Looking back at my most bonkers job to date.
2nd January 2023 - heading south 🇦🇶 (last year!)
I can’t believe that a whole whizz around the sun has gone by since I headed back to Antarctica to work as a Field Guide for UK Antarctic Heritage Trust at Damoy Hut, a former transit air base ‘around the corner’ from Port Lockroy on the Antarctic peninsula.
I have had more than a few brilliant jobs since falling into this world of adventure in 2007 but this one was by far the single most brilliant job / experience of all.
This time last year I was on my 2nd of 3 flights in 24hrs to deposit me in Ushuaia before setting sail farther south.
I’ll be writing a few short posts about my experiences over the coming weeks but if you wish to read my musings from last year, please head to the blog page - https://lnkd.in/eHxHXs3u
I really miss that environment and will definitely be back. Once Antarctica grabs you, she doesn’t let you go!
9th January, 2023: Planes, trains, automobiles....and a cruise ship.
I am used to travelling long distances to get to my place of work for expeditions, whether it be to Nepal, Argentina, Tanzania, China, well you get the gist. When my commute to work involved a cruise ship, the Drake Passage and 6 days of sailing to the most southerly Post Office in the world, it put the word remote into context, and even after that lot, I wasn't quite 'at work' yet for my most bonkers job to date of being a Field Guide at Damoy Hut for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust.
Bonkers in a good way though. I had made the decision towards the end of 2022 to reduce the number of expeditions that I was going to lead in 2023 and beyond. My body and brain were not bouncing back from multiple groups and the rigours of leading at high altitude and I knew that I was craving a more stable home life. Little did I know when I made that decision that my next expedition gig would be to support 2 heritage carpenters at a remote former transit air base on the Antarctic Peninsula. Plenty of available oxygen, no clients and stationary for a month either side of the long commute both ways. What's not to love about that.
Having just returned from Antarctica on holiday with my Mum on HX Hurtigruten Expeditions MS Roald Amundsen, I knew the route back south well so when I boarded the MS Hamburg, a ship run by a German company, in Ushuaia on 6th January 2023, although she was a very different ship, I knew the drill. Plenty of lectures, good food, landings at various points on the Antarctic Peninsula depending on the weather, a few trips to the gym, fresh air on deck, hanging out with the expedition team in between times and plenty of reading of a vast amount of work documents and getting to grips with the variety of forms I would have to use daily for role as Field Guide/Base Camp Manager.
I have been asked often since I returned from Antarctica at the end of Feb last year 'how on earth did you get that job?' and the answer is simple. Hard work, determination and a smattering of right place, right time. When I entered this world of adventure 16 years ago I had never intended to live the life I have but it is the life I have lived and I absolutely love the variety and unexpected twists and turns it throws up.
Saying yes to the job was probably one of the best decisions I have made. A total no brainer, the timing was right, the stars aligned, once again, you get the gist. I took with me years of experience in extreme and cold environments as well as logistical and practical skills honed over my adult life. I also learnt so much too from everyone around me.
12 months on I still rave about the job and do have a pang of 'FOMO' seeing the UKAHT field and conservation team who are on the peninsula at the moment, restoring Detaille, another historic site and monument. To see what the team are up to, please follow UK Antarctic Heritage Trust.
A full write up ▶ https://lnkd.in/duc3KYfP
16th January, 2023: Counting penguin chicks at Port Lockroy.
TBH, the whole of my Antarctic working experience was on the 'things I never expected to do in my life' list but here I was, note paper and pen in hand, helping Mairi Hilton count penguin eggs and chicks as part of an ongoing monitoring scheme to check the vibrancy of this important Gentoo penguin colony on Goudier Island.
The island is home to Port Lockroy, or Base A as it is also known, and is run and maintained by UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. You may have heard of the Penguin Post Office? Well, this is where it is and this is where I spent my first 10 days on the Antarctic Peninsula sorting gear and equipment with my colleagues Sven and Martin before shipping around the corner to Damoy to start our hut restoration projection in earnest.
