I'm posting this out of order, and also unedited and so on. The Loyal Readership has several missing days of entries coming (WALRUS LOVE ALERT!!!)(distant, worried-about-nuclear-icebreaker walruses).

These tour travel days are gruelling marathons of waiting, with sporadic deadlines. E and I left the rubber boots loaned by Quark outside the door before we went to bed (as well as hanging the "Do not disturb" sign out, something we need to do more often than not... people keep buying us drinks, and then we buy each other drinks, and then, inevitably, intense snoring follows, the kind that only a polar bear can disrupt.) Leaving is a gradual attrition, in some ways---a day or so ago we had to turn in the fluffy bathrobes and slippers---and a gradual accrual, in others, as we've been given now not only parkas (in Public Works Yellow) but a cute itty bitty ditty bag to tote stuff home in and a cute mini desk clock from the company that runs the "hotel" side of things---that's care and feeding of passengers.

We did most of our packing yesterday. My practice is to pack as much as possible the night before and then zip up the bags. Overnight, a miraculous compression occurs, and no matter how full the bag might have seemed, I can fit in the last odd articles like toothbrush and pyjamas. Neither E nor I bought stuff but the parka takes up space. In heroic packing achievement, I get down to two bags having come with three, and that's including the packed parka. My carry-on is all optics and things with plugs. When I open the duffel bag, a new universe will be born from the expansion of the matter within.

But you're not here to read about packing! Exotic locales are what this blog is about.( Read more... )

At 1:00 in the morning, another polar bear strolls past the ship. What with the landing and the fog, we haven't seen one since yesterday morning.( Read more... )

At 1:00 the loudspeaker in our cabin crackles tactfully several times and then a soft ladylike voice, Susan Currie, gently breaks the news that a polar bear is on the ice outside the ship, at "11:00". That means it's on the port side, and so E and I scramble out of our bunks and sit in the wide-open portholes, on the cold radiator, shivering in pajamas and sweaters as we photograph the bear.


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Following the assumed-late night last night, we're spared the expedition leader's wakeup call (and threadbare, sub-Reader's-Digest humorous quotes). A brunch is served instead of lunch.


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Today is as unlike yesterday as can be imagined — we're traveling south, the fog has vanished, and the air is clear and dry. With the sun so bright it's painful to look out the window without sunglasses, the weather is right for helicopter sightseeing.





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I spend most of the morning outside on deck, watching our passage through the densest ice of the voyage. This has only slightly slowed down the ship's 75,000-horsepower progress to the North Pole. The ice resents the disturbance and cracks but reluctantly.

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This morning: 86 degrees, 38 seconds. The expedition leader in his morning announcement doesn't give a longitude because it doesn't matter, this far north, he says. So draw a straight line from yesterday...

The morning is bright and sunny, so the expedition staff cancel the planned activities (lecture, engine room tour, Tai Chi) and instead arrange for the passengers to go up in the helicopter to photograph the ship.



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Just in case you were wondering what the weather's like up there, the Magic of the Internet brings us webcams on a research buoy of the North Polar Environmental Observatory (NPEO) which is drifting in the ice, presently at 84.795°N 0.094°W and heading south.
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82°45' N, 52°28' E



I think my highest north last year was 81 or 82 degrees, when the Polar Pioneer went as far north as was feasible into the summer ice pack, above Svalbard.

It's misty-foggy; Fifty Years of Victory is pushing steadily through heavier ice this morning, making use of many openings, the leads between the plates. Even though the ship breaks ice easily, it's still faster to use the leads when they go in the right direction. The plates of ice are seamed with pressure ridges, some low, some high: lines of tumbled chunks of ice showing where two plates rammed together and fused, or where one plate buckled and crumpled under the force of impact with others. The ice is moved by winds and tides and currents, so it's always shifting — it's not a solid layer anywhere, although the thicker it is, the more resistant to breaking it is.

The fog shrinks the world. It does this everywhere, but here in the ice, without no landscape feature to cue the brain to calculate distance, it makes the world very small indeed. Ten feet beyond the boundary of visibility, a polar bear could stand watching the ship pass; we would not see it.


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Awakened at 6:03 by a telephone call in Russian. E answers the phone, groggy, listens, and hangs up. Wrong number: just like home. The phone is hard to answer because the handset is locked to the cradle. The water noise in the radiator is louder today; the heat's on. The call was particularly inconveniently timed, E tells me, because she was just about to learn the punch line to a really funny new risqué joke in her dream.

Yesterday's thermos jugs of not-quite-hot water in the lounge down the hall have been replaced by a gleaming new press-button machine which can dispense all kinds of fancy coffee drinks, hot chocolate, or steamed milk at the touch of the right button. Fortunately, it also produces plain hot water, and morning tea today is much better.


