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Last night, those onboard still awake and contemplating whether the sun was setting or rising may have first heard, then felt, the bumps and shivers of the hull as the ship sauntered into the pack ice. For others pacing the decks, the night passed in a haze of dazzling sunlight and exhilaration born of piercingly cold air, and our passage through a jagged whitened landscape blotted only by the occasional passage of a seabird, or the dark outline of a distant penguin or seal.
Today, we continued on course to Casey, breaking free of the pack ice which had slowed our progress by early afternoon and across a polynya (open expanse of water) lined with ice bergs and the coastline of Antarctica off the bow. Casey station greeted us warmly, first with a radio call to the bridge and then with the outline of people on the rocks to the West of station, observing our approach to the anchorage a little after 1800hs.
There was enough time in the operational day for us to welcome two of the station's IRBs alongside. Operated by the station's coxswains, they brought Station Leader Ali D and members of her resupply supervisory team to meet the expeditioners on board and discuss 'the plan'.
'The plan' appears good. Now we just need the weather to read it.
Regards,
James, Anthea and Gemma.
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.