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Yesterday did not go quite as planned due to some very windy weather. Sam, Mick, and Ingoing Station Leader Cat were meant to head ashore at 1100 to meet with the current Station Leader and Happy Diamond Voyage Leader. At 1100 the winds were still too high, so the meeting was scrapped. The 18 ingoing Mawson winterers were due ashore next. However, by the time their departure time of 1330 came around the wind had increased to 40kts. We watched the wind gauge all afternoon as our hopes of getting ashore slowly deflated. By mid-afternoon, when it was still blowing a gale and a small snow storm had appeared, it was abundantly clear that no one would be leaving the ship. There may have been one or two of us cursing the early explorers who decided to establish a station in such a windy (but incredibly beautiful) location!
Time was not wasted, however! The AIVIQ crew and refuelling team spent the day on the back deck setting up the ship for refuelling. This involved multiple crane lifts for containers, cage pallets, and KOMBIs. The first success of the day was the AIVIQ crew safely and competently manoeuvring the container which had shifted during our Southern Ocean storm. The Watercraft Operators also spent some time out on deck. They were incredibly helpful in packing over 70 duffle bags into bulker bags, and very stoic when we asked them to un-pack the bulker bags once it was clear that PAX were not going ashore. Once refuelling set-up was complete, Jeff trained his team of Deck Monitors. The people on the deck monitoring shift will look after our precious deck pump during refuelling. In addition to checking pressure gauges, they confirm and record the fuel farm tank dips every 15 minutes and, if anyone calls 'STOP STOP STOP', they can hit a big red button that stops the pumps immediately.
It was a slightly sombre mood on the ship last night with all our winterers still aboard, but hopes are high today that everyone will get ashore today. Once the wind dies down, it will be a busy day of PAX transfers, inductions, cargo operations, briefs, and planning. All is well and everyone is happy.
REGARDS: Sam and Anthony
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.