Life Beyond the Beaker

  On every ship that crosses the line (the equator), there is an initiation for a sailor's first time crossing the line. It was though that this tradition may have originated to boost  morale, or have been created as a test that sailors capable of handling long rough times at sea.         What actually happened was that we had a massive water fight and had to run and hide from the ships crew, when we were captured and our charges read out.   We all prepared for the battle.     My charge was,  ''The accused is charged with having an outrageously noisy laugh- akin to a herd of braying animals or a donkey in distress! Laughter is supposed to be seen as music to the ears. The prosecution therefore seeks a court injunction of the accused to desist from the following forms of laughing; guffawing; snorting; sniggering; chortling; cackling and tittering, so that the Ship's company of his majest...

So my time in Monte Video was great, except I did forget to mention that I got a sickness bug, mild food poisoning and I spent a lot of money! So when we left Monte it was great to get back to the sea...except for the first 2 days there was a storm which made me seasick, now I am fully used to the RRS Shackelton's corkscrewing motion!  The first day back to sea we left the RRS James Clark Ross (JCR) in Monte Video, the JCR was moored alongside us as BAS were interviewing for the new ship whilst most of the crews were changing over in Monte, the JCR is the second ship that BAS use for polar research.  The first thing we did when we left port was to do a lifeboat drill, I was allowed to assist with this. This was very valuable training, as to see how a lifeboat operates was not only interesting but can save lives...one recommendation the sea survival training does not tell you that I would recommend is to take some ear plugs!!  Ou...

I have been in Uruguay Port Monte Video for 2 and a half weeks on the Shack. We have been here reconnecting with the Uruguayan government so that w e can start to use their port more often, so we've had lots of talks with the government and I have been talking and giving talks to lots of various scientists which has been very interesting! I have used the 2 weeks to sort out the aquarium, ensuring everything is ready for crossing the tropics. I've been manically freezing cubes of seawater which I will use to cool down the water in each tank. In-between doing water changes and cleaning the aquarium I have taken a bit of time to reintegrate and regenerate.  Ive cycled and run up and down this alot ! Kate's photo of the last 4 winteres...first thing we went was to the meat market ! Me, Muff and Rob spent alot of time exploring, we went to Punta del Este on a bus!! Thanks for helping me to reintegrate guys! WE found the famous hand -Rob's! It w...