UK Training
Met training in Cambourne
Climbing masts in Taunton
Abseiling in Derbyshire
First aid in Derriford
Fire training

The Voyage South
Crossing to America
Montevideo
The Falklands
Sub- Antarctic Islands
The Brunt Iceshelf

Halley Research Station
Living on an ice shelf
Summer
Winter
Recording the weather
Holidays

South Georgia
BAS has two research stations on South Georgia, one at Bird island which is a protected area and one at King Edward Point next to the old whaling station at Grytvicken.

I never went to Bird Island but I am not upset because apparently the beaches are covered in very smelly and very agressive fur seals. Three scientists spend the winter at Bird Island and they have numerous strategies for warding off seal attacks. Apparently, seals dislike having their chins hit and they hate the noise of a scrunched crisp packet. You can also stick to the water which is not in a seals territory.

Grytvicken is fantastic. It is an old abandoned whaling station which is now derelict. When I was there you could still see all the old buildings and equipment, like the giant cauldrons that they used to process the whale oil. There were also the living areas like the barracks where the whalers lived where you can read the Norweigian newspapers that insulate the walls. To read more about life in the hey-dey of the whaling station I recommend Antarctic Housewife by Nan Brown.

Signy
The research station at Signy is open only in the summer. The scientists that work there are biologists and they study the penguin colonies that live there. It's a lovely island with grass and hills. The station itself is very pretty, a comfortable wooden building. When I visited there were some old buildings that had become obsolete and were due to be pulled down. We visited some of them and they were quite eerie. One building was too dilapidated to go inside but it was evocative of the early history of BAS; wooden huts and checked shirts, tabbaco rations and beards.

The first time I visited Signy I didn't get much of an explore because I was helping Jon calibrate the meteorological instruments on the met mast. I was on top of the hill with the logger box and my boss Jon was in the station with the computer. It was the first time I had to use a VHF radio to communicate

Me in Grytviken (whaling ship to my right)

Sir Ernest Shackleton's Grave at Grytvicken

Grytvicken at South Georgia