Boating

My last day off turned out to be a real treat, with the weather being bright and sunny, no wind with  a calm sea. It was a perfect day for boats in the water supporting the science. So i asked if there were any spaces on any of the boats for me to tag along ? 

It turned out that Theresa my winter Dive Officer, wanted me to pop down to the Bonner Lab (the science Lab) in order to carry out a little more training on setting up and priming the Hyperbaric chamber, which i will need to be proficient in through my winter. This is the decompression chamber used by the divers and is a medical treatment which enhances the body's natural healing process by inhalation of 100% oxygen in a total body chamber, where atmospheric pressure is increased and controlled. 

The chamber has to be primed and ready to use every time the divers go out, in case of an emergency. My role through the winter will be to set up and operate the chamber following a set list of checks.

This particular day was to go through all checks by opening and closing valves, watching dials, checking o'rings and making sure everything works, then leaving the main chamber primed as the divers were about to dive for species of worms. This was good for me as i could go with them.

Once all checks had been made and ticked off, I made my way to the boat shed, quickly got into a boat suit and life jacket and met the boatman and divers on the wharf, where they were just putting the boat into the water.

This is how the day went

I tagged myself out to boating and walked to the 

Bonner Lab

Went inside and looked for Theresa who was already

at the chamber

Hyperbaric Chamber

Theresa, checking the oxygen cylinders

All the dials and levers that need to be 

Monitored

Checking inside the first chamber

Looking through to the main chamber

Levers that control the in and out flow

Once chamber was set, i made my way to the boat shed

Here the boats are on trailers ready to be taken to the 

wharf

Zac, my winter boatman, lowering the boat into the

water with the use of a crane

One boat already gone, this one is Stella on her way 

to the Islands to drop of geologists

Our boat is called 'Nimrod' and here we are on our 

to the north cove where the divers will get in the water

We spot a Leopard seal on the ice, which means 

no divers will be getting in the water this time

Here Zac takes a picture of Lenny the Lep

They look so harmless, but very unpredictable 

Kate, our outgoing winter Dive officer, talking 

with Theresa our incoming Dive officer and Zac 

the boatman still taking pictures

Zac and Kate discussing what to do next?

I vote to survey the icebergs

we cruise to the north end of the runway where you

can see the Hanger

Simon Morley our marine biologist, dissapointed

at not getting wet, but enjoying the trip out

There are some amazing shapes of icebergs, here

is an arch carved through one

We did not drive through it, they are far too unstable

A great shot of Rothera from the water

It was decided to go back to base, so with Kate at the

helm we powered up and had a great ride back, safe

in the knowledge that you are in amazing professional 

Hands

Once back the boat is hoisted out of the water

onto a trailer, which is pulled by a tractor

Zac driving it back to the bonner for it to be loaded

with the next lot of equipment for the next science trip.

Possibly water sampling

This was an amazing day in which we were really lucky with the weather, after lunch the weather came in and stopped boating for the rest of the day.