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As mentioned in yesterday's sitrep the wind was not playing to game to enable passenger transfers from Mawson to the ship. You were left with the cliff hanger that any tv serial would be proud of: will they or won't the outgoing Mawson team make it onto the ship today (yesterday due to the time difference). Well, they did. It took many hours before operations could start but at 2.30pm the first boat arrived at the Aiviq with passengers. The crew and round trip personnel did a great job of getting our Mawson colleagues on board and settled. Just after 4pm the final boat arrived, was loaded ready for our departure.
The ingoing Mawson team had assembled at the end of West Arm and waited patiently in the cold until the last IRB was loaded onto the Aiviq and we were ready to leave. The team looked like a group of penguins huddled together to keep warm, but more colourfully dressed. The outgoing team, round tripping personnel and the crew of the Aiviq really appreciated them giving us a great send off and we wish them well for the coming year.
Departing Mawson is always a struggle as it is, I believe the most beautiful of Australia's Antarctic stations. Alas off we went with more beautiful scenery to distract us from our thoughts of leaving Mawson behind. We are now headed to Davis to assist with resupply and as we are travelling closer to the coast than our track to Mawson we are seeing an increasing number of jade icebergs. Last night we travelled through some chunkier pieces of ice which the Aiviq navigated superbly under the careful management of the ship's Captain and officers. This morning the big chunks have made way to grease and pancake ice along with larger and flatter pieces of ice.
Our intrepid DVL and ship's crew were up at 3am this morning to deploy another argo float. The snow was falling and the world looks quite surreal at that time of the day with the ship's search lights glowing in the dark assisting the crew in navigating a safe path through the ice.
Cheers
Leanne & Matt
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.