Adult kittiwake


First-year (nonbreeding) adult kittiwake


Kittiwakes are crying outside the ship just before 8:00 as I drink tea and catch up on writing. The expedition leader tells us in his morning wake-up call that we have traveled about 500 nautical miles from Murmansk and that it's just under 4C (40 degrees F). He also tells us our official position: 77 degrees and a fraction I missed North and 45 degrees and a fraction I missed East and the wind is 10 kph; noon readings for the ship haven't been posted. (I ask at the information desk during breakfast, and the expedition leader tells me I can get that information on the bridge. The staff plan to put up a map with the ship's course and noon positions marked on it, but haven't done it yet. I kind of think captain and the bridge crew don't want everyone pawing through the logs, though...) The weather is dully overcast and dim, but less foggy than yesterday. The expedition staff say that when we cross into the ice pack later today, we'll probably have clearer skies.

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We are moving along at a good clip through the open water: 18 knots. Weather is bright; there is little to see, however, few or no birds, no ice, no land. The ship slides into a fog bank.



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I find tales of air travel dull, so I won't bore you with my flights to Helsinki on the 22nd and 23rd.



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Polartec fleece, long johns, parka, woolly socks, sweaters, liner gloves, hat, extra hat...( Read more... )

Up early to catch the ferry to Rottnest; allowed myself much extra time to walk around town in the early morning, when the sun is up but traffic is not. A lot of the handsome old buildings in the former shipping quarter have been taken over by a local institution, Notre Dame University. Labs and offices are in old hotels (meaning, pubs), including the TERMINUS HOTEL. The exteriors are preserved; the insides appear gutted and fully "modernized". Indeed the Pakenham Street hostel A left is labeled "VICTORIA COFFEE PALACE." Wasted on a youth hostel, that.( Read more... )

Did some errands, buying stamps and sneakers, walked around. Fremantle has not been renovated to death; outside, at least, it still looks like a typical Australian town. Its heyday was approximately 1880-1910, so the sidewalks are generous and the place is human-scale---I saw a notice up about protesting a six-storey development. The commercial buildings along the main street have verandahs (is that the word?) stretching over the sidewalk, shading it. This feature encourages the ground-floor restaurant operators to put tables outside; it creates a tacit extension to the inside space, invites pedestrians (room, usually ample, is left for foot traffic) to stop, and in the case of non-restaurant businesses, encourages window shopping rain or shine. Amenity pays dividends!( Read more... )

Pretty much nothing happened on January 6. There was the Captain's farewell cocktail and dinner (and it may be farewell indeed: he's thinking of retiring after 30 years). People slouched around, having packed rather fast, with very little to do. The weather was lovely and the sea was smooth, so the walking-circles-on-decks crowd had scope. However, early in the morning of the 7th, something did happen. Unfortunately.( Read more... )

Click here to show Kapitan Khlebnikov's route in Google Maps. (Or Google Earth)
Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 38°04.7' S 109°45.5' E
• Course 37°; Speed 11.5 kts
• Air temperature 15°C; Water 15°C; Wind 16 kts; Direction 230°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 6
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 334.5 nautical miles

Woke this morning to find the ship lolling slowly along at 7.5 kts, bright sun on the sea. Although it has become technically cloudy, the clouds are a thin grey-and-white wash and patches of pale blue are visible, so it's really a fine day. Everyone, me included, is getting their portholes re-opened. The fresh air is very pleasant as long as the wind doesn't switch around to come from the stern. The garbage is stowed below the helicopter deck, at the stern down on Deck 3, and as soon as it began thawing, it began ripening! (I wonder what they'll do with it: it includes both organic and recyclable materials and Australia has very strict rules on what's allowed to be brought in. Incineration?)
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 42°27.3' S 105°15.9' E
• Course 39°; Speed 16.7 kts
• Air temperature 12°C; Water 13°C; Wind 30 kts; Direction 240°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 7
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 384.9 nautical miles

Last night around 02:00 the heavy rolling began, 20 to 30 degrees at a swoop. I heard unidentifiable objects (including, probably, some passengers!) banging and thudding all over the ship, and in my own cabin a few articles in drawers shifted around. The coat hangers didn't fly from one side to the other, but they squeaked, so I got up and put everything hanging in the cupboard on the sofa and floor. The ship continues to roll and wallow during the afternoon, but not as severely. It's been briskly windy all day, with tattered whitecaps blowing across all of the waves.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 47°22.2' S 99°28.0' E
• Course 39°; Speed 16.7 kts
• Air temperature 6°C; Water 6°C; Wind 24 kts; Direction 250°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 8
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 381.4 nautical miles

At this rate of travel, we might get to Perth early.

