So It Begins...

After nearly five weeks at Rothera, of settling in, being busy and very slow internet connections, I thought it time to update and kick start my journey.

Having completed my Winter Training In the peak district of Derbyshire back in September, I was asked to fly south earlier than expected due to the increasing numbers of people flying into Rothera. I was to be on the 2nd Dash in to help Lewis, (the outgoing winter chef) with the extra mouths to feed.

The flight south was quite painless this year, with no delays and not that much hanging around at airports. We didn’t have a stop off this time at Puerto Mont which shortened the time from Santiago to    Punta Arenas.

We were in Punta for a couple of days and nights, waiting for the pilots to tell us we had a good weather window into Rothera.

Once we got the word we loaded our gear onto the trucks and set off to board the Dash 7, the plane that flies passengers and cargo into Antarctica for BAS

Approx 4 hours into the flight  and nearly at the ‘PNR’ (Point of no return) the captain announced the weather had changed at Rothera with low cloud making it very difficult to land, we had to turn round and head back, this gave us another night in Punta.

We eventually made it to Rothera after approx 5 hours in the air. The weather was not good and nothing of Antarctica could be seen through the window due to low cloud. Here the Dash can be seen above Rothera on It’s final approach.

It was an exciting landing with the pilots having to abort, powering up and going round again for a 2nd attempt due to cross winds, it was a very bumpy landing and visibility was not good, we could see nothing until we were virtually on the deck. The pictures here are actually from last season to show what we would have seen had it been clear.

Once on the ground we were met by Mike Brian our summer station leader and while the welcoming committee unloaded our bags to distribute them to our accommodation blocks, we made our way to New Bransfield house for a de-brief and dinner before settling into our rooms.