Southbound!!!

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Wednesday 11 March 2015

And we’re off….. The long-awaited day of departure arrived on a rather wet and windy mid-week 11th March day in St Andrews. Thirteen entrepid expeditioners set off from the Scottish Oceans Institute in the early afternoon to catch the first of several flights south. Our route took us from Edinburght to Paris for an overnight flight of 13 sleepy hours to Buenos Aires, Argentina. We arrived in the morning of the 12th at Ezeiza International airport, slightly bleary eyed but bushy tailed. Bienvenidos a Argentina! Buenos Aires welcomed us with sunshine and a steaming almost 30 degrees Celcius. Uff what a contrast to the blistery doom and gloom weather of Scotland…. We headed to our swish hotel in the Palermo district, and then had a whole day to relax, acclimatise, enjoy and explore a vibrant buzzing Buenos Aires.

At the same time, across the Andes, one of our teaching staff, Sonja, was caught in a storm of similar magnitude to the one we had left behind in Scotland. Gale force winds had been pounding most of the southern South Pacific coast causing massive travel disruptions. The ferry that Sonja was using to relocate from her research site on Chiloe island  to Tierra del Fuego (only a short leg of ~2,000 km) got delayed by 50 hours sheltering in the protected fjords before risking the open ocean passage required to cross the infamous Golfo de Penas.

But all seems to be going well … Sonja has made it to Ushuaia awaiting the arrival of the team, and the 12 students and Lars, the other teaching staff, are on their flight from Buenos Aires to the beautiful but windy shores of the Beagle Channel. We’re set for a big reunion this afternoon of Friday 13th at World’s End!

Stay tuned…..

(Sonja, teaching staff)