Last night after sending an email (radio room closes at 22:00, and I'm usually the last customer of the day) I went to the bar and talked with a few people for a while. We talked about our plans after arriving in Australia — one is taking the Indian-Pacific train, one is meeting up with someone who's dealing with the planning, one going straight home, one taking an organized tour — and about other travel.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 52°22.5' S 93°19.7' E
• Course 38°; Speed 15.5 kts
• Air temperature 1°C; Water 5°C; Wind 12 kts; Direction 300°
• Weather: Fine; Visibility 10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 356.7 nautical miles

Another quiet day, speeding north. The ship's rolling has occasionally (very rarely) gone nearly to 20 degrees today, but again we're having a very smooth passage. It's steady enough for usual meals (tablecloths wetted to prevent sliding dishes and glasses, wineglasses replaced by tumblers that won't tumble); art workshop; movies in the lecture hall; socializing in the bar.( Read more... )

Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 57°03.1' S 87°00.9' E
• Course 38°; Speed 15.8 kts
• Air temperature 5°C; Wind 12 kts; Direction 300°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 8
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 362.2 nautical miles

A very, very quiet day on the ship today.I see hardly anyone around all day long. Either the partying was more decadent than it appeared or the ship's rolling is thinning the ranks. We reach 10 degrees regularly now, lolling in the swell. The icebreaker has a rounded bottom, the better to handle the ice, which is not too suitable for long ocean trips.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 61°50.0' S 79°44.2' E
• Course 38°; Speed 14.4 kts
• Air temperature 3°C; Wind 28 kts; Direction 30°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 2-4
• Ice Cover: 0
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 332.4 nautical miles

New Year's Eve finds a few very large icebergs, very far north, drifting along as the ship hurries north. The captain neither pauses nor turns; during the day we pass an illegal Japanese fishing vessel, south of 60 degrees, and a group of humpback whales, without stopping for a second look. During dinner the ship passes through a set of large and picturesquely decayed icebergs that must be last of the giants spawned by the great ice shelves, as we see no more afterward, and they must have been caught in a strong current to come so far north. But even the largest doesn't merit a second look, an admiring circumnavigation. One, channeled on top and sides and carved with caverns at its base, calves as we pass.

The Russian crew's attitude toward the illegal fishing is that it isn't a problem. They're not at all into conservation or protection of resources; take what you can because someone else will get it if you don't, is the attitude. It's not a comfortable fit with the ostensibly eco-correct philosophy of the company chartering the ship.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 66°25.1' S 73°16.6' E
• Course 0°; Speed 15 kts
• Air temperature 1°C; Wind 12 kts; Direction 40°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 7
• Ice Cover: 6/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 227.7 nautical miles

On leaving Davis Station, the ship immediately turned northwards to begin the week-long journey to Perth at the highest speed practicable. There was some compensation in the weather, which held good; the low sun turned the ice pack lavender, rose, and gold and despite thin cloud (the better to show the colors), a similarly tinted half-moon was visible above the ice. The sunset-sunrise lasts for hours with no definite beginning or end; it looks at 2:00 much as it did at 00:30.

We're obviously not going anywhere near the Shackleton Ice Shelf, which makes this voyage much less than a "semi-circumnavigation of Antarctica". D is disappointed. I cannot understand how the itinerary was arranged to be so tight that so little time to actually see Antarctica has been available. No allowance was made for bad weather or unfavorable conditions.

The schedule lists today as an expedition day, but that's not going to happen: for the last time this trip, the Zodiacs are lifted from the bow deck with the cranes, motored to the stern, and lifted onto the helicopter deck to be tied down for the crossing to Australia. The helicopters' rotors have been removed and the helicopters rolled into their hanger and strapped down also. The bartender, Debby, has been working for days on securing the storerooms, and today she's even more busy today getting the last of the stocks safely stowed.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 68°52.11' S 77°00.0' E
• Course 40°; Speed 15.3 kts
• Air temperature 2°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 60°
• Weather: Fine; Visibility 10; Ice Cover: 0
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 186.7 nautical miles

Up at 05:30 this morning to find that the cold breakfast offered include pastries, buns and bread rolls, but no butter or jam or cheese or ham, and the usual corn flakes, no muesli or yogurt. Bletch. It's too early to eat anyway. I had carefully stacked all the clothing needed to visit the penguins before going to bed and put on 4 layers on top (with one extra heavy layer in backpack) and 3 on the bottom (windproof pants are the most important thing one wears here), 2 pair socks, and insulated boots. And a life jacket. And backpack. And two cameras. Spare batteries, memory cards, telephoto lens, tripod. Thus encumbered, down to the helicopter muster station where the dozen people in my group sort ourselves out and board, sequentially, the two helicopters.

