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We departed as scheduled at 9.30pm last night. The ingoing summering and wintering groups provided a fond farewell to the outgoing wintering group before sending them to the ship in Hagglund all-terrain vehicles. We reversed some distance up the track we came in on before turning the ship gently around and following our inward track through the fast ice to the polynya. This sounds easier than it was as on particular spot of compacted ice impacted our graceful moves through the track. It took many efforts before we finally broke through. The glistening bellied Adelie penguins and seals seemed to have two reactions with a big orange ship in their midst – they either moved further away or looked at us without interest and continued sleeping.
The setting sun was magnificent with it’s bright orange/yellow glow reflecting off the penguins, ice and icebergs. We were also lucky enough to see a fata morgana – this is a particular type of mirage and it made an iceberg in the distance appear to float above the horizon.
This morning we travelled through a large expanse of water with 50 knt winds, the ship rolling and water blown off the waves – not something we had expected just yet. It has settled down now as we are in the ice again. Our orange ship is rather white at the moment with a decent amount of snow and ice covering her decks and cargo.
Cheers Leanne and Mick
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.