King Edward Point Diary – September 2003

30 September, 2003

 

Hello again avid readers and welcome to another issue of the fun-packed newsletter from you very own King Edward Point. This month has seen the finish of all the toothfish fishing boats and the departure of all the krill boats so for myself and everyone else it is a much quieter time… or so we thought!

We were just getting back into the life of no ships then (apart from the MV Luma which has been here on the beach clean up) the message came from Stanley that the armada of ships with the first wave of contractors and all their machinery to start the clean up at the whaling station were on their way. The next morning the first of the ships came into anchor then a few hours later the second turned up and tied up along side Luma which was at the jetty. That night as we sat down to dinner it started to snow. Now you may ask why this would be worth writing about but after just having a large thaw, a dump of fresh powder was a welcome sight to all!!

The next morning it was still snowing as we were waiting for the last ship to arrive which was our old favourite the patrol ship Sigma. So with the jetty now cleared of the other two ships it was time for the Sigma to come alongside. Onboard there were the usual suspects from “Morrisons” now called “AWG” plus a few new faces, so after helping with all the bags and bits it was time for a quick catch up and more important a chance to read mail from friends and families which is always nice. That night it was all onboard Sigma for a few drinks and also time for our new base member to see the famous “Hairy Lemon” Nightclub.

So after a few drinks it was time to retire for the night as a big day was about to start for all. In the morning it was time to let Sigma go so she could anchor as the Captain had to then bring in the cargo ship which was just outside in the bay. Whilst all the this was going on we had two of our krill boats in to drop of log books and to get cleared out by customs. So yet again it became a busy international port with ships from UK, Falklands, Chile, Ukraine, Gibraltar, Japan and Panama. Once we had finished with them it was time to head back in to tie up the cargo ship Bremer Timber and run the mooring lines from the ship to shore. Now the ship does not look that big in the top picture below but the length of our jetty is only 27 meters and the ship in the picture is 104 meters!!

So after all the peace and quiet had been disturbed it was time to say goodbye to a good old boy who had been here throughout the fishing season – apart from a small holiday in the middle! It was our own Bob, the observer/baby sitter who, as we speak, is back in sunny England and letting us know what it’s like and reminding use what we are missing, cheers mate!!!

After the departure of all the ships it was then a matter of trying to get back to work as best a possible by conducting some fishing of our own and weekly visits to the fishing boat wrecks. After we had a look around the ships we then went over to the new icebergs in the bay for a little photo call…

Also this month our little friend Barry got out and about lots and also made his presence known at the museum where he stopped off for a photo with Sir Ernest himself!

We have also been able to start getting out on winter trips this month which is cool as our winter is kind of busy (see past news letters) so Rich and Andy where the first to go for 4 nights and 5days. After a couple of days break and it was time for “Princess Party (Suzi and Frin) to head out into the wilds of South Georgia and up to now both parties have come back with belting sun tans so we are still living up to the reputation of being on the banana belt!!

Well that’s all from me this month just time to say hi to everyone at home and looking forward to seeing you in Oz in Jan for some sun!

Cheers to everyone’s families,

Howie