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We completed our ship to shore flying yesterday afternoon, conducted an ice reconnaissance flight and then proceeded to depart the position that had been our home for the last couple of weeks and made our way out of the fast ice. We had a spectacular run out of the fast ice and then through the transition zone between the fast ice and pack ice before turning northish to follow a lead through the pack ice which would eventually, we hope, lead us to the Southern Ocean. We eventually stopped at around 2300hrs last night as it was too dark to see exactly where we wanted to be. Just before sunrise we started up moving again and have been at it ever since. We soon will launch another ice reconnaissance flight to locate our next lead, which we know is nearby, but just isn’t visible from the vessel at the moment.
Again we are being treat to Antarctica at its stunning best as we follow our “river of dreams” through the pack ice. The sun is shining, ice flowers are on the water, we’ve seen the odd whale blow. All of which have had most expeditioners either on the Bridge or outside enjoying the stunning scenery.
Given we are doing another helicopter flight today, I’ll have to hold off on providing you with some flying statistics until tomorrow – just to make sure they are accurate of course. My apologies for making you all wait.
We hope our friends at Mawson enjoyed their first evening ashore “alone” and they are settling in well. After walking into my cabin earlier this morning to find a framed “selfie” of the 2014 Mawson Station Leader had magically appeared on my desk, it really does feel like they never left us. Thanks for the photo Robbo, and if it copes with our transit through the Southern Ocean better than its original owner it’ll be going straight to the pool room!
Cheers,
Deepy and Brett
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.