Although it's bright out, the sun is still low, so shadows are long and the ice is rose-tinted. The flight is short; again the beautiful patterns of wind-blown snow on the ice enthrall me. The helicopter landing area and the emergency tents, etc., are located discreetly out of the emperor penguins' sight behind a gigantic grounded tabular iceberg.( Read more... )

Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 67°15.6' S 76°07.0' E
• Course 75°; Speed 14 kts
• Air temperature 4°C; Wind 12 kts; Direction 100°
• Weather: Fine; Visibility 10
• Ice Cover: 9/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 297.3 nautical miles

Today we haven't done very much except putt along through ice and then through open water, back south-eastward toward the last-chance activities mentioned yesterday. With the small wrinkle that we've arrived within helicoptering distance of Amery Ice Shelf at 20:30 instead of in the afternoon, with the ship making slow progress now in pack ice too far from the ice shelf to allow even a brief landing (very disappointing), which makes for a late night. Here's the schedule for the next few hours:
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 65°32.0' S 67°05.6' E
• Course 90°; Speed 15 kts
• Air temperature 2°C; Wind 10 kts; Direction 80°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 3
• Ice Cover: 6/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 179.8 nautical miles

The schedule sheet distributed last night claimed that today would be an "Expedition Day! Please stand by for announcements." But no announcements of activity ensue; we potter through a day of lectures, penguin painting, a bit of standing on the icy and slippery bow deck spotting the odd Adelie penguin fleeing the ship from an ice floe, and the like, the normal round of a day at sea.

At a pre-dinner briefing the Sekrit Plan is expounded: we are on course for Prydz Bay, and if we avoid delays in difficult ice the idea is to arrive tomorrow (28 December) in the early afternoon at the Amery Ice Shelf or 15-20 km from it anyway, do whirlwind helicopter tour and landing on the Amery Ice Shelf, and relocate the ship for a visit to the Amanda Bay emperor penguin colony in the evening, approximately 21:00-02:00. The following day (29 December), visit Davis Station. Having visited Davis Station, head for Perth.

Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 67°15.4' S 65°68.9' E
• Course 280°; Speed 15 kts
• Air temperature 4°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 270°
• Weather: Sunny, fine; Visibility 10
• Ice Cover: 8/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 201.6 nautical miles

I have meant to mention that we left the Cosmonaut Sea sometime on 24 December. Now we're in the Cooperation Sea. Among its features are Pingivin Island (ED)(Existence Doubtful), which is noted in fine purple ink on the chart. The handwriting seems to be that of the mapmaker who did the 2005 revision (footnote at bottom). The Antarctic map is sprinkled with (ED) notations, and historically the region has been a haven for land of dubious authenticity.

This morning the ship has reversed direction. Heavy ice pack was encountered at 01:00 last night on the way to Amanda Bay and the expedition staff and captain decided to try again for Auster Rookery. The distance is not great and on this pass no time is wasted on difficult passages, and also the pack ice has shifted a bit. The helicopters begin carrying passengers over at 13:00 (the staff have already gone to set up landing area, walking paths, etc.). The passengers are organized into five helicopter landing groups, which rotate in order of going; as luck would have it my group is last today. This is a good thing because the last flight back will be at 21:30, and we'll have long shadows and evening light for photography.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 66°40.9' S 69°47.7' E
• Course In drift; Speed -- (0.5 kt W drift speed in current/ice pack)
• Air temperature 0°C; Wind 36 kts; Direction 100°
• Weather: Wind, snow; Visibility 0.5
• Ice Cover: 10/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 163.1 nautical miles

Late last night, we were in a field of exceptional and interesting ice. The open water was streaked with narrow white-grey ribbons of thickening ice, like cream sitting on top of a thinner liquid. These open areas were interspersed with large zones of slush had set and frozen between lumps of ice and roundish floes, and the effect of that was like lace — of the white ice suspended in turquoise-aqua-grey ice.

I woke at 01:40 and again at 06:00 and looked out to find the ship pushing slowly — slowly and arduously — through a white, white field of thick ice. I couldn't see more than twenty meters from the ship's rail — the wind whistled like a jet turbine around the cracks in the porthole and the ice groaned and gave way reluctantly with deep, dark splitting sounds, tilting up as little as possible to make an opening for the ship to press forward. Massive plates of it had to be moved to make the smallest advance. This was the heaviest ice seen on the trip yet, I believe, but as satellite images received from Mawson Station show open water on the other side of this band of difficult ice, there is reason to persist instead of backing out and going around.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 67°22.7' S 66°22.5' E
• Course 104°; Speed 15 kts
• Air temperature 1°C; Wind 20 kts; Direction 60°
• Weather: Snow; Visibility 3
• Ice Cover: 0/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 125.1 nautical miles

We are out of the ice at the moment, but still at the whim of the weather!

