22/2/08  22:30

We had a really nice few hours en route to Port Lockroy. The sun didn’t actually shine on us but we could see it in the distance and it was a dry day. On the approach to the Lamaire Channel we saw several Humpback whales and got quite close to them.  When we went through this channel on the way down the visibility was poor but this time it was excellent so we sent Nik up the mast to sit on the spreaders and take pictures as we worked our way through the ice.

While in Booth Island this morning we met a French Boat moored on the opposite (Northern) side to us.  When we arrived in Port Lockroy they had taken the protected position in the SE corner and blocked it with their lines.  We were considering simply anchoring in the middle but they came out in their dinghy and we agreed to raft up alongside them. This took about an hour as they released their lines and we anchored and put our lines out, they being worried about the possibility of wind then doubled up all their lines, so it’s a real cat’s cradle in here at the moment.  I’m puzzled why if they were so worried about wind why they didn’t drop their anchor as well.  We have the tandem anchors down with 65 meters of chain in 8 meters of depth so we’re not going anywhere.

The scenery here is spectacular.  Much more snow than we’ve seen in other places and with the occasional beam of solar cross light it all looks pretty amazing. We had a good couple of hours ashore communing with the penguins and seeing lots of whale bones.  Tomorrow morning we will visit the British Base after they have seen off a cruise ship descending on them at 8:30.   We then have a 45 mile leg to our last stop; The Melchoir Islands.

23/2/08  10:00AM

Plenty of wind in the night and it’s a wet and windy morning. NE 25/30 knots.  I’m not sure we’re going anywhere today.  It’s a good thing we took the trouble to moor securely.  After dinner last night I went next door to invite the French over for a drink but they were in the midst of crepe preparations and suggested we join them.  So we brought over a couple bottles of wine and our own glasses and spent a couple of cozy hours with the five of them, the couple, his son and three friends.  Their boat is a self made 52 footer, and it is also their home.  They’ve been down here for a month and have a lack of time concerns which is enviable.

12:00 Noon

We’ve just been to visit the British Base Station; on the way there the weather seemed to be abating so we thought we would move on.   On the way back the windy icy rain started again and it now seems particularly machos tic to leave this secure mooring.  So we will go early tomorrow.  Also it’s a 45 mile run and if we encounter ice on the way we would arrive late evening so the sensible thing is to stay put.

Yesterday afternoon just as we all finished constructing our cat’s cradle mooring, another yacht arrived with a Russian speaking crew.  They anchored in the middle of the bay and the French went out to them to see if they wanted to come in and raft up to us.

They declined saying they were happy out there and that they didn’t expect really strong wind.  About 4AM they started dragging and then managed to snag their anchor.  For whatever reason the captain let his chain and anchor go and they spent the rest of the night hovering in the vicinity under engine.   They hadn’t buoyed the anchor with a trip line as a precaution, and it turns out they don’t have a spare anchor. They are now hoping one of the cruise ships coming in the next few days will have a diver on board, but I don’t know what they’ll do until then.

The attached pictures in this group we all taken  by Nik. The first one is Steve on Rock watch.