Life Beyond the Beaker

First mission was to make a snow angel....and no I actually did not fall over doing this!   As I write this blog I am sat in my new off-ice (office) that over looks the runway and sea oh and mountains... however, at the moment all I can see is snow, as the snow is built up and covers the window!                                                                                                            ANTARCTICA!!!!!! My view out of my bed...

PNR stands for, "Point of no return...." today for the first time (yes his first time whilst all the years he's worked at BAS) John our captain decided to turn the aircraft around as he had received a met update from our Rothera met woman about the conditions at Rothera.     PNR means that we would have no fuel to turn around and land back at our original airport..so the decision is critical.   Before this point I had been lucky (and annoying enough to keep asking) that I got to sit in the jump seat for take off. This absolutely fascinated me...everyone knows I love flying and after speaking to Alan Meredith (Chief pilot of BAS)alot this summer whilst at lasham I knew what I was expecting but the extensive collection checklist and then watching the four props start up individually. ..and then the take off speed, cruising speed and stalling speed for that way were amazing for such a big piece of kit. Me in the jump seat. Thanks John Law for the photo! Tod...

After the pilots decided in the afternoon that it was not possible to fly as there was high winds and snow fall we all moved hotels (hopefully for the last time). Alex and I decided to hire some bikes, luckily these were mountain bikes, we ventured the Patagonian Highlands along the coast. It was definitely an adventure as we trekked across the beach, had to climb steep hills just to get back to the road .... ... We even stumbled across some dinosaurs ... eventually ended up in a tank and army training grounds somehow  which was mighty exciting as we went further into the course (hopefully not covered in unexploded items) as wanted to get closer to the mountains (which was so worth it)! The adventure didn't end there as on the way back I managed to somehow get my foot stuck in newly paved concrete and then after a Pisco Sours on our way to dinner with the group I managed to legendarily and annoyingly smash a glass. I am a firm believer...

Transit from UK - Punta Arenas! After having a great evening with Emily Mulligan & her parents, my Mum and Dad took me to the airport, we had lunch and then met the rest of the team. Ben & I had to drop off our bags to the large luggage section because apparently mine was ''too long!!!'' haha....to be fair we are both carrying a lot of scientific equipment, especially Ben with heavy metal ready to start ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) when we arrive; I ended up saying goodbye to my parents 5+ times! Tony and I totes comfy on the flight. John, Me & Ben This weekend has felt extremely long. We have been through so many airport securities, baggage areas and different planes in the space of a short 40 hours that is has felt surreal. Torres del Paine WE embraced Madrid with Rioja and paella. After a very long flight with lots of new movies, attempting to sleep and moving around to prevent a DVT we arrived in Santiago in Madrid where we had...

The time has come for me to catch a flight tomorrow to go to Madrid, then northern Chile then down to Punta Arenas in Chile where we could be stuck for a few days due to a backlog of dash-7 flights and then weather dependant for our flight! You can email me if you fancy ...: sareed@bas.ac.uk   Apparently post gets to us too: Rothera Research  Station British Antarctic Survey  Stanley  Falkland Islands  FIQQ 1ZZ  South Atlantic I'm excited to travel down with the rest of the marine team (Ben & Kate!) and John our met man ....also to join the rest of the team down south.  From now on I have no phone so only contactable by email or my blog...Facebook should work, but during the summer there's too many people for the Internet to work properly. The next time I post I will be from my off-ice  (a poz joke right there):D    See you all in 18 months, you've all been telling me to keep safe and ...

It's definitely real now!   WE have our tickets - we are away on the 21st of November. I've been in contact with a few people on the team and the requests are for bananas & the Sunday Times!      

In the yard of BAS Ben, Emily, Jess, Richard and I completed a lorry loader course. This was the most frustrating course I've ever done. Frustrating in a good way though! In order to learn how to operate the crane in an efficent way our task was to place a metal screw that was attached to the hook and drop it into the hole on the top of a cone! The trick was to operate the crane from extending the inner and then the outer boom from there the extension was used! We also learnt how to be banksmen - using signals to direct the operator! We will be using this qualification to load off the ships, also loading the boats off the warf into the water.

Ben & I spent the week at Powerboat training UK in Poole. At the cobbs quay marina we completed our PB2 (powerboat level 2). We then refined these skills to learn advanced boating techniques. Like MOB in high winds, holding the bow onto a cliff face in high tides and winds, anchoring, high speed turns to avoid ice bergs and Stopping the boat a high speed in a safe way. Engine upkeep is an important task to do whilst we're down south, so we had a short practical session on what to look out for and how to fix it! We tested out our new drysuits by jumping off the boat near the shore - happy to say that they didn't leak, hooray!  Thanks to powerboat training UK for a great week - can't wait to get on the water at Rothera!