Sadly, this was not an emergency, so we had to pitch tents (one tent per 2 people) and that was hilarious. First we had to find some level ground, then stomp out a little area for our tent, then take stuff out of the tent bag, while hanging on to everything, as the wind picked up and blew things away! (one of our sleeping bags started to blow down the hill towards the water and needed to be crash-tackled). Plus, wearing gloves means your fingers don't work as well as they do without gloves, only when you take off your gloves, your fingers freeze. So. A conundrum for sure.
But, we finally got our tent up, spread out our little mats and sleeping bags, and then were so cold that we had to call it a night. It was only around 10pm. The sun goes down at 11pm, and rises again around 3am. not much darkness in between, so being in the tent was yes, warmer than being in the wind outside, but also very light and not really conducive to sleeping much!! Plus, at first I had my camera backpack in my sleeping bag with me, trying to keep my camera warm all night...but i gave that up pretty quick, it took up too much space. It was a very cold and uncomfortable night. but it was FUN!! Well. maybe not fun with capital letters...but it was an experience.
You are not allowed to bring food or drinks ashore. And you are not allowed to pee in the snow outside your tent, so the crew and some of us volunteers had to dig little areas where portable makeshift toilets could be put. Hilarious.
