolling I am feeling ok, especially when I'm not staring at the computer screen.