This grey-white morning hardly seems the same planet we were on yesterday: the ship's in the fast ice some miles from the Auster Rookery of emperor (and I think Adelie also) penguins. Thick clouds muffle the sky and deaden color. At 05:30 a wake-up call alerts us to the chance for an "ice walk" in other words a chance to walk on the solid ice. The "Polar Plunge" planned for the morning was canceled, as there was no (reliably) safe access to the water. A scant handful of Adelie penguins were hunkered down; one or two padded around, looking for other penguins and settling next to them when they found them. I was told that there'd been emperor penguins around earlier — later I learned this meant at 4:30 in the morning!

I walked across the snow-covered ice, breaking the wind-sculpted snow crust just a couple of times. Under the crust, the snow is soft and dry. Two very narrow ice-blue, deep-blue cracks crossed the flagged path, not wide enough to be dangerous. The clouds were thick and low and when I turned to look back at the ship the band of sky above the water (and glaciers) and below the clouds was copper colored.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 67°03.8' S 62°14.7' E
• Course —; Speed —
• Air temperature 10°C; Wind 4 kts; Direction 120°
• Weather: Fine; Visibility 10
• Ice Cover: In fast ice
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 150.2 nautical miles

The ship is jammed bow-first into the ice this morning and Adelie penguins are swimming about its stern in flocks of several dozen, piling out onto shore in waves, and following one another back into the water like lemmings. There are hundreds, always more coming while some are going out to sea or back to their (unseen, distant) rookery. They travel to and from the open water in groups, forming long trains of tobogganing penuins and usually reusing the same trails, so that the shallow grooves their stomachs make become polished and even smoother and easier to negotiate.( Read more... )

Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 65°39.2' S 61°03.8' E
• Course 180°; Speed 13 kts
• Air temperature 4°C; Wind 24 kts; Direction 110°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 8
• Ice Cover: 6/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 224.3 nautical miles

Today's travel alternated between leads of open water and heavy, resistant ice that had to be rammed and broken. The ice looked often to have a thick layer of snow on top, adding weight. More birds, seals, and penguins are around; the birds soar around the ship, hoping it's a fishing boat; the seals lift their heads but don't move unless they're immediately threatened by its passage (the jostling of the floes can tip them!); and the penguins, which generally seem to be asleep, are often startled as the ship bears down on their resting place.( Read more... )

Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 64°28.5' S 55°06.8' E
• Course 90°; Speed 6 kts
• Air temperature 5°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 150°
• Weather: Snow; Visibility 2
• Ice Cover: 10/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 145.4 nautical miles

This morning there was enough snow on the bow and decks to support a small snowball battle, which amused everyone but two Australian ladies rooming together who opened their window and told off some people for laughing too lustily. Truly, here we have all the comforts of home!
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If anyone can find a pattern on the web for crocheting a penguin (Adelie or gentoo best), please forward.

The passengers were called to a briefing at 19:00 this evening, where we were shown an image received today from Mawson Station. It's a satellite photo of the ice cover in the area. The Khlebnikov has backed out of the 9/10 and >9/10 area it couldn't proceed through earlier and is now skirting it in 6/10 to 8/10 ice or near-open water just on the edge of the 6/10 to 8/10 area. Prevailing winds from the east meant that the ice pack will only get denser — it would have taken us 2 days to go about 60 nautical miles to Proclamation Island, and likely 2 days to get out. So the plan now is to continue skirting this ice, to proceed through the heavy ice for about a day to a large open polynya near Mawson on the edge of the fast ice. Fast ice is ice frozen onto land; it's impassable. This polynya is still a long distance from the station and Auster Rookery, the emperor penguin rookery on which all hopes are now fastened. I'm not sure how they plan to handle landings as it looked far for helicopters.

So, two more days ice travel. Arrival at or near Mawson around 23 December.

Mawson Station is VERY EAGER INDEED to have us in ANY TIME THANK YOU because they haven't had visitors in 18 months. The installation of windmills to generate power there means that they no longer get an annual supply ship, as diesel fuel is delivered only every two years. Staff changeovers and minimal incremental supplies can be helicoptered in from the ship that goes to Davis, and have been done for this year. But the longer supply schedule means they have no fresh food. Stringent Australian Antarctic regulations probably forbid us from giving them any, too. The only reason they're not out of beer is that they brew their own.