We nearly doubled the number of human inhabitants on the island for those 10 days, working alongside the team of 4 who called Port Lockroy home for 5 months over the 22/23 Antarctic summer. Lucy, Mairi, Clare and Natalie were custodians of the island charged with maintaining the museum as well as running the shop and Post Office which is a regular stop off for a range of visiting ships ranging from the Chilean Navy and smaller cruise ships to teeny tiny yachts. (for more info click ➡ https://lnkd.in/g4DpXDqj)
Mairi had the unenviable pleasure of donning the special assigned Penguin Poop Overalls (penguin poop REALLY smells, is very sticky and very hard to remove) and do regular egg and chick counts to see how the colony of 1000 Gentoo penguins were doing that year (22/23). When Mairi asked if I would like to help her do the latest count the answer was obviously Yes. Fortunately I didn't have to crawl around under any buildings to check hard to reach nests for soon to be or fluffy newbies, my accuracy of noting down the count was very important and I didn't want to muck it up!
The only way to see if each nest has either an egg or a chick hiding under Mum or Dad was for Mairi to gently grab said penguin's tail, lift its bottom up and shout 'egg', 'chick' or 'empty'. They can be vicious little blighters those penguins, which I guess is quite understandable when someone is lifting your bottom to see what's underneath, so Mairi's safety equipment of ski goggles, thick gloves and welly boots were vital whilst I held a broom handle to gently shoo away any other penguins which took umbridge to our shenanigans.
Last season was a challenging one for the penguins at Port Lockroy, and many other sites on the Antarctic Peninsula, due to a huge amount of late season snow. Penguins need access to pebbles to build their nests. Too much snow and not enough available pebbles means late nest building and therefore late chicks. Not a good combo.
Mairi is back in Antarctica monitoring penguins and other wildlife for Oceanites. I am sat at home dreaming of Antarctica!
To read about my whole 🇦🇶 season ➡ https://lnkd.in/eHxHXs3u
23rd January 2023: 📸 23:54:31
The wind is increasing and we are in for a rough night. The 3 of us are out of our sleeping tents to save 'Home', our mess tent which was taking the full force of the storm.
We had been dropped off by HMS Protector the day before and our first night at Damoy on Wiencke Island was blissfully calm. I couldn't believe my luck in being here, a dream job which I didn't even know had been a dream.
Martin and Sven, Heritage carpenters, and myself as the Field Guide/Base Camp Manager, were charged by UK Antarctic Heritage Trust with stripping and repainting Damoy Hut, a former air transit base on the Antarctic peninsula, and restoring it back to its original orange colour. My job was to ensure safety during our project, to deal with issues before they became problems but this is never a one person job. Sven and Martin played a big part in keeping us safe and our safety included Home which housed our kitchen, dining, stores and was the tiny space grew a love/frustration relationship with.
The forecast was of winds of 30m/s (30m/s = 58kts = 108kph = 68mph), strengthening to this level from midnight but the storm had blown in much sooner. By 8pm we had shut down Home, moved anything at height onto the plywood floor, buried the poles and made sure the jerry cans which were acting as ballast and securing the guy lines were well and truly buried. I have been in some truly windy conditions on mountains but this was proving to be something else. We did what we could in the conditions we were experiencing and it was certainly a case of 'the best solution possible' at the time over 'the best possible solution' given unlimited time.
Our sleeping tents were in a line next to the mess tent with mine being the nearest, Sven in the middle and Martin at the 'windy' end, bearing the brunt of the wind before it burst over us and hit the mess tent. We could hear the wind coming before it hit us, it was like waiting for a freight train to whizz by but in reality we were in its way.
We kept in contact overnight using our radios and every half an hour or so I would stick my head out of my tent to make sure Home was still there. Every now and then I would venture out and add more ballast then skuttle back to the safety of my mm thick tent.
