I awoke and went out on my usual morning stroll, this time armed with
my camera as it was a beautiful sunset/sunrise. As we are so far
south, the sun never sets properly, but remains just below the
horizon for a couple of hours to give an extremely long
sunrise-come-sunset which was particularly good to see this morning
due to yet more great weather. Having walked up to the bridge to get
some good shots, I bumped into the first-mate who just happened to
have spotted the first iceberg on the radar, 17 miles away. A short
while later, the iceberg was visible (I would like to say clearly
visible but it was pretty hard to see due to the low light) and a few
of us crowded round to watch it pass by in the distance (about 7
miles away at its closest). Even at this distance, you could see that
it was pretty huge!
With the excitement of the first iceberg, and the fact that it was a
bloody gorgeous day, I spent most of my free time outside on the
deck, looking for yet more icebergs but also whales, as one had been
spotted earlier. I felt pretty bad leaving Adam all on his own to do
the work, but he's the one getting paid (and A LOT!), not me! Plus,
it's not as if he needed me there, I probably just alleviate his
boredom.
Right at the end of our shift, yet more icebergs were spotted. I
quickly grabbed my camera, put on my warm gear, and off I went to the
top deck (where you are only allowed in calm weather) to get a good
view. It was very windy atop the ship, so I cowered behind some
instrument shed thing to protect myself from the brunt of the wind.
It was strange as earlier I was sunbathing on the heli-deck out the
wind, and was pleasantly warm in just a fleece and trousers. When I
first went outside, the icebergs (plural - there were three separate
ones, a probably half a mile apart or so) were pretty far apart, so I
stood and watched them get closer and closer, keeping an eye out for
whales. I was lucky! I saw my first whale of the trip...well I saw
one come up and spray the water up a bit (I have a mental blank as to
what that is called) so that totally counts right??? I'm told that we
will see plenty of Minke (or Minkhe, however you spell it) whales
further south, and maybe even Orcas! I digress, the icebergs got
closer and closer, and I got VERY snap-happy. I would say that I took
at least 100 pictures as these icebergs passed but it was awesome! I
even saw some ice break away from one them, and produce a bit of a
splash in the process. I will have the fun job of sorting through the
pics tonight, and you will all probably have the fun job of seeing
them soon (I hope). It seemed so weird that these massive blocks of
ice were floating in the middle of the ocean, with nothing
surrounding them but blue. AMAZING!
I also had a quick lesson in the use of a sexton, used for navigation
and other things I believe. I just completely forgot the name of the
device, and wanted to call it a scrotum, thought that might amuse
some of you.
So in summary, a good day filled with the first iceberg viewing,
whale sightings, and yet more icebergs. Let the ice theme continue! I
am told that we will reach the ice proper in two days time, just in
time for a memory filled birthday in the ice.
Some stats:
Current Latitude: -62.8486
Current Longitude: 139.8508
Current Air Temp: 0.9C (-2.0C with wind chill - I could have sworn it
was much colder than that)
Current Ocean Temp: 1.22C (it was 0.64C earlier...)
Wildlife seen: Minke whale (most likely)
Sea sickness: the ocean is extremely calm, so none!
Sorry for the ramble, but it was an exciting day
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