The story so far....

I'm on the R/V Melville in Punta Arenas, preparing for 5 weeks at sea, with a bunch of American scientists.  Concern is mounting because some of their crates have yet to arrive and we need to leave the dock in less than two hours.  I'm here as my first data collection cruise for my PhD, but more about that later.

The title of the blog really should be "One ship, two continents and some science".  Here's why....

Earlier in the year I had agreed to assist with an air-sea interactions cruise across Drake Passage, on the James Clark Ross, and make oxygen measurements.  This had nothing to do with my PhD, but it sounded like a great opportunity so I weaseled my way on. I was meant to be heading to Antarctica at the beginning of December, but the Fates intervened and it was sadly canceled for all but the principal scientist.  This was due to a faulty propellor on the Dash 7 plane, belonging to the British Antarctic Survey, not something you want when flying over Antarctic waters!  All the forward planning went up in smoke. I had organised a week on the Falkland Islands, visiting Sea Lion Island and Saunders Island to see seals and penguins, not amused.   Thats the last time I plan ahead!  Hopefully I will visit Antarctica in a couple of years time.

So, plan B-Z evolved.  I was still determined to have a holiday before my cruise from Punta Arenas, Chile to Cape Town, South Africa.  I was hoping that the Fates would be kind and this one stayed afloat.  A good friend, Heather, was (still is) travelling through South America at the same time so we started to concoct a plan for the 10 days or so I had allocated for pre-cruise adventure.  I had hoped to meet her for Christmas, but sadly due to disorganisation, not on my behalf for once, I could not leave the UK until 26th December.

After an excellent Christmas dinner and frantic packing, I was  ready to embark on the 22 hour journey to Puerto Montt.  Flight across the Atlantic was uneventful for a first crossing of the equator, I wanted a party popper of something equivalent to celebrate the right of passage, instead I slept through it!  I was very excited to see some mountains and the flight from Santiago to Puerto Montt did not disappoint, snow capped peaks dotted the horizon. Then on to Puerto Varas by bus, fairly easy connection for a bumbling English woman with not much Spanish, I think the bleary eyed and confused look helped, particularly for heavy bag transport! Puerto Varas is a town an hour and a half South of Santiago, next to a couple of very impressively pointy volcanoes and a very inviting lake. 

As I'm writing this many days after events (and I'm supposed to be setting up my table in the lab) the holiday bit will come shortly.