At 7am we abandoned our sleeping tents and headed down to Damoy Hut. None of us had had any sleep and we were all a tad frayed. I heard a radio call from HMS Protector who had sought refuge nearby. They had recorded gusts of 70kts early that morning. (37m/s = 70kts = 130kph = 90mph).
When the winds died down mid-morning we ventured back out to take stock of the damage. To our utter amazement, none of the poles had snapped and once free of its ballast, Home amazingly popped back into shape.
This early storm cemented our resolve and strengthened our team spirit. As in life, it's during the hard times you understand how strong you really are.
➡ https://lnkd.in/eSbrKzhK
30th January 2023: Being a guest in their home.
When I accepted the job of Field Guide, working for UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, supporting heritage carpenters Sven and Martin restore and repaint former transit air base Damoy Hut on the Antarctic peninsula, I knew I was in for an interesting time.
I was there, in part, to make sure we didn't hurt or kill ourselves and if we did have an accident, to patch us up and arrange evacuation if the need arose. When going through the variety of equipment we had on site, the medical kit was top of the list for me.
I travelled down to Antarctica with a large amount of medical supplies and we picked up the remaining kit at Port Lockroy or from our stores which were shipped from the Falkland Islands by HMS Protector who dropped us off at Damoy. When we were setting up 'Work', which was Damoy Hut, and 'Home', our mess tent, I spent a goodly amount of time putting together the right kits for the right places aided by extensive lists provided by UKAHT.
We were an independent unit of 3 and had everything we needed to treat a range of ailments as well as dealing with more serious injuries. Although there were a regular number of ships passing or visiting us, from cruise and military ships to small and large yachts, if the weather was too bad for a Zodiac launch, evacuation would not have been an option. We had a direct line via the satellite phone to Emergency Doctors who were there for advice and guidance should we need it. In essence we were responsible for our own health and welfare and took it seriously which basically meant steering clear of the wildlife, out of respect as well as to avoid injury.
One med kit I had never imagined putting together was a Seal Bite kit but this was one of our most important boxes of tricks. Avoidance is key as being bitten by a seal is extremely serious requiring even more serious drugs and initial treatment before immediate evacuation to the nearest medical facility which, in essence, is days away by ship.
Safety was just one of reasons why we kept our distance from these often sleepy, cute looking and seemingly friendly tubes of lard. We were guests in their space and as Martin said one day, they are not close to us, we are close to them.
We often used to watch Weddell and Fur seals lounging on the snow by the sea, having a snooze and then a stretch and then back to a snooze again from the safety of Damoy Hut. We went for a walk every other day and made sure we kept our eyes peeled as the wildlife often blended into the scenery and you could easily mistake a seal for a rock, particularly down on the beach. Camouflage is key. We never went for a walk on our own where seals could roam as a moment's lapse of concentration could end in a very painful, life threatening and quick exit for us all.
The most important reason for leaving them be was that this is their home, not ours.
To read all 4 blogs ➡ https://lnkd.in/eHxHXs3u
6th February 2023: The calm before yet another storm.
During our 26 days at Damoy, a remote former air transit base which we were restoring and repainting to its former orange glory, we adopted various routines. Partly because we had 24-hour daylight and having to do things at certain times meant that we had an idea whether it was day or night. Whilst we were at Port Lockroy pre deployment to Damoy, Sven and Martin managed to work on to the early hours of the morning on a few occasions due to there being no dusk or dark, it certainly has an effect on the body and mind.
I am a creature of habit, not a lover of routine, although in certain environments creating routines can keep on you on the straight and narrow. A daily routine we became accustomed to was writing up the Board and the Base Diary.
The Board may seem somewhat simple. For us, as our work was generally quite complex and demanding due to the environment, simple was good. The board was our forecast for the hours ahead along with our Thought of the Day which we shared in our daily radio call to our colleagues at Port Lockroy, just over a mile away on a different island.
