12th February South from Port Lockroy

Chris here. Last night's gale abated in the early hours and we left Port
Lockroy at 6 o'clock this morning with the aim of heading south through the
Lemaire channel, calling in at the Ukrainian base Vernadsky in the Argentine
islands and then sailing on to explore bays to the south. The scenery
through the Lemaire Channel was spectacular. After two days of northerly
winds there was a lot of ice in the channel which is approximately 1 mile
wide with dramatic 5000' mountains rising out of the sea on both sides.
Not for nothing is this known as Kodak Alley amongst the cruise ship
fraternity. There was low cloud and some rain as navigated slowly through
the channel. However this made the scenery even more dramatic and
atmospheric. Steve conned the yacht amongst weathered bergs, bergy bits and
brash ice.

We saw penguins swimming through the channel. On land these appealing
creatures are so ungainly and move so awkwardly that it is amazing to see
them transformed into such sleek and swift swimmers. In the water no longer
are they funny and cute but fast and efficient fishermen. There were large
numbers of crabeater seals basking on ice floes. Despite their name,
Crabeater seals do not eat crabs, their main diet is krill. Apparently they
may have been misnamed due to a dodgy translation from a Scandinavian
language. Our presence did not disturb the seals, in fact they barely
lifted their heads to look laconically at us before returning to their
dreams of shoals of krill.

At the south end of the Lemaire Channel we called in briefly to the
Vernadsky base with Luis and Mark Seddon going ashore to ask about
anchorages and potential climbing routes in the area. Luis was greeted by
the base commander with "Ah, you are Luis Benitez, I have a letter for you"
(try saying it in a Russian accent) and handing over a letter from a
Ukrainian scientist and climber who left a week ago. This letter gives some
good information on potential climbing in this area.

We are now motoring south to an anchorage which may have landing sites
nearby allowing us to access unclimbed peaks. Therefore I thought I could
take this opportunity to describe the living arrangement on board the Evohe.
Alan and I are sharing a cabin which measures 8 foot by 8 foot with two
other climbers, Gerry and Dan. Four of us in this space is to say the least
cosy. There is one "drying room" for all 17 of us on board the boat and
when not needed to dry wet clothes we can use this to store rucksacks and
climbing gear.

There are three bathrooms on the yacht with shower fittings in each one.
However we have to conserve water so the opportunities for a good wash are
limited. We have to make to with a wash down using a sink full of
(fortunately) hot water. There are vacuum lavatories on board,
unfortunately we are only allowed to use these for "wee" when within 12
miles of Antarctica or any of the islands. For "solids" we must use a
chemical toilet (only one between all 17 of us) which is then emptied into
holding tanks before being disposed of at a later date. When we are away
from the yacht, climbing, we have all been issued with plastic bags and
toilet paper which must be carried back to the yacht after use, for
appropriate disposal. This is to eliminate any potential environmental
damage to the Antarctic environment from human waste and is a condition of
our permit to come to Antarctica. As you can imagine amongst a group such
as ours there is much discussion of and jokes about "lavatory matters" much
of which is unsuitable for a family web log such as this. However I will
say that I'm very glad our cabin is not the one next to the chemical toilet.

Alan here for an update: well we boldly went where, quite literally, no man
has gone before. The maps and charts say interesting things like, not
surveyed, position not exact and expect errors. Haven't seen any yet that
say "here be dragons" but hopefully you get the picture. Our hugely
competent skipper Steve Kafka, was seeking some kind of relatively safe
anchorage for us to use as a base. But without clear charts and with no
depth soundings, what might be a good place to drop anchor may have a depth
of 300 meters and be useless. After a couple of hours of skirting around the
ice bound coast in fog, with a visibility of less than one kilometre, Steve
slammed the boat into reverse. The engine screamed and everyone sat up. We
had become used to seeing huge bergs grounded around the small islands so at
first I thought were about to hit a large hidden off cast of berg. But what
had caused the full astern was the depth sounder alarm going off as we
suddenly hit only 5 meters of depth. Although, the sea looks the same from
above we are exploring the subsea surfaces and thankful for our instruments,
otherwise we might have ran aground miles from anywhere. So after more
sounding and exploring, Steve decided that the combination of no information
on our position, fog and ice, we were better served by heading back to the
nearest known safe anchorage of Vernadsky, 2 hours back north. This is a
little frustrating but as I am still in the middle of a cold, I would not be
able to function 100% once on land, it is not too bad for me but a real
shame for the others. I am also disappointed with the poor weather. I really
hadn't imagined this much rain in Antarctica; fog, yes but not endless
drizzle. From the other boats we have spoken to, it appears that this has
been an incredibly mild season. The base commander at Port Lockroy said it
had been so hot that the Penguin chicks were too exhausted to defend
themselves from the Skuas who could peck away at their eyes, even though the
young Penguins were still alive. He had found that difficult to take. During
our transit of the Lemaire channel the mountains had either bare rock faces
or glacier cover. There was no ice at all, a sign that the temperature here
has been above freezing for quite some time. I even saw a waterfall which
must be a rarity in Antarctica. Anyway lets hope for a nice high pressure
building from the south to drop temperatures below freezing and clear the
air.