A Safe Landing

I had an image before joining the Fram that our landings on Antarctica, where there are no piers of jettys the ship can pull alongside of, would require considerable agility. I suspected it might involve clambering down something akin to a fire-escape fixed to the side of the hull and then trying to clamber into a small inflatable dinghy that was pitching wildly in a rough sea. Not so.

Getting in and out of the 8 man rigid boats was simplicity itself. We made our way via either the ship’s main staircase or the lifts to the car deck where we booted-up and donned our life vests. When called, we descended a second staircase to a perfectly rigid railed plaform where we stepped into a shallow sponge bath to disinfect our boots. The platform allowed access to the landing boats through a side opening in the hull of the ship. Stepping into the boats with the aid of 2 or 3 crew members was very straighforward and was managed even by people with limited mobility. There are some pictures on the gallery page which show the operation in progress.

Under rules governing tourism in Antarctica, only 100 people at a time are allowed to set foot on the continent at any one time. That obviously presents a problem for boats like the Fram that carry more than 200 passengers. However, our Expedition Team managed the process in very organised way and no one missed out on landings other than those cancelled for weather conditions.

Passengers were divided into 7 boat groups. These were landed by rotation meaning the process started with group 1 on the first landing, group 2 for the second landing and so on meaning everyone was among the first group to land at some point in the voyage. Once 100 people had been landed, 8 at a time in the Polar Cirkel boats, there was a pause for up to 30 minutes until the early landers began returning to the Ship. The exercise then resumed and as one group returned, another was brought ashore thus ensuring that the 100 person limit was not exceeded.

Stepping ashore from the boats was also straightforward and was done with the aid of crew members and a small set of steps. Depending on the landing site, most landings lasted for about 2 hours or so although it was also possible to return to the ship earlier if desired.