Thu 26 Jan 2017: Australia Day

We're woken by the usual NZ voice... followed by a dinki-di Aussie with lots of Aussie references. Yes, it's Australia Day. And some people -- passengers and crew -- think that we need to celebrate.

Nice, really. I say, Our ygoinmay torriite? The German couple look confused.

Every announcement has some Australian accent and Aus music to support it. The chefs do rather well... Not that "Aussie cuisine" exists but they took advice.

Lunch is hamburger, close enough to a barbeque. Salads are grated carrot, grated cheese, sliced tomato, beetroot. With mayonaisse (proper tinned stuff, not fancy egg stuff) and tomato... relish. Close enough. I demonstrate the correct style: eat salad first, take out the slippery lettuce leaf, eat the hamburger then wipe hands. Finish with a few leaves of lettuce -- to clean the hands and face. It's all about the correct sequence.

Deb is in the cabin, I'm on deck. A passenger sticks his head in the cabin door -- it is open -- just to check out the biggest cabin. He's surprised to see Deb still inside. I'm thinking, we may have to organise an "open day". I know that I would like to see the biggest cabin on the ship. (If we weren't already in it.)

We have a compulsory briefing on Antarctica. Reminders of what to do and not do. For example: We're now south of the 60th parallel, so no dropping *anything*, either in the sea or in the ice.

Deb goes to a documentary on the Antarctic treaty, its creation and the results. Interesting, Deb says. I read a bit in an Antarctic guide book. Interesting enough.

I'm expecting today to be booooring. But ! Just when I've finished another book... and Deb is at her documentary... We spot our first iceberg !

Everything goes on pause while we all ogle the iceberg. It's amazing :-) The Captain circles it a couple of times. We all take photos. Then it's back to a book and a documentary.

One of the passengers -- a travel agent -- organises some sort of Aus-themed entertainment in the usual pre-dinner bar gathering. Deb & I play rummy in our cabin.

Another delicious dinner. (Though: The lunch salads were particularly attractive (to me) because they were plain. Most ship salads -- and all the meals -- are "complete", with dressing already added. The fresh salads were particularly enticing *because* they were fresh and plain. Just for a change.)

Dinner ends, there's another iceberg sighting. Further out, a big flat one, and with the sun behind it. Not such a rush to view it, it's not "the first".

A brief flurry of very light snow! Well, very very very light... but snow :-) Temperature on deck is a few degrees above zero. Very chilly when the wind blows. Definite hat and gloves and puffy jacket weather. Except for one passenger who is still wearing short shorts. Hmmm.

And the extra good news... We've had fine weather since leaving Macquarie Island. We've gained a day on our schedule, so an extra day to putter along the edge of Antarctica. We'll start to the west, then back east, this *may* give time for the ice to clear towards Mawson's base.

Minor good news: The gps tracker has been up on deck a couple of times. So it *may* have mapped our position.

And a bit more: I've have details of email costs so far. These blog posts are not *too* expensive. So I will no longer send just a short version. Good for me, less effort, and [good or bad, you decide] for any blog readers :-)

----
Sent via Satellite Phone using RedPort Email

Wed 25 Jan 2017: still sailing

A full day of sailing south. I guess that it's south. I wish that I'd packed a gps that works... and that shows current position.

The Spot tracker flashes lights to say that it's working fine. Reports from the other end say that it's doing nothing. From this end there's no information, just flashing lights. Apparently, meaningless lights. But perhaps it really is working! I can't tell till I get home.

I wish I'd packed a *real* gps device.

Anyway...

Still calm seas, very little wind. A few birds fly by, sometimes.

Obviously I picked the correct time for our first iceberg sighting but no-one saw my iceberg. So of all the people who guessed correctly -- that has to be me or Deb :-)  -- we wait till tomorrow to see Deb's iceberg.

Deb goes to watch the second half of the movie. Goes to a talk on exploration history. I finish a really good book. I start a really bad book. I stroll round the decks but it is too crowded... four or five other people are up there. A sailor whitewashes one area. I admire his work.

We buy a few souvenirs... Sorry, no teatowels... just T shirts for ourselves.

Eat, read, sleep...

----
Sent via Satellite Phone using RedPort Email

Tue 24 Jan 2017: at sea

Sea calm with occasional rocking. Windy. A pleasant day at sea.

Deb goes to a talk on penguins. Nothing new, except that we have yet to see an adele penguin. They live on the ice.

Deb goes to a movie, Longitude. They show just the first half. It's about the first clock that allowed accurate calculation of longitude.

I finish reading Wuthering Heights. Then read a lighter book. I'm less ready than ever to sit in a small room with 48 other people.

