It’s a long way to the southern tip of Chile. After a little over 35 hours of travel, 0 hours of sleep and 5 in flight movies here we are. This is my third and the final cruise in this research project and the journey is now a familiar one… as is the boat (after this cruise I’ll have totted up 18 weeks calling the Royal Research Ship James Cook home). After only 5 hours sleep and feeling rough, less jet lag and more sleep deprivation, I’m feeling rather crabby. Then again I think the Antarctic would lose something if it was too accessible …after all, the adventure was a major part of the draw of the job. As a fellow researcher in my office likes to say “take a concrete pill and harden up”.

Home for the next 5 weeks. Image taken from ship-technology.com because I don't have a wide angle lens and stepping back to get a good photo would get me very wet

The day rapidly got better when reunited with old ship mates followed by a cooked breakfast. Morning is filled by various rather dull jobs and admin. Unpacking the 6 crates of kit is just one of those and I travel light. Then there is the official signing onto the ship (passports, medical and sea survival certificates please), although I’ll admit the health and safety briefing was somewhat livened by the introduction of anti-piracy procedures and gruesome photos of the serious bodily harm that you can do to yourself with inappropriate use of watertight doors.

Only half of my crates packet back in August and then shipped to Chile for loading…the ideal way to forget what you have already packed. At least I avoided freighting 4 bottles of shampoo this year

After a cooked lunch we head into town to pick up the last minute things including shaving foam (forgot to pack), chocolate (you can never pack enough) and frozen mussels (because customs won’t let me pack). Replacing a coffee pot broken by those lovely scientists on the previous cruise proved more of a challenge. A bit more unpacking and then it was dinner before heading into town for our last opportunity to consume more than 3 units of alcohol. The local cocktail, pisco sours, are exquisite.

Back to the boat by midnight

We cast off at 02:30.