2000 Miles from Anywhere...: A year to the day.....

G62 has now been on Gough Island for an entire year. Well to be more accurate, a year and two days but we had a bit of a party on Saturday and the internet wasn't behaving on Sunday which is why this post is late. On an overcast, South Atlantic morning on the 9th September 2016 we approached Gough, having sailed overnight from Tristan da Cunha and Nightingale Island. Come next weekend, G63 will have the same sight as the SA Agulhas II once again returns to the island for its relief voyage. For two weeks, we will live alongside G63 before leaving our island home, as each team member teaches and then hands over responsibilities to their counterpart. These two weeks are always a VERY busy time as on top of both teams there are a further 20 personnel or so on Base, carrying out essential maintenance and science teams conducting research on this spectacular World Heritage Site.

So, over the last couple of weeks each team member has been making sure that all jobs are completed prior to the ship's arrival. For Em and me, this has been completing various bits of monitoring work around the island so that we can make the most efficient use of time when the new conservation team arrives. One of the larger jobs was to set up the Southern Giant Petrel colony 3-4 hrs walk away at Low Hump, which the new team will monitor from September onwards. It was wonderful to see these charismatic and prehistoric seabirds nesting again on the island, and we were able to mark out 150 incubating adults. Unfortunately, this was done in gale force winds and heavy rain so I'm afraid the pictures below are from last year on a much finer day! Other jobs have included Rockhopper Penguin weighing of the returning adults, to see how successful winter feeding was for them. We'll be hoping to get some sightings of Southern Elephant Seals over the next few weeks as HUGE adults haul themselves out on Seal Beach to join our Rockhoppers. Two days ago we were able to monitor our winter-breeding Atlantic Petrel burrows, as most eggs have now hatched and successful burrows have small fluffy chicks at the bottom. These birds have a remarkably long season on Gough, and the new team won't conduct a fledgling check until December! And finally, once again we have begun weekly monitoring of Mollys, Sooty Albatrosses and our cave-dwelling Prions, one of the most enjoyable spring and summer jobs for us and soon for G63.

Saturday's party was good fun, as we all enjoyed having the Base to ourselves before the hordes descend! Over the next week each team member will finish off any remaining work and together we will be making sure the Base is spotless for G63's arrival, not to mention putting clean sheets on over 40 beds! It has been a privilege to call Gough home for the last year, and we will be leaving with very mixed emotions, but I think we're all very excited to see our families both in the UK and SA!