Information
Comments
Well today rolled out the surprise of all surprises for the voyage. We pulled into Buckles Bay at a bit after 5am, keen to get our refueling operation underway on the fantastic forecast that we had been watching all week. Today was THE day to get our final task done – ship to shore refuelling. Through the darkness we could see a little bit of white at the shore but there was no concern as we knew the swell was predicted to be favourable today. We radioed in to our team of watercraft operators on the beach who promptly informed us to standby as the swell at the shore point wasn't favourable. We called back in at 0600, 0630, 0700, 0800 and 0900 but the news was increasingly poor. The swell was in fact building rather than dropping and the shore point wasn't within our limits for launching IRBs to support refueling. We hung around a bit longer before making the call at 1100 that refueling would not happen today as the swell continued to increase. So we took the opportunity to move out our final cargo and cabin baggage as well as a few more expeditioners whose projects are now complete. Macca you again proved that you are forever unpredictable, we stared in amazement at the 4-5 metre swell that pushed the ship around as we did laps off the east coast yet again. The surfers amongst us looked almost longingly at the sets of waves now breaking towards the shore whilst our refueller and operations team gazed out in disbelief that our brilliant weather window had turned into another day of stooging waiting for better weather. So we'll get up again tomorrow morning with fingers and toes crossed in the hope that the swell will be gone.
REGARDS: Nicki and Chris
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.