We get issued with our Antarctic jackets. Not as nice as some we were lent -- but we ran out of room when packing. (Thanks, but sorry :-(

We eat dinner at a table with a man who likes to talk. (No, not me.) He's interesting but does go on a bit. (Told you, it's not me.) I launch into a counter-offensive: battle of the snappy repartee. Certainly brightens up the conversation :-)

I spend some time on deck, learning to use the binoculars. I manage to almost focus on a bird but can then still see less than with the naked eye.

I do believe that I see some fins... Small whales?

Oh, and the Spot tracker appears to have failed. Again. Flashing all the right green lights. Just not actually working. Oh well, another bit of technological junk.

Betting has opened on the first iceberg sighting. I'm betting on lunch-time tomorrow, Deb is betting on 24 hours after that.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Before your dreams can come true, you have to have those dreams" … Dr Joyce Brothers

Mon 23 Jan 2017: Macquarie Island Base

We're woken at 6am to see Lusitania Bay. But... it's too rough to go in a zodiac.

We stand on the Shokalskiy deck. We know what we are seeing: 100,000 penguins on the beach, above the beach, coming and going to and from the beach. From the ship it's not much more than spots on the beach.

We try the binoculars. I see black shadows, blocking my vision from various angles. I try to focus. For a few seconds the view is slightly larger and less clear than with my naked eyes... Then the black shadows are back.

Next stop, the research base.

As I step from gangway to ducky -- the ducky drops a metre. I hold tight -- one foot dropping low -- till it rises again. Continue stepping on, no worries.

There's an Antarctic fur seal in the water as we land. It follows us ashore. Sniffs Deb's leg. Moves on to sniff the staff guide. It's a small and cute seal :-) Till it bites the guide.

Phil of Tasmanian Parks guides us round. He's interesting, the base is interesting. We go to a lookout, then back via the western beach. There are penguins near the water. The place is also littered with elephant seals lying, sleeping, snorting, everywhere.

We watch the launch of the daily weather balloon. It's about 30 seconds from appearance to disappearance, a white balloon vanishing into the grey clouds. Brilliant! I've heard and read about weather balloons and at last I've seen one :-)

Final stop is the mess, for scones and tea. And a chance to warm up... The temperature is no worse than usual. The wind is strong. The base is exposed. We're both warm in our gear. It's still nice to relax inside a warm building.

And there's souvenirs for sale ! We bought something for the boys... Guess what?!

It's now a rush to leave the island! The wind has picked up and changed direction. Nathan (expedition leader) is nervous. Mind you, he's often nervous, it goes with the job and the passengers.

A few of us are back on the ship -- when the zodiac drops alarmingly relative to the ship. Nathan undoes all ropes, pulls away. I'm on the ship, Deb is on the zodiac.

The water calms down, the zodiac moves back. Everyone else disembarks. Phew!

Now we're back on the Academic Schokalskiy. Which is, since last year, thought of as the Stuckiniceski...

Deb is at a talk on history.

I'm sitting at the desk in our cabin. One hand typing, the other holding the tablet. Every so often, the tablet slides away... as the ship rocks from side to side. Or from end to end. My chair slides... then rocks back, to push me against the side wall.

Yes, we're at sea. About an hour south of the shelter of Macquarie Island. In the open ocean. Heading south -- to Antarctica.

Time to stop typing and stare outside :-)

Sun 22 Jan 2017: Macquarie Island

Sunday. Macquarie Island. Moored off Sandy Beach. The weather is a bit iffy, a storm to the north. Today is a free wander along the beach. Five Macquarie workers are on board. They work with the usual team to look after us on the island.

Lunch early at 11:30, pumpkin risotto. Dinner is a choice, for mains, of fillet steak or southern codfish. At lunch we select our dinner main course. That allows the cooks to prepare the correct number of mains. I select the steak.

Ship food is very good. A bit heavy (in my opinion)... heavy in oil or butter, that is. Though that is less noticeable as my stomach settles :-) Most meals are quite low on carbohydrates. Much of the meat is a bit chewy, it sticks in my teeth. But then, so does any food. I had pork last night, a square of pork belly. The edges were a bit tough, the skin was too tough to cut. It was all delicious.

After lunch: by rubber ducky to the beach.

We land next to four elephant seals, sleeping in a heap. They occasionally open an eye, or roll over, or belch. There are piles of these seals all over the beach.

And there are penguins :-)

To the north is a King Penguin colony. It had a thousand chicks last year. An enormous mass of penguins ! The beach is covered with penguins! The chicks are just starting to hatch. We manage to spot one egg being carried on an adult's feet. We can hear the high cheeping of chicks already hatched, from out of sight in the middle of the flock.

To the south and up the hill is a Royal Penguin colony. Their chicks have hatched and the colony is very, very noisy. And smelly. Very smelly.

Penguins are constantly walking to and from the beach. There's a "penguin highway" between the royal colony and the ocean. We are allowed to cross the highway, but not stop in it.

There are penguins just sitting and standing, on the beach. Plenty of them still have some -- or a lot -- of their baby fluff. These ones will be last year's chicks who are still dependent on their parents.

