Antarctica, Vernadsky Station
Day 6, zodiac cruise 1; near Booth and Pleneau Islands
This afternoon the weather had changed little from the morning and we wrapped up well for a zodiac cruise in amongst icebergs and seals. Against a backdrop of grey sky streaked horizontally with cloud the fantastic ice shapes looked even weirder than usual and the blue and green colours were especially vibrant.
At intervals we were all sprayed liberally with salt water as the zodiac met the choppy sea head on. Niall had left his camera behind again and claimed to find the experience liberating; Marion swore she saw a wistful look come over his face from time to time and I agree that his fingers twitched when we neared a particularly spectacular ice sculpture.
Day 6, landing 2; Vernadsky Station
Originally the Faraday research station (most known for its part in discovering the ozone hole), the British handed over the base to the Ukraine in 1996. The Ukrainians have continued data collection unbroken since the station's construction in 1947 as well as starting up their own lines of research.
The staff seemed enthusiastic to see us - despite being visited by two or three tourist vessels a day in the summer, they're iced in alone for eight months over winter before their year's stint of duty ends. We were given a full tour of the station and when I expressed an interest in their geophysical work, Yuri, the resident geophysicist, took Niall and I to see their seismometers. Weather permitting (thunderstorms are the main source of loud noise which interferes with seismic data collection) they can detect any earthquake over a magnitude 5 in the whole world and any over magnitude 3 occurring in the southern hemisphere.
I could perfectly imagine myself sitting in one of the comfortably ancient station offices, emailing out a summary of the latest data; watching the bay gradually freeze over, cutting off all physical contact with the outside world; pottering around on cross-country skis while the Weddell seals have their pups on the sea ice. How light and sociable the summer days must seem after the long winter. I envied these friendly, bearded scientists.
Having got the science nerd stuff out of the way, we joined the rest of the party in the bar just in time for me to get my just desserts. I'd been making jokes about feeling like Debbie McGee since I'm often called upon to be Niall's camera assistant; holding spare lenses, acting as human tripod, etc. So when the Vernadsky's barman decided to show off his magic skills to the crowd, he naturally picked me to be his monkey. With the coordination of a land-bound Adélie penguin I tried to mimic his moves with a piece of rope and finally succeeded in being tied to Doctor Johannes to teach us both a lesson!
A very entertaining evening, which continued when we invited some of the station's staff to join us for our special Christmas Eve barbecue dinner on the ship's back deck between looming icebergs, with the smells of charcoal smoke and mulled wine in the air. As usual the hotel staff excelled themselves.
Around sunset, the cold forced us to repair to the bar where the official ink stamp brought over from the Vernadsky station did the rounds. Passports were stamped, then a production line of postcards and finally Niall tattooed Mark's forehead with a small Adélie penguin and we went to bed.
