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It’s been another exciting and successful day for V4 at Mawson – there are many more smiling faces here now that we have the fuel ashore. After lunch yesterday we moved back in to Mawson, arriving just before the fuel hose pigging was completed. While we waited for our cargo barge to finish assisting with the fuel hose we did a few slow laps out in front of Mawson – finally some time to enjoy the stunning views here. The islands, icebergs, plateau and mountain ranges surrounded us. At this late stage in the summer the water is beginning to refreeze so there are many patterns in the ice around the ship. Once positioned off West Arm again people were transferred ashore ready to commence their rostered duties or roundtrip programs. The wind was still reasonably high at 20 knots but the wind direction meant that sea spray was coming across the barge, making the ride in to ‘town’ a bit unpleasant. We commenced cargo transfer mid-afternoon – hoping to at least get our weather deck sorted before the wind shut us down again. Fortunately for us the wind then dropped off considerably – the down side of this was that the water in the harbour and surrounding area began to freeze. While the wind is our enemy during these operations it also keeps the water moving and slows the formation of ice. We need to find a happy medium between windy days and icy water – something that has escaped us so far (and is likely to until next summer). By late yesterday afternoon the barge began to have difficulties with ice effecting its steering and blocking the jets. We deployed the AA2 – our workboat – to travel ahead of the barge and move the water around to push the ice away so that we could continue to move cargo. This was effective and we managed to do more than we had hoped – with 13 of our 39 loads of incoming cargo ashore before we halted work at 8pm. Passengers were then returned to the ship and we moved back out to our parking place in the fast ice. This morning the weather forecast has confirmed our fears that we won’t be working cargo at Mawson – winds 35 to 45 knots. We are going to stay out here and move cargo around so it is ready to discharge ashore quickly as soon as the next opportunity arises. 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.