Isolation Ends

1 November 2008 marks the beginning of the summer season for us at Maitri and all other stations in Dronning Maudland. The first ALCI flight has landed at 3 AM on that day. It was scheduled for 31st Oct, but the time was not certain. We received a call from Novo at 9 PM on 31st Oct that the flight has taken off from Cape Town and will land at 3 AM on 1st Nov. With the arrival of the first ALCI flight, our 7 month long isolation has ended.

The return flight out of Antarctica was tentatively scheduled for 2nd Nov but at 9 AM on 1st Nov, Novo informed as that the flight has been preponed for take off at 12:30 PM on 1st Nov because bad weather was expected the next day.

Our deinduction has started with the departure of the flight as my fellow medical officer at Maitri has started his journey back to India on that flight. 7 of us had gone to see him off at the Novo runway. It was a very happy experience for me. On my way to the runway, I was thinking of the time when I will make my last trip out of Schirmacher Oasis at the time of my deinduction. It will be a very emotional moment indeed and is just a month away. Our conversation on the way centered on Cape Town and the blast we would have there.

At the runway, we met the incoming summer team for the German Antarctic Station, Neumayer and chatted up with them. It was certainly very refreshing to see some fresh faces and exchange greetings with them. The fresh, cheerful and enthusiastic members of incoming teams were a stark contrast to the bedraggled appearance of the wintering people, with the strain of wintering over in Antarctica clearly visible on their faces. It was nice to meet people who have just arrived from the civilised world. We were feeling and probably looking like tribals in comparison.

We also met Jim, the pilot of the Basilar MIA aircraft that was to transport the German team to Neumayer, but were stuck up due to bad weather at Neumayer. He had taken a circuitous route to Novo runway because the aircraft is meant for small distances. It had arrived here from Punta Arenas in Chile via Bellingshausen (Russian Station on the peninsula), Rothera (British Station on Antarctica peninsula), Halley (British station on west coast of Weddel Sea) and Neumayer.

Ralf, the meteorologist and forecaster from the Neumayer station has also arrived. He is responsible for giving weather forecasts for Dronning Maudland during the summer season mainly to assist flight operations. He sent us his first weather report to us on 1st Nov.

The flight to Cape Town finally took off at 2 PM. There was a curious crowd of on lookers photographing the IL 76 as it took off. I took an invaluable video of an aircraft taking off on an icy runway, billowing snow all around as it moved. I saw the aircraft long after it was well out of sight, dreaming about the day when the same aircraft would transport me out of Antarctica.