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The cooks put on a fantastic Christmas spread yesterday and people enjoyed the opportunity to have a drink, especially those who had been on a dry ship since early December. No drunken debauchery here, at its height the afternoon ‘degenerated’ into games of pictionary and pick up sticks. Our progress through the night was good due to dispersed pack ice but we have encountered more concentrated pack this morning. The visibility remains only a few miles making it more difficult to find an easy path. It’s amazing to consider how far from the coast the sea ice extends, we have been travelling north from Davis for nearly two days and there is still no sign of an end to ice conditions. This is summer too, when the ice is at its least extent. Despite having been in the sea ice for over a week its impossible to take it for granted. I stood above the bridge this morning and watched three cape petrels in formation sweep over the bow and away into the fog that blankets the ship. An iceberg two stories high and the size of a football field passed nearby with iridescent blue colouring below the surface and in it’s cracks. There is more white ice than dark ocean and the sky is one continuous shade of grey. By this time tomorrow we should be in more open water and on a more direct course for Casey. We will skirt the edge of the sea ice seeking the calmer waters while avoiding the ice itself.
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.