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The first Saturday of the voyage saw expeditioners & crew awake (if they weren't awake already!) to large sea and strong conditions produced by the low passing over the vessel. The previous evening had proven a little more uncomfortable than usual for most, with expeditioners finding ways to wedge themselves into a position in their bunks to avoiding ending in a pile of pillows and doona at opposite ends of the bed every 10 seconds. Before going to bed Friday evening, expeditioners were provided with a presentation on a few of the adventures and stunts of our more multi-skilled personnel at the Antarctic Division, Flin Johnston. Flin's an experienced sailor, surfer, mountain bike rider and vehicle enthusiast. He's performed plant operator roles at a couple of our stations and aboard the former French icebreaker L'Astrolabe during its resupply of Macquarie Island in 2016. Flin's aboard voyage 3 as part of the refuelling crew.
The upper decks have been closed to expeditioners throughout the day for safety reasons, and some underway science activities have been postponed for the same reasons, until the weather abates tomorrow morning. At lunchtime, the Master turned the vessel Eastwards (with the swell) for a short time to permit the galley crew to more comfortably prepare the meal, which included fish & chips, pies and salads.
The rougher conditions have at least afforded some excellent opportunities for photography from the bridge, with the vessel periodically cresting larger swells and then ploughing back down into the following trough – creating a very impressive bow-wave which the more skilled photographic artists aboard are able to capture and add to their record of the voyage.
There have been rumours that one of our voyage management team, who may also be skilled in the area of film and photographic work, would be willing to run a workshop for interested crew and expeditioners in the near future, but time will tell.
Cheers
Mark & Fred
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.