The team converges on Stanley, Falkland Islands

There’re many challenges to travelling to South Georgia. The first is often getting to the Antarctic Gateway of Stanley, Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas. The Falkland Islands are a windswept archipelago 51° South, about 480 km east of Patagonia, Argentina. It is home to about 3300 people, and at least a hundred times more penguins. Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, is where many British Antarctic Survey (BAS) voyages start or stop off at, to pick up people, gear and supplies.

The members from our team traveling from the UK, including project leader Jen Jackson, and Connor Bamford (both BAS), flew from Oxford directly to Stanley via Cape Verde. The other members of the team met up in Chile; Amy Kennedy from NOAA, Darryl Macdonald and myself, from the US, Canada and New Zealand, respectively. Our journey takes us from Santiago to Punta Arenas in Chilean Patagonia, then on to Stanley. At least, that was the plan. High winds have meant that our connecting flight at Punta has been delayed. Similarly, the folks from the UK had a 27 hour delay, but have made it to Stanley now. Patience is an underrated virtue in fieldwork . . . . even before you actually get into the field!