Falkland Islands Deployment

Might not seem like much room, but it's pretty comfy. (Doesn't compare to home though!) - If we get a large swell in the sea at high speed, at night it's like sleeping on a trampoline with people bouncing up and down in slow motion... that's probably the best way to describe it. A gentle roll is perfect for a good night's sleep. If we're sailing below 8 knots and there's a big swell, we get a huge roll of up to 30deg... that's not good. No sleep. Try and assume the starfish position if you can to keep yourself steady, or strap yourself in. Unfortunately some people don't do either of these and end up on the deck. Not nice if you're on the top pit! (pit/rack/bunk/bed. Same thing.)

While in the falklands, I seem to be forever spending my time travelling up to Mount Pleasant Airport after work, to get away from the ship, have a drink, use the internet, watch a film, or go to the gym. There's a few things to do like that, but it's already getting tedious and I need to concentrate on distracting myself other ways. Unfortunately though, being in the middle of winter, the daylight disappears just after 4pm, so there is not a lot else to do... Hopefully as the summer comes round, more opportunities will become available. Hopefully. The price of beer is £1.10, and travel to MPA is free- so I certainly need to make a monumental effort if I want to waste money! But I'm aiming not to drink, so really my only available options are going to the gym, watching a film if it's good, and I can play more music. Found a few people who like their tabletennis as much as I do, and there's a 5-a-side tournament taking place for the ship's company... so it's ok for now. Here's me on the outskirts of MPA on the road to Stanley...

The population of the falklands is less than 3000, and Stanley has less than 2000- smaller than Botley! So you can see that it is pretty dead here, it's just not the sort of place to find a lot of social activity! On Sunday morning I tried to go to church there. I had no lift, but my determination to do something leads me to alternative strategies, so I started walking the 34-mile long road until I could hitch a lift (after about 4 miles)... needless to say, I missed the service, and was left to walk around stanley and see what it was like. I stood under the whalebone-arch in the churchyard. It's made from 4 rib bones of a blue whale. There are 2 incredible things to note about my photo. First, it's massive. I mean, you suddenly realise how incredibly scary and massive a blue whale is! I couldn't really comprehend it properly! Secondly, I can now claim, and the proof is in the photo, that I have stood INSIDE a deceased blue whale. FACT. (Yes, ok most of it's missing, but the bones are from the same whale. To see the parts of the bones that I saw, you'd HAVE to be inside it)... Well. Stanley's dead. On a Sunday anyway, and cold. Stanley itself is more like a giant campsite. There's only a handful of brick buildings. Most homes are made of wood, or just portakabins! There's a few gift shops, but most were closed. Met the local vicar anyhow, who seems like a nice guy. He told me where to go for everything we needed. And then after about an hour-and-a-half experience of the place, hitched a lift back to the ship! I can safely say that, unless a load of us from the ship are going, I will rarely visit Stanley again. Though I would like to make the actual church service. To me it seems really quite dull here...

The ship is sitting in ECMP aft of RFA Gold Rover currently. In this photo you can see EXACTLY half the dockyard... so you can see how bland it is. You have to travel to MPA to do everything. Including eating much better quality food! ...And when I say quality- they serve roast duck! I LOVE duck! Maybe i should try penguin...

How am I feeling? I'm ok, a little distressed by some of my recent illness and a few side issues that have come with it, and the thought of the time I'm spending here has been made hard to deal with because I now know what's available. I think it's about now I start having a come down from my adventures at the beginning of the deployment!

Below is a couple more photos I took when journeying to Stanley on Sunday morning. I perhaps should've taken more, but it was freezing!