Personal December 6: Falklands – Signy

(Note from Felix: This is being posted on December 9 as email somehow doesn’t

and is sitting in the comments section.)

Thanks to all for jumping on the website comments boxes… it’s great to have

the feeling of a conversation from such a remote place! Days have actuallly

flown by since my last entry and there’s no chance of boredom setting in. Out

on deck, sea birds, also saw some dolphins and then today, my first icebergs!

Fantastic!

The Falklands were surreal, well worth a visit were it not that they’re so

damn far away from everywhere. People say there’s a similarity with the Hebrides

and I believe it although surely I should have been to the latter first? Topsy

turvey. Go to the Shackleton diary website

for photos of the place. I don’t know what I expected (Patagonia?) but not that.

Long white sandy beaches on the edge of bleak and barren emptiness. Windswept,

wild, more remote than remote but never far from a reminder of the huge military

presence.

Penguins on the beach are as comical in real life as all the documentaries

suggest and just inland we found them nesting, hundreds of them sitting on eggs,

building up nests with pebbles, no fear, just metres away. The thriving metropolis

of Stanley has a handful of pubs and great shops that specialise in unlikely

combinations like carpets and cd players or earrings and tracksuits. The accent

is some kind of cross-breed of kiwi, west country and south african with an

unknown corner of Scotland thrown in for a giggle. Sounds great though; the

chameleon dialect of english.

Back on the ship, we’ve been sailing for a couple of days and are due into

Signy tomorrow morning. The sea there is too shallow for the Shackleton to get

right up to land so unloading of cargo and people is usually carried out by

boat. There’s been a lot more sea ice than usual lately though so they were

hoping be able to dock right up against the ice and walk/skidoo in. Difficulties

have however already arisen as recent temperatures around +10C mean the sea

ice is rapidly melting (so we can’t walk/skidoo there) and there’s also lots

of ice floating around (so we can’t get in by little boat). I have no idea what

will happen but it sounds like getting ashore is unlikely for me. A shame since

there’s meant to be wonderful wildlife and walking to be experienced there.

Considering how little there is to do, time on the ship has been flying by.

I described a typical day in the comments of the last entry but added to that

tough life ofsleeping, eating, seawatching, eating, drinking and sleeping we

have now started adding parties. Roger should also be bristling with pride knowing

his daughter is playing backgammon and cribbage every night…all those painful

nights teaching me game etiquette as a kid have paid off! I think there might

even be a photo in the next Shackleton diary to prove it.

That’s all for now. Summary is, I’m as happy as a kid in a bathtub (with loads

of bubbles and icebergs and dolphins and flying things and friends).Rh.