Some penguins stare at us. Some come a bit closer. Seals occasionally open an eye at us. The most active seal waddles down the beach and into the sea.

Absolutely brilliant! Like every image or description of being with penguins. Except so much better to really *be* there :-)

And then it's rubber ducky back to the ship. For coffee. And rest.

Sat 21 Jan 2017: at sea

Oh bother. Email timed out and lost today's blog post. Oh dear. Start again...

Spot tracker is now working... Follow the link from earlier. The problem: It has to be watched for up to *ten minutes*. Any red flash in that time -- failure :-(

Today... we are at sea. A full day -- plus some -- to get to Macquarie island.

Morning: Deb goes to a bird lecture. She learns that there are a lot of bird species. And they are hard to remember or to distinguish.

I sort out the tracker. Read a book. Wander round a bit. Feel good, but restless.

We buy a couple of postcards, to be posted from Macquarie Island. Typical post office queue, I'm behind the woman who wants to buy a dozen or more cards and can't decide which ones.

Mid afternoon. Deb is at a talk on Hooker (snigger:-) seals. I am interested but not ready to sit in a room with 40 other people.

Time to describe the ship. All descriptions are from memory. They may be correct. Or not. This is the brief version, search the web for more:

Akademik Shokalskiy is small. Smaller than I imagined. Not exactly tiny but, well, small.

There's a bar / social area. Tea, coffee, biscuits 24x7. Two dining rooms with kitchen in between. An auditorium. (A square room with whiteboard and projector.) Sauna. I've not tried the sauna.

We're allowed to visit the bridge whenever we want. Five zodiaks (zodiacs?). Stairs and steps to go up and down. Plus vertical metal ladders -- real sailor stuff -- but chained off.

Cabins are on decks 3, 4 and 5. Crew are somewhere else. Our cabin is port side, forward, the largest passenger cabin. We're next door to Captain Igor. (Really.)

In our cabin...

There's an enclosed bedroom with double bed. (Most cabins have bunks.) The bedroom is a quarter of our area.

The rest is entry, sitting and meeting areas. The meeting space can fit eight people in crowded comfort. Sitting room has a couch / folding bed. (I discover the folding bit when I lean on it and it starts to unfold.) Plus a desk & chair.

Three portholes forward, two to the side. Plenty of storage cupboards. Which reminds me: I packed all on the clothing checklist, all the cold-weather gear that we would need. It didn't mention things like shirts... I packed two identical  shirts and a t-shirt. I'm prepared for shore excursions. A bit under-prepared for looking neat around the ship.

Bathroom is compact. Toilet, handbasin, shower. The toilet does have water but does not so much flush, as suck... Like a toilet in a plane. And the pipes are narrow. Nothing but "human waste" to be flushed. Used toilet paper goes in a bin next to the toilet.

In most cabins you would need the bar area to get some space to sit and enjoy. Our cabin is spacious. Very nice. Very private. We are very comfortable.

 

Fri 20 Jan 2017: Auckland and at sea

Crack of Dawn: the settlement

We're woken up at 6:15 by the p.a. Up, dress, line up for the rubber duckies by 6:30. Time for a trip to the historic settlement of... Hardwicke? It was oversold with a fancy prospectus, proved to be non-viable. When the European settlers abandoned the settlement, the Maori -- who had been well settled when the Europeans arrived -- decided that they, too, would rather leave.

Zodiaks are fun. We're all getting better at getting in and out.

We walk to the cemetery.  A small fenced area, half a dozen crosses and stones. Then to the "Victoria tree", with carved details of the ship Victoria, which had landed here well after the settlement. Most of the lettering is missing; the tree has rotted away. According to the tour team, a lot has gone missing in just five years.

Back to the ship for breakfast. We're in calm water, the appetite is good.

Mid-Morning: wartime watch station

Another shore excursion to another part of Ross Harbour. It's a hut and a lookout where NZers watched out for enemy shipping in WWII. The temperature is possibly up to ten degrees, the sun is shining, it's a long, hot walk up.

The lookouts were scientists. Too old to fight in the war, they volunteered for the post.  And researched the area while they were there. A plum post for a research scientist!

Afternoon: sailing again. South, towards Macquarie Island.

I attend a lecture on ice maps, which show percent of ice on the water. We are hoping to get to Mawson's hut. The Shokalskiy is ice-toughened. We can sail amongst ice but not break through it. At the moment -- no way to the hut. Still, it's another week till we get close enough to try.

Now we've sailed out of the shelter of the Aucklands. We're in open sea and it's a bit up and down. A lecture on birds has been cancelled or delayed. Sitting facing across the ship, I'm fine. While I'm typing I'm facing forward -- and on the edge of queasy.

A quiet afternoon and evening. Dinner. Read a book. Go to bed.