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Jun 29
2010
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Snares Island
Between Campbell Island and Snares we had a full day and a morning at sea. Time at sea, as I have said, goes by quickly because there is so much to do. There were final talks to attend, attempts to get the perfect images of the several different albatrosses soaring over the vessel, and of course, getting organized and partially packed, as immediately after Snares we would be back to Bluff and departure. When the Southern Ocean is as it normally is, rough…it adds degrees of difficulty to every action like Olympic high diving.
The winds were rising as we made our way back to the Spirit of Enderby; the zodiacs were loaded and lashed down. We were directed to “secure” our cabins, hatches and portholes. To those of us who had been through this drill before it was clear we were probably in for a difficult crossing to Campbell Island. It was rough seas throughout the night, but I was tired and slept in short spells of two or three hours, then something would start moving around the cabin that needed to be repositioned. On the bridge in the morning I discovered that we were making about 2 knots into the headwind when normal progress was usually at least 12. The waves were cresting and crashing over the bow and sending cascades of spray back over the ship sometimes making it nearly impossible to see out of the bridge. I do not come to the Southern Ocean to have a rough seas experience or to be tossed about like a leaf in a tornado, but if you have never had a truly turbulent and extended time on a harrowing ocean…I highly recommend it. The events are much better than any rollercoaster can provide you. The “Roaring Forties,” in this part of the world, and “Drake’s Lake,” between the tip of South America and Antarctica, are probably a “toss up” as to which might provide the best base experience to judge others by.
[NOTE: Last year I described my first visit to the Sub Antarctic Islands, including Macquarie Island in “S.B. 2008-BLOGS 5-6” on this site. In order not to subject readers to a rehash of information included in those BLOGS I invite you to go to them if you are interested in earlier outlined information about Macquarie.]
Six am and the ship was headed for Enderby Island. The last time I had been to Enderby Island it was overcast with periodic drizzle turning to snow and sleet, so windy I was knocked down along with others, cold in the morning and throughout the day…I was only able to get a third of the way around the island. I am sure that I comment on the conditions throughout the Southern Ocean all the time but I also emphasize that the weather should be of concern only for safety reasons. I think these places are mostly dominated by what we would call “bad weather” but for these places it is the weather of the flora and fauna. I have also developed Southern Oceanic “good weather” preferences, for example, I would rather have snow than horizontal rain…overcast and cold is better than fog…too warm and one sinks into seemingly safe places to step. Sunshine, no clouds and light breezes is something one would expect to find all the time in paradise but Southern Ocean paradise is rare and to be relished…such paradisiacal weather has produced most of my best photo images. 
became apparent that the weather was not going to be cooperative and the Heritage leadership with the ship’s captain decided to bypass Snares Island and go straight to the Auckland Islands. They announced the decision with the hope that on the return trip the weather would be more amenable to zodiac exploration around The Snares.
Seasons are reversed in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. Fall in the Northern Hemisphere is Spring in the Southern and the time to return to projects that are curtailed for the winter. I would take any opportunity to travel to different sites in the winter but all forms of travel, except emergency military aircraft on life saving sorties, are halted. There are perhaps 1,000 or 1,200 people sprinkled throughout my areas of interest that work and study through the winter in the Southern Ocean environs, the islands and Antarctica itself, with the largest concentration of about 150 people at McMurdo Station. There are many other research stations but none as large as McMurdo. Hence, I begin my image taking and location research trips in October and must finish them before March. 
Pebble Island is very near Saunders Island and I am sure there are those who take boats across the water but the FIGAS plane is the fast and most scheduled way to travel between the different islands or settlements throughout the Falklands Islands. Radio contact with the FIGAS dispatcher is the surest method of arranging for the plane to make a stop at the local landing strip. Susan drove us to the dirt airstrip where we stood expectantly next to the windsock. She and David know my friends, Jacqui Jennings and Allan White, who operate the Pebble Island Lodge. I think the less than 3,000 inhabitants of the Falklands all know each other and this should not come as a surprise to anyone.
Jerome picked us up in the morning and delivered us to the Falkland Islands Government Air Service, FIGAS. I have flown FIGAS a number of times. The nine passenger Britten-Norman BN2B Islander is used exclusively to service the small landing strips throughout the Falkland Islands and because they are so flexible they have even been known to land on the sandy beaches on Pebble Island. They fly seven days a week if they have passengers and/or cargo. The night before the air service usually announces the next day’s flight schedule. Three of their five aircraft are used to ferry people and cargo while two are used to patrol the sea around the Falkland Islands to enforce fishing regulations. 
Jerome had warned us that the crossing to the Falkland Islands might be rough and difficult. He had been studying weather maps and had us tie everything down that we could. As we cruised past Stomness Station and turned toward the open sea I found myself looking forward to a bad weather adventure…I write this tongue-in-cheek as it seems to me I have generally encountered difficult weather in the Southern Ocean and crossing to the Falkland Islands in warm, sunny weather and light breezes would probably be boring. The Golden Fleece began tossing and plunging before we cleared the mouth of Stromness Bay. The weather slowed our progress northwards and it took about 4 ½ days to make the crossing. On this journey there was not much to do but observe from the wheelhouse or tuck myself into a corner of my bunk and attempt to read or add to my notes. Cold cereals, sandwiches and tea were our main meals when we felt like snacking. 
As I wrote earlier St. Andrews Bay is not a protected harbour but is open its entire length to the Southern Ocean. The waves were bumping us up and down as they came in. Jerome returned from his trip to the BBC camp and it was only about 45 minutes after sunrise that we motored into the deep ocean and 50 plus knot winds. It snowed and blew the 40-45 kilometers to Stomness Bay and our next “safe” harbour in the continuous wind and the charging storm that was still behind us when he entered our expected anchorage. The trip took all morning and we had no idea we would be here for three nights avoiding the raging storm that came stomping, tossing and howling from southeast past the mouth of the Bay.
