23112011 Stormy Night
0530. Bang bang bang comes from the cabin roof. I jump
out of my skin and bunk simultaneously grab my shirt and trousers and rush
barefoot out to the deck.
Its Jerome the French skipper of the “Golden Fleece”
whose boat we are tied to. He wants us to run more warps ashore as the wind has
come round and putting a lot of strain on his mooring lines.
Shoes and rainjacket on, Peter joins me as, with their
help, we run extra lines ashore. Its blowing a hooley and spray and rain
conspire to soak my jeans but their isn’t time to change.
Job done and back into the warmth and Lars appears. He’d
been already been out at 0400 when the sound of the boats banging together woke
him.
Back to bed to get warm until 0830 when we start the
breakfast process and listen to the local Radio Station. Imagine our surprise
when the weather forecast
gives the “Wind chill factor for Sheep” to protect those
recently sheared!!
The Russian passenger/survey ship “Academic Ioffe” en route to South
Georgia arrives at 0630. Amongst its 80 odd passengers are the relatives of
Shackelton’s
expedition member, Frank Wild, whose ashes they are going
to scatter there.
Akademik
Ioffe
Loading up
We watch the antics of a TV Crew who are filming their
expedition and whizzing around the harbour filming one of the local work boats
named after him.
1400 Lunch. Peter’s gone off to the swimming pool and we
await his return so we can move back onto the pontoon once the last passenger
have returned to their ship.
he wind has moderated, down from 30kt to 15kts though the
seas still rough and we have to moor with the wind against us on the
beam.
Back on Pontoon
Peter return and waits on the pontoon to take our mooring
lines. No sooner had we tied up than our previous neighbours,
the French aboard also come alongside and moor in front
of us.
Our friends on “Mina II” have also returned their
dockspace after anchoring in the shelter on the otherside of the harbour where
they had weathered out the storm.
We wave to them and are invited aboard for
Caiprihina’s.
Mina 2 Oyster
485
John, Tim, Thomas, Bob, Linda and Lars
Caipirinha
Kings
Peter and John
In honour of the occasion Lars puts his socks on!! The
first time since the Arctic.
After a pleasant “Happy Hour” we all head out to the
Malvina Hotel restaurant for a very good meal including Squid ring which we had
been recommended.
Happy feet
Bob the Blog
