yesterday (or whenever it) was hands down! I know my words won't do
the day justice, but I will try my very best to recollect everything
for you. Be warned, this may be a long post...
As sampling is due to start in a few days time, I thought it would be
a good idea to try and stay in shift mode, and get my body at least
partially used to waking up early. At 5am, I therefore wake up, and
the first thing I do is look at the window; we are surrounded by
pretty dense pack ice. Being a sucker for sea-ice and the wonders it
beholds, I quickly don the thermals and other necessary gear, and
head out on deck to watch the world go by, Antarctica style. At this
time, and for most of the day, snow was also falling, the first of
the trip, giving a true Antarctic feeling to the day. I literally
spent hours out on deck, keenly on the look out for whales, seals and
emperor penguins, all of which I am yet to see on this trip. One of
those can be crossed off the list, a seal - it was pretty far in the
distance though...I think it was a crab-eater, nothing special.
The denser pack ice came and went, as it does, but periodically we
trundled through thick, dense flows, where ice extends as far as the
eye can see, and stunning electric blue colours contrast against the
undisturbed white of the snow and the green-brown of the algae rich
under-ice. This is just what I was hoping for, and it certainly made
me feel like I was in the winter wonderland that is Antarctica,
especially when thick snowflakes are thrown into the mix.
Late in the afternoon, we heard news that the tourist ship, whose
name has now escaped me, was in the vicinity. After passing through a
particularly dense pack, we came into a section of open water (which
looked incredibly liked the region of open water we stopped in last
year - with similar looking icebergs too...), and there in front of
us was the Russian tourist ship. Soon 5 or 6 zodiacs were loaded into
the water from their ship, and they were on the way to come and get a
closer look at the Aurora Australis, and us. It was pretty strange
actually, I felt somewhat like a tourist attraction, but also like
royalty as they all waved at us hoping we would return the gesture
(which I obviously did!). We were probably the first people they had
probably seen for a few weeks so their excitement is definitely
understandable.
After a quick visit from King Neptune and his initiation for those
that haven't been south before, and a short lecture by Dr. Steve
Rintoul (in which I saw some results from last years voyage which was
nice), a BBQ was held on deck in celebration of the captains 60th a
few days previously. Slowly, the iceberg B9B came into view, which
meant we were nearing out destination of Commonwealth Bay, the home
of Mawsons Hut, and thus the purpose of the first half of the V3
voyage. All of a sudden, the small areas of ocean between ice
stopped, and all that was ahead was white - white from the abundant
snow that was still falling, and white from the solid fast ice
(sea-ice that is essentially fastened to the coast line). We tried
bashing our way through the ice four or five times, but then the
captain gave up - hopefully just for the day - and we settled in the
ice to enjoy the rest of the BBQ. As the ship settled, the
surrounding penguins became really curious and kept on waddling up to
the ship to check us out. They were probably 5m or so away, then all
of a sudden they would get startled and run away. 50 or so penguins
were probably in sight either side of the ship, coming and going,
swimming the waters behind us, generally just providing plentiful
opportunities for photos. Everyone on board was just so happy and
excited.
I can't put into words how amazing today has been. I feel so
privileged and fortunate to be here amongst all the wonders
Antarctica has to offer. Everything is just so wondrous and stunning,
but also extremely peaceful and tranquil, yet exciting, break taking,
and overwhelming. A bombardment of emotions.
I am in Antarctic heaven!
p.s. I will try and post some photos tomorrow. I took a few hundred
today so it may take me a while to sort through them...
p.p.s after reading through this post, the awesomeness of the day
definitely doesn't come through. Hopefully my photos, and the video I
plan on making will help.
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