Conditions around Davis Station are not known now; on the satellite image Mawson sent, there is cloud cover so the surface is not visible.

The staff are hoping to break up the day with helicopter sight-seeing rides tomorrow, weather permitting.

Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 64°40.0' S 51°45.4' E
• Course 143°; Speed 14.3 kts
• Air temperature 0°C; Wind 34 kts; Direction 100°
• Weather: Cloudy, windy; Visibility 7
• Ice Cover: 2/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 309.2 nautical miles

That's not a typo — wind 34 knots, Beaufort 8, "Gale", this morning. Fine dry snow scours sideways moving too fast to settle on the ship, except in a few odd crevices.

And then around 14:00 the ship reaches the pack ice and our progress slowed. Again we are faced with that Antarctic improbability: multi-year ice pack, ridged, compressed, and complicated.

The average speed in the previous 24 hours wasn't as good as hoped — we met more ice in the night — so in an announcement before lunch, our projected arrival at Proclamation Island slipped from 14:00 today to this evening. This is greeted with serious faces all round. We have been in this pattern several times now on this voyage. Our "club's" conversation over the Mexican-themed lunch and a pitcher of strawberry margaritas is a search for something to break the curse, or at least to amuse ourselves, and I find the right thing: we'll commandeer a Zodiac.( Read more... )

Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 65°58.8' S 41°09.3' E
• Course 0°; Speed 11 kts
• Air temperature 1°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 40°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 5
• Ice Cover: 8/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 262.6 nautical miles

Today was a sluggish day for just about everyone. We do have a prospect of activity tomorrow afternoon at Proclamation Island, though, and from the remarks I hear many people are counting on that happening. The highlights were a showing of 90° South, Herbert Ponting's film about the Scott expedition and the installation in the lounge area of Christmas trees, lights, and so on. Some of the elements of decoration are excellent and some are not so good — the windows have been adorned with bows, garland, and other things, so it is not possible to unfasten and open them to get a quick photo off the bow. There is not enough ice and snow outside; fake snow has been sprayed on the windows, too. (I hope whoever had this idea misses a really good whale photo due to the decorations.) The large and small artificial trees are all fastened pretty securely, but the gold glass balls in the window wells do not seem appropriate — for one thing, during the evening meal drinks pitchers are put there — and television in the quiet and cozy library area is 100 percent bad idea. At the moment it is showing something about prehistoric monuments. TV kills sociability; no one will talk or read there now.

I wonder whether I still have a TV-B-Gone in my bag...
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 68°20.4' S 34°03.5' E
• Course --; Speed 0 kts (halted)
• Air temperature 4°C; Wind 16 kts; Direction 110°
• Weather: Cloudy, intermittent light snow; Visibility 6
• Ice Cover: Fast ice
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 145.5 nautical miles

Huge tabular icebergs appeared outside the bar just before 23:00 last night! We thought one might even be land — not the first to be so fooled. It was indeed an iceberg, vast and square and stolid. Land, nonetheless, was there: a couple hours later, after crossing a polynya (an open channel in the ice), the ship crunches its bow into heavy multi-year ice pack which is frozen onto the fast ice and stops, approximately 20 miles from the Riiser-Larsen peninsula.

I wake early in the morning hearing irregular ice-crunching noises and sporadic honking. It seems we're still moving and someone is fooling around on the deck below my window, making penguin noises — but no, the ship isn't under way, the ice sounds are from its being pushed by the current or tide into the sides of its ice-chunk berth, and the penguins are real: emperor penguins in several groups and a collection of Adelie penguins, loafing 20 or 30 meters away on the ice at the stern. The Adelie penguins are mostly lying down, napping, a scattering of tidy black-and-white ovals with tapered ends. One doesn't notice how long their tails are until one sees them lying like this.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 66°26.5' S 31°16.5' E
• Course 150°; Speed 9 kts
• Air temperature 2°C; Wind 26 kts; Direction 110°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 5
• Ice Cover: 8/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 257.8 nautical miles

The Antarctic map is strewn with historical oddities. Today we are in the Cosmonaut Sea.

