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The moral of yesterday is to be careful what you wish for. Many on board have been wishing for ice since we approached Casey, and yesterday we wrote that the good views were gone as we left the ice. We wanted ice - we got it. At about 9pm we encountered heavy pack ice which had been pushed into our path by the easterly winds - the same winds that created favourable following seas and ensured our travelling comfort yesterday had constructed an ice barrier in front of us. Late last night and early this morning our speed was much lower (the ship was working hard to maintain forward motion for a while there), the weather less pleasant (wind gusting over 30 knots and blowing snow) and the ice conditions more severe. A good reminder to us of how quickly things can change down here. The short distance shown on our track map represents a rather squiggley path of turning back and forth to move out of this - at times the ship was only moving at 1.1 knot and turning back almost 180 degrees to move through this ice effectively. Up until about 2am we pushed through spectacularly thick ice, covered in heavy snow. For sightseers it was magnficient (many different types of sea ice, large icebergs and leopard seals close to the ship) - for the crew onboard responsible for navigating through it there were many hours of hard work put in. Early this morning routine was restored as the ship returned to the gentle roll we are all now accustomed to. The tired minds and bodies after the Casey call are now recovering with much book reading, movie watching and photo taking filling the time before we reach Davis. As our arrival is now only days away planning has commenced for projects, cargo and personnel transfer. This morning we were treated to some time out in the gently falling snow for an emergency muster drill. All expeditioners gathered on the heli deck in full Antarctic clothing and lifejackets while the crew completed a fire drill. Cheers, Nicki, Rob and Peter.
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.