Antarctica tonight?

Hey - just a quick post to let you know that the whole team has arrived safe and sound in Cape Town on Wed. 19th Nov. After having got our last missing pieces of equipment at ALCI facilities in lovely Cape Town harbour, we all went on Thursday to ALCI headquarters for a logistical and safety briefing.
ALCI (Antarctic Logistics Centre International) is a logistics service provider in the Dronning Maud Land Antarctic area. It services an intercontinental bridge between Cape Town and the Russian Novolazarevskaya station in Antarctica. We had our initial departure date (21st Nov.) confirmed by the boss of Novo station.

Today was more relaxed, as we took advantage of this day off to go swimming and penguin watching at Simon's beach, South of Cape Town. Nathalie, the medic at the station, Jurgen, an electronics technician, and Jacques, a carpenter, joined us for the fun.

We are currently waiting 7:00 pm for Frank to call ALCI headquarters and get the lastest flight updates. Let's hope we will be able to make it tonight to Novo! After arrival, we will proceed with the unloading and sorting of the cargo. We should then spend a few days at the Belgian station Princess Elisabeth (PES), and head on by skidoo to our definitive camp site close to the coast.

Hoping not to see you too soon on this blog,
Denis ;-)