Bouvet, Zodiac 1 Attempt To Depart, 2006 : Jeff Shea

Bouvet, Zodiac 1 Attempt To Depart, 2006

March 10, 2006 Slept in ship off the coast of Bouvet Island Today was one of the best days of my life. In the morning we approached Bouvet. We anchored off the beach about 3/4 mile. Many of us were on the upper deck or at the stern, taking photographs and video. The island was quite clearly visible, though the peaks were covered with clouds. Jan announced we'd have a short lunch. He drew names for the first and second Zodiacs from a cup. Mine was on neither of them. So, before he had finished, I rushed upstairs and packed in a panic. I was out the door, forgot something, went back in, then raced downstairs. I was third in line for the third Zodiac. It went quickly. Soon, we were down the gangway and onto the Zodiac. I shot videos the whole way in. I was advised to put away my video camera, but I said that I did not care. I wanted to film it to the beach. The landing was easy! My feet were on Bouvet. It was a thrill. Now, there were about fifteen of us on the shore of Bouvet Island. I gave many of our club members a hug. We took photos together in front of the flag, and I asked Gerald to take a photo of me with my camera with the white snow caps in the background. There was a tendency in my mind to not do too much--not to stray too far--thinking that they would call us soon to leave again. I called. But, we stayed some time. There was a lone Macaroni Penguin standing by the shore below the mouth of a glacier. I set up my tripod and I took many photos of him. We had been on the beach perhaps an hour, when we were summoned. Jan asked for the four people that needed to go ashore first. Lynn Stephenson, Nancy, Claire and Christine boarded. When they tried to get off the beach, a large wave crashed right on them. I had the servo motor turned on and shot about seven frames of this scene. It was chaotic. I put my camera down and ran towards them. I saw Lynn laying on the sand. I helped her up, and me and Doctor Phil helped her up the beach. I said the first thing was to cover her hands, and I gave her my gloves. I asked her if she was wet inside, and she said Yes. We took off her jacket and I saw she was sopped inside. I said I would turn my head, but she needed to take off everything. She took off most everything, leaving her bra on. I helped her put her sweater back on, and then I put my North Face jacket on her. Then we redonned her gloves. I gave her my hat. Next, I saw that Claire needed attention. She said she was not so wet, but her hands were cold. I offered her my polypro mittens. She wanted to dry her hands first. I rubbed her hands to make them warm. Mary Ann had mittens, which proved easier to put on her, so we used hers for Claire. Mary was walking down the beach. She said, "What about me?" I asked her what she needed, and she said her hands were cold. I gave her my mittens. Soon after everyone had recovered, the Zodiacs tried again. This time we managed to get some of the women out to sea. Jan had brought the others down the other side of the beach. I said to Sergei that I was going to stay to help the others. He said, "You are going to help others?" I said, "You don't think I can help others?" I stayed on shore. Vidar and I walked past the relatively small mouth of the glacier, where the Macaroni Penguin still stood, down to the other side of the beach where the others were. I stopped and took out my video camera. I walked along the beach shooting footage of the fur seals on Bouvet. There must have been about five hundred of them. I photographed and filmed to my heart’s content. (The next day Anna, a passenger, said that from the first Zodiac till the last three and a half hours had elapsed, so I was probably all tolled about three hours on Bouvet.) While we were waiting, someone took my lifejacket. I helped Stu adjust the straps on his lifejacket. Up until now, even though I did not have gloves, my hands had not felt that cold. Now, fidgeting with the wet straps, the breeze stirring up, my hands began to feel a little numb. Since I was no longer moving around, my body also began to feel cold as the breeze stirred. As I had given up my jacket, I had only a paper thin polypro long-armed undershirt and a Marmot medium weight polypro outer on. I had not felt very cold actually, but now my body temperature began to drop. A Zodiac came in. They had an interesting system for getting people off the beach. Two Zodiacs were used, tied together by a tow line. One would come in close to the beach and throw a spool of rope. All of us grabbed it and pulled hard to bring the Zodiac to shore. People would hop in, and those remaining helped to push it out to sea. Meanwhile, the second Zodiac gunned its engine helping to pull the first out to sea. It was successful. I continued to shoot photos