Antarctic diary - 6/7 May 2005

23 year old biologist Dan Smale is spending his second winter at British Antarctic Survey's Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula. Read the latest entries in Dan's online diary, exclusive to Flipside Extra!

7 May 2005
Another stunning day in Antarctica. The sky is clear, the air is cold (around -160C today), and there is not a breath of wind. The sky turned a beautiful shade of purple as the sun rose at around 10.30am. Perfect conditions for cutting dive holes and ice diving!

When diving under ice it is important to have at least two entrance holes so if a seal takes a liking to a tailor-made breathing hole we can give it some space and use the other one. Also, we must not swim too far away from the holes so it is important to position them carefully and close enough to all the scientific sites. The dive officer, Matt Brown, did a splendid job of cutting two rectangular dive holes which were covered with wooden boards to help slow the re-freezing process. That afternoon Matt and Paul conducted the first ice dive of the winter, with myself and the Andy the boatman stood on the surface supervising.

It is a strange feeling jumping into a dark hole in the ice dressed in SCUBA gear but the diving is some of the best in the world. The visibility is excellent because there is not enough sunlight to fuel plankton growth so the water is very clear. It can be quite dark under ice but we use high-power torches to help study the underwater ice formations and the numerous beasties that we see living on the seabed and in the water column. It was great to see Matt and Paul complete their first ice dives.

Every Saturday we make an effort to smarten up for the evening meal and take the time to enjoy socialising as a complete winter team. Isabelle the chef produced a fantastic Chinese-style feast that was met with much enthusiasm as we discussed the events of the day. One of the things that surprised me most about life down South is the quality and standard of the food. Being 9000 miles from home does not mean you have to go without great food!

6 May 2005
The day began with a bit of a winter cleaning session in the labs. There are about 20 scientists working in the Bonner Lab throughout summer and just 3 scientists here in winter. Needless to say there is a fair amount of cleaning and rearranging to do to make it ideal for the winter months. The real action began in the afternoon with this year's first venture onto the sea-ice. There are numerous tests and regulations concerned with sea-ice travel as it can easily crack up and blow away if the wind picks up. So our first trip involved walking onto the ice in waterproof boat suits and using a motorised drill to measure its thickness. We were delighted to find that the ice was consistently thicker than 25cm, which is pretty good for this time of year and thick enough for us to cut some dive holes. Fantastic! It is a very surreal experience walking on a frozen sea and some of the bergs and ice formations are truly awesome.

The rest of the day was spent in high spirits, with the prospect of the start of the ice diving season exciting the whole base. There was much preparation to be getting on with as sledges, chain saws, wooden boards, flags, and ice screws would all be needed to make the dive holes. That evening involved an outing up to a little hut, called a caboose, which sits about 5km away from the station, up on the ice plateau. Two of the winterers were enjoying some peace and quiet on their Winter Training Trip but we thought we'd pay them a little visit to celebrate a birthday. So four skidoo's made the trip out under a beautiful star-filled sky and we enjoyed a bit of chat and banter in the newly decorated caboose. An exciting end to a very exciting day!