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Yesterday evening, the late afternoon sunshine lit the sheer white walls of the West Ice Shelf at a distance off the Ship's port side. Skirting the edge of the sea ice, the ship's crew skilfully navigated us on a Westerley course through a persisting concentration of icebergs, gleaming white against a blue sky. On all outer decks off duty crew and expeditioners could be found, often in silence, absorbing the magnitude of their surrounds. At times, seemingly dozens of plumes from the spouts of whales could be counted in any direction, and up close to the ship, the dark outlines of whales themselves, often audible above the ship's engines. In the late evening, with the embers of sunset flowing between a dark ocean and horizon of cloud off the bow, an array of forward facing spotlights highlighted a bright expanse of ice floes gently rising on the remaining ocean swell. Another long night for crew on watch.
Today, the ship has made steady progress towards Davis and we expect to arrive at anchorage off station late this evening. Forecast updates continue to support a weather window tomorrow for us to conduct operations between Davis station and the ship. A low pressure front approaching Davis does raise the potential for increasing winds and reduced visibility in the afternoon. Current planning reflects a prioritisation of helicopter based cargo operations and the retrieval of expeditioners and helicopters to the ship tomorrow morning. Additionally, we are keen to make use of available conditions to facilitate filming for our resident documentary film crew and to conduct winch trials with helicopters off the forward deck of the ship as part of the ship's ongoing operational 'proving'. Opportunistically, we remain hopeful of stretching the legs of our shipboard contingent with a visit to the shoreline around station, and of our LARCs which will need to be deployed to make clear the forward deck – and who rarely make it this far South. Dani and her team at Davis have been patient comrades these past weeks and all onboard are excited to see station, to co-operate on tomorrow's activities and to welcome a new contingent of expeditioners aboard.
This afternoon, expeditioners and crew come together for what has been billed as the 'social event of the season'. More to follow.
Regards,
James & Brendan.
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.