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The Southern Ocean continues to toy with us as the seas and winds
have continued to strengthen, making for an uncomfortable passage. The swell
has been having a little trouble deciding which way it will go and only
recently settled on a more westerly trajectory. This has put it on the
starboard bow of the ship causing a cork screw effect which makes it
difficult to determine which way the ship will move next. Makes it extremely
hard to keep the contents of the fridge, inside the fridge!
The weather has ensured that our progress has not been the quickest. Since
leaving Hobart, a little over three days ago, we have only covered around
680 nautical miles and continually battle to get the speed above the 10knt
mark. Only 2280 nautical miles to go, but whose counting!
The continual pounding has meant a number of the expeditioners have returned
to a more horizontal position to fend off any further episodes of motion
sickness. Despite the uncomfortable conditions, the daily working life of
the ship continues unabated, with meals being prepared, charts corrected,
maintenance undertaken and voyage t-shirts being designed. On the science
front, the Continuous Plankton Recorder was hauled in this morning for a
precautionary check and all was found to be working as required. The Gym is
starting to get a lot more customers as people start to realise that maybe
Cheese cake at lunch and dinner is probably not a good idea.
I forgot to mention yesterday that clocks had been retarded one hour to
UTC+10, which is one hour behind Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time
(AEDT). Another hour will be gained in the bunk tomorrow morning as we again
retard clocks a further hour to UTC+9. Only another four more hours to lose
before we are on Davis time.
Regards
Rob, Simon and George.
(Livin' the dream Southern Ocean style!)
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.