I took the weather from the forecast sent to us by UK Antarctic Heritage Trust HQ in Cambridge and we learnt very quickly what certain meters per second of wind felt like. We were visited less frequently than our colleagues at Port Lockroy which housed the shop, the world's most southerly Post Office and museum on Goudier Island so today looked busy to us. As you can see by my crossings out, plans changed after Plancius left us with Le Lyrial and Roald Amundsen cancelling. This didn't affect us greatly as we simply carried on with our work and it was a privilege to have Damoy to ourselves, or as our Thought of the Day says, us and the local wildlife. We were most definitely guests in their habitat.
The Base Diary is a log which will stay in the stores at the British Antarctic Survey, also based in Cambridge, for the rest of time. A daily log of what the weather actually did (doesn't everything revolve around the weather?), which wildlife we could see particularly the seals and sea birds, how cloudy it was, how much sea ice was floating in Dorian Bay as well as a round up of what we achieved and generally what we were gearing ourselves up for.
Storms were a frequent visitor. In my 4th weekly post about our time in Antarctica details just how bad these storms can be. As time went on we became used to their regularity and ferocity. We could judge what our tents (and us) could weather. When to dig in, when to dig out, when to tighten the guy ropes, when to let them have some slack. We always tidied up and put our gear away, particularly when we knew something bigger than the normal Antarctic winds were on their way. Life in Antarctica is fragile at the best of times and it was vital that we didn't alter the habitat or landscape with any rogue kit which flew away.
13th February 2023: Oh, it's such a perfect day. I'm glad I spent it with you.
We were coming to the end of our time at Damoy Point. 23 days so far, only 3 more to go and we all felt a pang of sadness as our intense and productive time repairing and repainting UK Antarctic Heritage Trust's Damoy Hut was soon to be over.
I love movement, a sense of physical journeying, going from one place to another, seeing what is in store during that day on any given expedition whether I am leading clients at altitude or walking my own route with a full compliment of oxygen. I guess it is my sense of purpose.
Being static at Damoy for 3+ weeks with no physical journeying was a challenge to start with however Damoy kept us busy in a variety of ways. We were up against it with trying to strip and repaint the hut within our allotted time working with the ever 'changeable' and often extreme weather conditions. We could not go back and finish the job off later. There was no Plan B.
This particular day, 13th February, was one we had been looking forward to since it was mentioned to us that British Antarctic Survey (BAS) legend Nick Cox was going to be visiting us. He had to be the one to officially open Damoy Hut having spent so much time there whilst the hut was in service between 1975 and 1993. Although my heritage carpenter colleagues Sven and Martin had never met each other before accepting the role restoring the hut, they both knew Nick well from different parts of the world. I love the way that travel and adventure brings people together in the remotest parts of the world.
The chaps had been raving on about Nick for a week so I was so looking forward to meeting him. The day arrived with bright sunshine and not a breath of wind as we were picked up by Zodiac to be taken on board Viking Polaris to meet our Guest of Honour who was spending a month on board ship as Guest Lecturer. A quick breakfast with a lot of exuberant chat then a talk given by myself to guests on Polaris about our work at the hut followed by a much needed shower set us up for the day. Back on shore to do some tidying up before the Grand Opening later that afternoon, as much as we didn't want time to pass too quickly, we were wishing the minutes to tick a little faster that day.
Late afternoon came. All of the ship's guests were back on board freeing up the crew to join us at our home from home. As Nick came ashore you could hear the excitement in his voice. He hadn't been back to the hut for 30 years and was eager to take a look around and immerse himself in the history that he was firmly a part of.
It was a magical moment in time and you could feel Nick's fondness for Basil, as BAS had nicknamed the hut when it was in operation as an air transit facility for their Scientists and Field Guides.
The smiles say it all.
It was such a perfect day.
More from Damoy - https://lnkd.in/eHxHXs3u
20th February 2023: Goodbye Basil, it’s been great knowing you.
