2geonomads

Sunday 1st March 2013

Charter Flight Punta Arenas to King George island in the Antarctic

Wake up to the good news that the flight to  King George Island is definitely ‘on’.

Quick drive to the airport and duly take off at 10.00 approx under clear skies in a

90 seater  BAe 146-200.

Excellent lunchtime snack on board  and after very smooth flight of 1 hour 50 minutes we land at KG Island in surprisingly warm conditions.

Boarding the BAe146-200

1st site of Antarctica – flying into King George Island

Chile Base KGIsland

King George Island

Interesting sight when we are confronted on landing by a Hercules aircraft belonging to the Brazilian Navy which had crash landed some weeks earlier. Sergei, a member of the Russian crew on Polar Pioneer, asks us to take a photograph of the  stricken aircraft  for him.

Arrival on King George Island in Antarctic

Radio Operator Sergei near crashed Hercules KGIsland

As our luggage ( or at least most of it- more on this shortly) is being offloaded from our aircraft we proceed to an area where we change into wet weather gear for walk down to awaiting zodiacs for short trip to Polar Pioneer. The wet weather gear included gumboots which we had ordered some months earlier and which we would have to wear for any excursions from the ship.

The 1km walk in rubber boots to ship in distant background

1st site of Polar Pioneer (smaller ship on left) the trusty zodiacs and Gentoo penguins

Again the pre-trip organisation left something to be desired and it was a fairly chaotic scene as we all tried to locate our correct size especially given the fact that many of the gumboots had no size markings.

Far more impressive was the attention given to briefings on safety and other procedures prior to getting into the zodiacs and on board ship.  This was to be a feature of the whole trip.

We are directed to our very comfortable cabin on the 5th deck and prepare to settle into our new home for the next week but the best laid plans …..

Some genius has either failed to off-load Gail’s case or has loaded it on the plane again. The result is that it is back in Punta Arenas with no prospect of getting it back for the trip.

Craig has again come to the rescue and has tracked the case down through the ‘Find my phone’ app.( Gail’s phone is in her case). The ship’s crew members are not very helpful so C is our tech saviour again.

Whilst fellow travellers could not be more supportive with various offers of assistance it still sticks in the craw that this has happened at all. It has certainly taken the gloss off the start to the trip which is only alleviated by the excellent dinner served up.

In bed by 10.00.

Cheers

Obese Ferret