Brunch on the bow was a chilly event. The ship halted during the hour and a half or so that it took, and had to be repositioned midway through as the wind shifted and drove diners indoors rapidly. Some returned after the ship's change of placement was announced; still, a great deal of corned-beef hash was left over. Light snow swirled as scrambled eggs, sausages, minute steaks, the hash, and cream of wheat were served hot, and cereals, baskets of breads, and fruit were served increasingly cold. It was plainly too early in the day for beer, as the hot chocolate urn was repeatedly emptied while the mini beer keg's tender advertised its readiness to serve but found no takers.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 65°32.2' S 22°48.2' E
• Course 90°; Speed 11 kts
• Air temperature 4°C; Wind 20 kts; Direction 110°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 6
• Ice Cover: 9-10/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 319.4 nautical miles

We are still traveling east as fast as the ship can go, breaking ice with occasional patches of water. The ice is manageable — not the heavy thick multi-year ice — but sometimes a particularly seamy section crossed by many pressure ridges slows the ship down. Of much interest is the presence each day of new ice, ice in the earliest stages of formation and solidifying, over large areas. This should not be happening at this time of year.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 65°39.7' S 11°42.6' E
• Course 90°; Speed 10-14 kts
• Air temperature 5°C; Wind 10 kts; Direction 120°
• Weather: Fine; Visibility 10
• Ice Cover: 9/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 314.1 nautical miles

Last night the cloud cover rearranged itself enough for a colorful sunset to be visible underneath. Clouds too thick for much color above. The sun sets very slowly as we are so far south it is "moving" along a low diagonal. At this season it dips below horizon and rises again about two hours later. I stayed up until 1:30 or so taking pictures, and came in only because it was so cold; it wasn't especially windy (10 kts). I'm told the higher humidity here makes it seem colder at a higher temperature.

2 weeks on the KK this morning. 08:30 to breakfast; full staff occupying bench/table I usually sit at. Informal coffee mtg, looks like. At 09:00 staff go outside for "wildlife/ice watch" on the bow. A few minutes later A looks out and remarks that there are more staff than passengers on the bow: more blue jackets than yellow. I snap a photo...

After breakfast, helicopter rides!( Read more... )

Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 65°14.2' S 0°20.5' E
• Course 80°; Speed 8-13 kts
• Air temperature 2°C; Wind 12 kts; Direction 100°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 4
• Ice Cover: 8/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 256.2 nautical miles

On this day in 1912, Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Must go round to the bar after sending this to see if we're having a festivity. No one is giving a 09:00, or even a 10:00, talk tomorrow, so the staff are free to celebrate...

Got up around 02:00 and watched till 03:30 to see whether we'd have a pretty and interesting-to-photograph Antarctic sea-ice sunrise. Cloud cover is too thick and there are some gold-and-bronze-and-brass effects on the horizon, but not the long, low, slanting light hoped for.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 68°14.2' S 5°28.4' W
• Course 85°; Speed 3-10 kts
• Air temperature 4°C; Wind 15 kts; Direction 110°
• Weather: Snow, cloudy; Visibility 1-4
• Ice Cover: 10/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 209.5 nautical miles

The expedition leader's morning announcement tells us cheerily that we're 500 nm from the next penguin colony (on the continent). Very funny! The pace of life on the ship has shifted noticeably; people are lying in, skipping breakfast. Delicious pastries in greater variety but smaller sizes appear. After breakfast I sit talking for an hour with a couple of passengers, then go to the geology talk on patterned soils and periglacial environments; tag and sort photos after that; then a half-hour "Russian lesson" with Kara (who also has Czech!) and then go up to the bar, meet M, and buy her a bloody mary. Debbie the bartender decides to finish off a bottle of vodka on us and we end up with about twice the regulation quantity in each glass. Um. Unfortunately no steak for lunch: chicken bouillon, chili con carne (thoughtfully small serving) with a few corn chips. Again less than full dining area, people skipping meals to regulate food intake.

GPS track becoming interestingly dendritic, as the ship has made several attempts to get S and post-lunch is going more E to ESE. Not sure where or how we can come toward land in such heavy, heavy ice as this. The 209.5 nautical miles traveled in the past 24 hours have included much backtracking, so we've not made much progress.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 69°55.1' S 9°50.6' W
• Course 180°; Speed 0.5-7 kts
• Air temperature 8°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 320°
• Weather: Sunny; Visibility 10
• Ice Cover: 10/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 204.1 nautical miles

I think I have not remarked on the light: it is light all the time. There is a period around 1:00 am (we are currently in GMT) when the sky dims or gets rosy, but there is always light now. As it's been cloudy, it always looks like 17:00: teatime.

