The citizen scientists are confined to barracks. The archaeologists and coastal mappers have been allowed on shore for a short visit. We are anchored in Wilson Harbour and its VERY windy. This is Shrove Tuesday morning (happy anniversary sis!) with patchy blue sky, scudding grey clouds, snowy peaks and the nose of Schrader glacier outside the portholes.
Up on deck there are passing wandering albatross and prions. We had lovely views of the wanderers flying yesterday in glorious sunshine, when we were guests of the British Antarctic Survey at Bird Island, treated to a cup of tea and intro from base commander Jamie Coleman. The albatross nest on the grassy hills around the base.
We wrenched ourselves away from Elsehul yesterday morning. Five days at our first archaeological site yielded evidence of brick and metal tryworks under the three pots, several timber and stone structures. Its all been dug, recorded, drawn, sampled, photographed, surveyed and finally covered up again.
Our next archeological site was on the beach across from the Bird Island Station where there are large stone structures and some timber, which we managed to record. The fur seals there seem a bit less interested in us than those at Elsehul, maybe because they see BAS people regularly. Not complaining! And the gangs of pups playing in the kelp were great to watch while the zodiac was being rowed to shore – I coxed – a minor fuel pipe problem, nothing serious.
Spectacular icebergs complete our views here and we are looking forward to getting ashore tomorrow. It’s a treat to visit the south coast – few tourist ships do this – so we’ll keep our fingers and toes crossed for a few more days of quiet weather…..
Vanessa
Photo Notes: The photo is on a beach on Bird island Near the station. In the foreground measurements of the site are being taken to document the key features of the site. All the way on the left, near the feet, one can see the rocky outlines of “something”. In the background a group is working with the metal detector to find bits of metal near a trypot.
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