Conditions: Sunny with occasional clouds
Air Temp: 2 deg C
Sea Temp: 0 deg C
Wind: WNW 20 to 40 knots
Sea State: Lumpy
Visibility: Good but reduced in squalls
Barometer: 980 and rising
Monday January 15th, 2001
At 0130 the anchor started dragging in a freshening wind from the south-west, coming off the high cliffs of Brown Bluff where we spent yesterday. We knew that the anchor was only lying on top of the sea-bed, a hard rock bottom, and had little chance of digging in. But at 0200 with the anchor up and heading north along the ice cliffs to Hope Bay, the day was already very light even with fine gritty snow particles filling the air so that snow goggles were a must. It took 3 tries to get our anchor to “take” at Hope Bay, much the same problem as our first visit with smooth bare rock from the ice-age being the sea bed for much of the bay and generally very deep. A couple of hours sleep, a good breakfast, general chores, and we were invited to look ashore at the Argentine Antarctic base of Esperanza. Some of the Seamaster crew stayed aboard with some maintenance work to do, and the rest of us donned our life-jackets for the short dinghy trip to the small wooden jetty, where we were met by the base commander and base doctor.
Ivor Wilkins, a photo-journalist and friend who is with us for a couple of weeks, takes up the story of the days activities:
“This morning, we went ashore at Hope Bay to visit the Argentine research station known as Base Esperanza. We were met by the base commander, Lt. Col. Juan Carlos Perez Arrieu and the base doctor, Nicolas Bernardi, both of whom extended their hospitality to us.
The base is situated on a gently sloping shale-like area, surrounded by spectacular snow-clad mountains. A narrow fjord beyond the base leads up to a glacier with an ice wall that extends about a kilometre, dropping sheer into the water, which is over 100m deep right at the base. Seamaster nosed right up to the ice wall and cruised along its length providing stunning pictures for the film crew and photographers on board.
Esperanza Base houses a scientific community of about 40 people year-round. The population tends to double over the summer months, when families come to stay. There is even a small school. In January 1978, one of the wives gave birth to Emilio Marcos de Palma, who thus earned the distinction of being the first “native born” Antarctican…
Sir Peter Blake
"Having vision is not enough. Change comes through realising the vision and turning it into a reality. It is easy to espouse worthy goals, values and policies; the hard part is implementation."
Learn about Sir Peter Blake and his journeys around the globe