Hello from Rothera! We made it after four days of travel, having been delayed in Chile for one day, no hardship at all after two days on the move. Gerry, an army electrician on his way to Signy, and I went for a long run to stretch our legs and I made full use of the hotel facilities – pool, gym, bar and restaurant. The weather cleared quickly though and we were able to make the final leg of the journey – the 6 hour flight from Punta Arenas to Rothera base, Antarctica. We were taken through security to get on the Dash 7 airplane at Punta Arenas airport – bizarrely both ourselves and our hand luggage went through the usual security checks but anything too big to fit on the conveyor belt was just wheeled round the outside!
The Dash 7 is a basic propeller plane with 16 seats and a cargo area. No meals are served on board but there are kettles at the back so you can make your own cup of tea and some packets of biscuits to pass round. What’s more, you can go into the cockpit, and I was fortunate enough to bagsie the seat behind the pilots in the cockpit for landing. We descended through the clouds to see icebergs, snow covered mountains and Rothera up ahead. The pilots dipped their wings from side to side to straighten up for the approach so the view swung around the spectacular blue and white scenery, what an amazing experience.
We were shown around the extremely cozy base, and then taken for a walk around ‘the point’, which is the rocky coastal area. The scenic walk takes you past adelie penguins, weather masts, icebergs, satellite domes, seals, tractors, memorials to previous polar explorers and of course the beautiful snow covered mountains in the background. It really is a stunning place to be.