As my watery bus ride home from Antarctica pulled out of Dorian Bay, I watched as Damoy Hut slipped out of view for the final time with a feeling of pride and a pang of sadness. The past week had been non-stop with the final brush stroke of paint applied to the hut, an inevitable ‘farewell Antarctica’ storm and our big clear up completed, a hasty change of plans for our repatriation ‘around the corner’ to Port Lockroy was put into place with our stores and kit being transported by a variety of cruise ships, their crew and Zodiac drivers, our project was finally over. All of a sudden, we were back in the comfort of the Nissen Hut on Goudier Island with the Port Lockroy team and not a tent in sight.
26 days of being on project for my most bonkers and brilliant job to date, we had battled the elements to get the job done and turn a flaking and blue Basil, (the name the BAS (British Antarctic Survey) teams had given to the hut as the sheets of Structaply with which the hut was built had BAS L stamped on them), back to its original orange. Mission accomplished. As I sat in the comfort of the Nissen Hut I was probably experiencing a bit of shell shock. It had been a non-stop operation with many highs and lows, and I missed it already. I had 2 final nights at Port Lockroy before being picked up by HX Hurtigruten Expeditions MS Fridtjof Nansen for my journey back to Ushuaia.
There was still plenty of work to be done with spread sheets to check and double check, reports to write, support to be given where needed to the Port Lockroy team and a farewell party to be had.
When I saw the MS Fridtjof Nansen sail into view 2 days later I had another pang of sadness as this was finally the end and time to say goodbye to the whole team who I had come to know well and a place I had fallen in love with. The wonderful team of 4 at Port Lockroy gave us so much support whilst we were sharing their tiny home for the 10 days prior to our deployment to Damoy and each day we were on site. Supplying us with extra goodies from their stores, ensuring we had the kit we needed if anything broke or was damaged, our daily check ins and regular radio updates and the occasion visit too when time and a Zodiac ride allowed.
Once final goodbyes had been said and many a hug given in the tender pit on board ship I felt very lonely even though I was on board a ship of 230 guests, 20 or so expedition team and 150+ crew but I also knew I was surrounded by kindness. One final night in the vicinity saw me sleep like a log and I was up bright and early the next morning to see what Basil looked like from the deck of the ship. Pretty amazing to be fair.
We silently pulled away and as Basil disappeared, I knew that I would be back one day. I’m not sure when yet, but that one day will definitely happen.
UK Antarctic Heritage Trust
More ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eHxHXs3u
27th February 2023: So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu.
Over the past week I had travelled by cruise ship from Damoy on the Antarctic peninsular back to Ushuaia then plane back to London saying a final goodbye to my short and very sweet 2 months working as a Field Guide for UK Antarctic Heritage Trust when I landed at Heathrow on this day 12 months ago (not this year in case anyone is thinking I have been back 😁).
My most bonkers and brilliant job to date and I was straight back into my other world of work in leadership development. As I write this final post about Damoy I am sat in Southampton airport en route to Glasgow where I also was a year ago, jet lagged, tired and wired, topped up with enthusiasm and full of memories of hard times and good times and a bucket load of experiences I never thought I would add to my CV of life. Today I am not jet lagged, not tired and wired but still full of those wonderful memories of the hard time and good times, all now firmly written up on my CV of life.
If you have had the opportunity to read my previous weekly posts since 2nd January this year about my travels 12 months ago you may have gleaned from my warblings the feelings of pride, excitement and joy in working in Antarctica.
True rocking chair memories and yes, I will go back. One day.
Thanks for following this little thread of my life, I wonder what is up next!
To read the 4 blogs I penned last year about my time at Damoy, please head here:
👉 https://lnkd.in/eYR-HaES
👉 https://lnkd.in/eMyRMGYf
👉 https://lnkd.in/ecxyxhu6
👉 https://lnkd.in/dgUV_Gx2