Thursday February 2
Sea Day 4
Seas 4-6 metres (more like 6-9!). Position at 10:32 61 13’ S 176 18’ W. Speed 13.5 knots. Temp 3C (we’re still into positive!)
The seas were pretty much the same as yesterday meaning lots of people staying in their apartments again.
Today the sea got the better of Al and he had to go and sit out near the library while he worked. The huge swells in his peripheral vision were not good for his head or stomach. The internet has never really dropped out and this has meant that Al has worked the entire holiday. I’m not sure there’s been a single day he hasn’t worked, even if only for an hour or two. One Saturday he worked 13.5 hours! Crazy.
Lecture by Jessica Farrer – Counting Seals. A very interesting lecture on… counting Weddell seals. Who knew you could get paid to do something like that? Jess explained how it is done and why we should be interested.
Lecture by Dr Andrew Peacock – Stuck in the Ice. Andrew, the expedition doctor, was on board the Akademik Shokalskiy when it became stuck in the ice near Commonwealth Bay. An excellent photographic essay on the voyage and how it unfolded.
Lecture by Rob Suisted – The Great Whaling Debate. Rob played devil’s advocate and put up an interesting array of facts about whaling. He left his personal opinion completely out of his presentation. The ensuing debate was very interesting with a wide variety of views aired.
Return of the Birds! No poultry (apart from eggs) has been served since we entered Antarctica. It appears that this was a big deal for a lot of people so to celebrate ‘Return of the Birds’ the ship’s restaurants were serving new entrees and mains.
sunset for drron
Dinner at Marina with an Australian ex-resident. Night two of Return of the Bird. We all had the fried chicken. It was AMAZING!
Woken at 00:15 by the dulcet tones of the captain telling us that we had the Aurora Australis directly overhead. Al was dressed and out the door but I had a whole lot of trouble getting myself dressed and out the door. I got to the end of the hallway and realised that I didn’t have my glasses on.
We joined the dozens who had pulled on all sorts of gear – many dressing gown/long john/beanie ensembles – up on deck 12 to view the super elusive Southern Lights. OMG!!! Amazeballs!! It flickered from horizon to horizon. Curtains of grey/white rolled over the ship. I saw some green but Al just saw white. I could see the green in the screen of my camera. We tried to take some pictures with zero success.
Nada...
Some were a bit more successful.
photo courtesy of @robsuisted
Rocking ship plus no tripod equalled zero chance of photos. We stayed up there and gazed at the sky for about 45 freezing minutes. It was fantastic!!!
Friday February 3
Sea Day 5
Seas 2.5-4 metres. Position at 14:53 54 54’ S 175 19’ W. Speed 13.1 knots. Temp 8C
The seas seemed to worsen a bit during the day. At some point during the night we’d been woken by a loud crash followed by a book or two hitting the floor. It felt like the ship had run into a wall. We later found out it was more like a wall of water. We’d dropped into a huge swell that had then broken over the bow and had reached up to the bridge!
Lecture by Rod Ledingham – Dog Driving in Antarctica. Rod is an absolute crack up. At 72 (or something like that) he has a fantastic way with words. Today’s crack up was all about how to teach and drive sledge dogs and camping on ice. Rod first went to the Antarctic back in 1969!! Hilarious and interesting all at the same time. Love him!
Lecture by Katje Riedel – Life and Work in Antarctica. We sooooo loved Katje’s lectures. The matter of fact German mixed with her long time New Zealand residency made Katje the perfect presenter. This lecture started with her first trip to Antarctica in 1997 working at the German base Neumayer. Since then she has drilled ice cores at Law Dome, measured the ozone from Scott Base and lived and worked on Taylor Glacier in the Dry Valleys. She now visits the Antarctic at least once each year as an expedition team member on various ships. Lots of highs, lots of lows, always amazing and challenging in equal measures. Brilliant photos!
Lecture by Rob McCallum – Search for the Endurance. As well as being co-owner of EYOS, Rob is also a partner/director in one of the World’s most highly regarded deep water search companies. His company located the wrecks of the Sydney and the Centaur. Rob talked about the upcoming search for Shackleton’s Endurance that lies 3000 metres below the Weddell Sea. Originally funded by National Geographic, planning was complete and the expedition about to depart when the funding was pulled after that Aussie favourite Rupert Murdoch took over NG. Funding to continue is being negotiated with new parties as I type.
We loved this lecture. The stuff Rob’s company can do is amazing. They have a guarantee of ‘if we don’t find it, it’s not there’. We then got on to MH370. Rob’s company tendered for the search and it seemed they should have been a shoe in. His personal thoughts on how the search has been handled so far and how it should be managed going forward were enlightening. How much more money is the Australian Govt going to spend before they realise who they chose will never find MH370, ever. They just don’t have the equipment or the expertise.
Dinner East. We tried sparkling sake but the one we picked was not to our taste – it smelt and tasted a bit like Christmas pudding