till the next Zodiac came in. We repeated the process. Then Dennis came with a driver. Dennis got out and Stu got on the Zodiac. Dennis seemed to be deep in thought. He took some photos of the fur seals. I took two photos of him on the beach with his camera. Then he walked down the beach to the glacier, glaciers being an area of interest to him. Jan said, "Stupid that he came ashore." I responded, "I wouldn't say that is stupid. It is understandable." When Dennis returned Pavel brought in the Zodiac. As he brought it in, as he got close to shore, and he was facing the Zodiac out to sea, a large wave lifted the front of the Zodiac up. He went almost vertical, but fortunately landed flat, passing over the wave. We pulled his Zodiac to shore. This time we had no one but ourselves to push it out to sea. We pushed and then we all got in. Pavel remained on shore helping to keep pushing us. When I got in the Zodiac, I was a bit trepidatious, given that I had seen what can happen and I had all my camera gear in my back pack. I held back till the last minute, ready to abandon the Zodiac should a large wave come in. I was in and, thanks to Pavel's final push, we were out to sea. Jan called out to Pavel, asking if he wanted us to go or get him. Pavel waved us on. Soon, I was on the ship again. I turned my tag. I opened a boot and water rushed out on the floor. I took the other outside and drained it on the deck. My socks were sopped. I brought my gear upstairs. As someone had suggested a sauna, I decided to have one. I asked Daniela about the dress code, but she did not know. I donned some running shorts and a towel. When I got inside, Ray Woods sat there in his shorts. Yolanda, a woman of about 54-60, lay naked with her plumage showing. I said, "It is impolite to wear clothes if someone else is not." So, I took off my shorts. After a while, Ray left. Yolanda left, but then she returned. We had a conversation, which I found very pleasant. We showered next to each other, then sat in the outer room, with towels wrapped around us. She lay with her feet up against the wall, legs straight and at an angle. I said I would copy her. She explained that it is very good for the blood flow to do so. We talked a few minutes, then we were silent. We got up after about ten minutes. She explained the rules for a good sauna. 1. go in for about ten-fifteen minutes. 2 take an ice-cold shower 3. return for another five or ten minutes 4. take another cold shower, 5. lay with your legs up for about ten minutes. I went to my room. Lynn Stephenson came down and invited me to her party. She gave me an affectionate kiss, as she was thanking me for helping her, for saving her. I went up with my video camera, and playfully I had the camera lead me into the room. The ten or so people there let up a big cry, like a hero's welcome. I put the video camera on the floor, still running. Some people made some nice comments about how I was a hero. I must admit I quite liked this appellation. Dennis came in at one point and seemed sort of fidgety, explaining how it was his idea to change beaches and that some of the French faulted him for the fact they had not landed. Most of the people had gone, when Christine, Noel's wife, told me how deeply she was touched when watching me take care of Lynn. I can still see her face, tears welling up in her eyes, as she said, "but the tenderness (with which you handled her)". Dinner was a mixed affair, because, after all, only about half of us had made it. I saw ___ in the hallway. She had such a deep look of admiration in her eyes. She expressed this with words, saying how impressed she was with how I helped out people on the beach. After dinner, I knocked on _____'s door. She let me in. We sat down. She gave me a hug. She continued to flatter me, though I dare say it was heartfelt. It is seldom that I receive such flattery. She just kept on, describing my heroism. When I tried to mitigate what I had done by saying it was merely common courtesy, and when I implied that maybe she was just perceiving it that way because she liked me, she mentioned that several other people had expressed that they felt the same way. After a nice conversation, I merely said, "Do you want to lay down and hold each other?" She sort of fumbled around, as she does, and then she said, "I'd love to." We lay down with our clothes on. I admit that it felt quite nice. We talked. When her arm fell asleep, I suggested she turn the other way. She commented that it did not feel the same. Later, we switched back to holding each other from the front. She had her jeans on. I felt her legs. I told her that they were nice, thin and strong. She said, "I have my mother to thank for my legs." The time we spent there on the bed was comfortable. I didn't push for anything. Later, perhaps at about 1a, I left and made phone calls to home.