It is white outside, besides the light in the huge, uninterrupted sky. The ice the ship breaks isn't a single thickness; it varies, so the ship reacts a little — nothing one would even call a jolt, though — as it meets a plate. In open water, streamers of congealing grease ice form and eventually become "nilas", a wonderful word for young ice.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 67°12.8' S 12°27.0' W
• Course 180°; Speed 6-12 kts
• Air temperature 6°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 330°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 6
• Ice Cover: 9/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 263 nautical miles

This morning at 8:30 the ship crosses the Antarctic circle, an imaginary waypoint toasted on the bow with hot chocolate well-fortified with good rum.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 63°30.0' S 13°31.0' W
• Course 145°; Speed 12 kts
• Air temperature 1°C; Wind 14 kts; Direction 350°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 5
• Ice Cover: 10/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 307 nautical miles

The at-sea routine can be very comfortable! Breakfast; tea made in Fram souvenir teapot; sat around long after (skipped emperor penguin colony lecture) with A from London, battling crochet and talking idly and listening to other idle talk.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 60°17.0' S 20°49.9' W
• Course 112°; Speed 11-15 kts
• Air temperature 2°C; Wind 12 kts Direction 320°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 7
• Ice Cover: 8/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 296.2 nautical miles

The first of a series of days at sea. I am confronted by things undone.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 58°41.5' S 27°27.5' W
• Course 240°; Speed 14 kts
• Air temperature 1°C; Water temperature 0°C
• Wind 20 kts Direction 280°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 6
• Ice Cover: Icebergs 5/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 170.9 nautical miles

For this morning's Zodiac outing I was ready right away and thus went on the first boat, which was captained by Jonas Wikander, the expedition leader for the cruise. Jonas has read and seen photos of recent volcanic activity on Montagu. Photos from last year (March 2006) show lava flowing beside a glacier on the north side of the island; where exactly this was, he doesn't know, but he very much wants to see lava and the passengers are all amenable to trying for that, too. The island isn't very big and we're on the lee side, so it could be just around the corner. So off he goes.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 56°27.0' S 27°14.6' W
• Course 147°; Speed 15 kts
• Air temperature 4°C; Water temperature 0°C
• Wind 20 kts Direction 260°
• Weather: Fine; Visibility 10
• Ice Cover: Icebergs 6/10
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 200.6 nautical miles

Yet another scatter of land in the middle of nothing, discovered by Cook. How did he do it? He missed the three Traversay Islands to the north, which were found by Bellingshausen.
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Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 55°51.2' S 31°03.4' W
• Course 118°; Speed 9 kts
• Air temperature 3°C; Water temperature 1°C
• Wind 15 kts; Direction 150°
• Weather: Fog, cloudy; Visibility 1-5
• Ice Cover: -
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 219.5 nautical miles

More talks! An introduction to wildlife photography, life in a penguin colony, how to draw penguins (the trick is to get the penguin to lie on the paper so you can trace it), a "Blue Planet" episode, and expedition historian Bob Headland on "South Georgia: The events of 1982 (or, Galteiri: my part in his downfall)". It is all a bit overwhelming and leaves little time to read, write, think, or look through one's photos. Don't forget the demanding mealtimes schedule too!

Bob Headland was on South Georgia, a BAS staff member, when it was invaded, so his talk presented a firsthand perspective with dry humor. A tear of boffin pride must come to the eye of anyone hearing how a load of BAS scientists imprisoned in the hold of an Argentine ship collectively worked out that they were being taken to Tierra del Fuego by using a washer on a string (as a pendulum).

Ship's Position at 12:00:

• 54°16.1' S 36°27.3' W
• Course 20°; Speed 11.3 kts
• Air temperature 9°C; Water temperature 4°C
• Wind 16 kts Direction 30°
• Weather: Cloudy; Visibility 7
• Distance covered past 24 hours: 54 nautical miles

Grytviken is a layered place: the natural-history layer, the heinous industrial-slaughter-of-whales layer (ended in 1965), the equally sad industrial-slaughter-of-fur-seals layer, the exploratory layer, the scientific layer, the political-geographical layer (Falklands War, 1982). It's worth more than the three-hour visit we have.
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[Limited bandwidth telegraphic email update; full photo-riffic entries to follow in February sometime.]

At Grytviken this morning; would have been suitable for a whole day as a beautiful and historically interesting place with few irritable fur seals. This afternoon to a king penguin colony so huge and so densely populated that we stood on the outermost fringe, penguins for about a square mile. This evening short Zodiac ride to see macaroni penguins; there were only a few although they are said to be the most numerous penguins in South Georgia. Difficult to get to as they prefer rocky cliffs for nesting. Had hoped in fact to see miles of macaroni penguins also. Saw few chinstrap penguins too; much smaller than the others.

Sent many cards from South Georgia, next pickup listed as 'December'! Also bought things at shop benefiting S Georgia conservancy.

Tomorrow is day at sea; activities include "how to draw penguins." Trick is to get them to lie on a piece of paper in order to make an outline.