Today was Sunday, we have been here one week already, and we were treated to a slap up breakfast including fried eggs and sausage pancake. We had just finished eating when Bulat came over and said the Polar Pioneer was due to arrive at Jubany in half an hour and maybe they would also be able to pick us up this morning. All was a panic as Steve and I rushed back to our rooms to pack, instantly regretting our fry up as we looked out at the choppy sea even in our sheltered cove.

I had had to take almost everything out of my bag while searching for something earlier so had to almost pack again from scratch. Not an easy task given everything I brought with me for my two month trip. Such is the way things work here – you can be starting to settle and then suddenly have a short time frame in which to suddenly need to get ready for a potential rapid departure (it was the same with the flight from Punta). Dirk went to call the ship and texted us a little while later to say panic over the weather is too bad and Polar Pioneer couldn’t get in contact with Jubany so we are not going imminently after all. He laughed when he saw us – although he could have returned to our accommodation ten minutes later he knew we would be frantically packing so sent a text to let us know instead. That was a really nice thought.

Later, when the rain had eased off a bit and we knew we definitely wouldn’t be travelling today (and once our fried breakfast had settled back down) Steve and I braved the wind to venture to the lake again to take some water chemistry readings and resample some soil to replace what had become the kelp gulls last night dinner. But when we got to the lake we saw the snow at one end had melted, resulting in deep water on top of the ice below. Other patches of blue were beginning to appear on the snowy surface so it wasn’t feasible to go onto the ice. We didn’t know how deep the snow melt on the ice would be (though surely somewhere near our knees), and even if we did manage to get to our site what was to say a moat wouldn’t form around the lake while we were on it and we would be left stranded. We couldn’t risk it and so settled only for our replacement catchment sample instead. By now the wind was horrendous and it was raining hard so we were glad to get back inside again.

By lunch time the rain had gone and was replaced quite unexpectedly by a frantic horizontal blizzard. We were glad we weren’t on the ship now! By dinner time the sky consisted of patches of white cloud with a backdrop of bright blue sky, and the snow glistening in the evening sun. The sea was still choppy and the wind had blown some of the larger ice bergs further out to sea. Five minutes later and the sky turned to grey with no blue in sight and it looks like another snow storm is on the way. A bit later and the sky was clear again, the half moon bright and clear in the evening sky. I am still getting used to how changeable the weather can be here!