Wednesday, January 7, 2009.

Jonas woke us at 7.30 a.m. and even at that time we were still rolling.  Land was not in sight, so it was clear that we would not be into Hobart as early as was originally planned.  However, everything went very well.  Breakfast was served, we had plenty of time to pack and bags were not required to be outside the cabins until much later. 

By around 9.30 a.m. we could see the coast of Tasmania and the sea began to calm.
At 10 a.m. we had the pilot on board and soon we were approaching the wharf in Hobart.  By 11.30 a.m. we had cleared immigration and bags were on the pier.  Some people had early flights, but not sufficiently early to be a problem, so we all were able to disembark relatively calmly.

There was a mobile scanning truck on the dock and all bags were passed through this and then we were free to go our own way.  With much hugging and promising to keep in touch, we left our new found friends and sadly mad our way to either hotels in Hobart or off to the airport.  It had been a fantastic trip which delivered more than most of us could possibly expect.

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Tuesday, January 6, 2009.

We awoke to an even wilder morning!  We were going through a really nasty low pressure system and there was nothing to do but battle it out.

After breakfast, and most attended which was really fantastic, Kara gave her excellent talk ‘Monsters of the Sea’.  I almost felt one of these creatures might rise out of the boiling water we could see from our cabins, but fortunately we just had the magnificent albatross which enjoy the wind and use the elements to their own advantage.  Aren’t animals incredible?

For those willing to brave it to deck 7, at 10.30 a.m. the documentary film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was shown.  Most of us had already seen this, but it seemed much more appropriate at these latitudes, so the turnout was very good.

After lunch things were still fairly bad, so packing was a trial.  Most of us just threw out stuff into our bags with the idea of sorting things out once we got ashore.  At 3 p.m. Bob presented the results of his Antarctic Exam, and this in itself was a very worthy reason to again trek to the lecture room.  This was followed by the wonderful video clip of ‘Lucky the Penguin’, which is an authentic video of a Gentoo Penguin, which in order to escape a pod of Orcas, actually jumped into a Zodiac with passengers and survived the hungry whales.

Later at 5 p.m. we had our disembarkation briefing and a slide show of the voyage.  Sue had done an amazing job of capturing our experiences and the people on board.  Due to the excessive rolling the Captain’s Farewell Cocktail Party was canceled, but we still managed to make it to the dining rooms for our farewell dinner.  Again, I could not believe how the chefs could turn out such incredible food under such difficult circumstances.

Then it was a matter of gathering in the bar to say goodbye to old friends, new friends and preparing ourselves for our “normal lives”, getting back to our cabins and trying to stay in our beds while the ship wanted to throw us all over the place.

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Monday, January 5, 2009.

During the night the rolling increased considerably and even with everything secured in the cabin, some things found their freedom and marched across the floor to lodge themselves in places which were difficult for retrieval.  However, in our cabin at least, nothing was broken or even damaged, including ourselves.

It was really important to get shoes or footwear on with good gripping soles, as the carpets were extremely slippery and with bare feet it seemed at times like a skating rink.  Perhaps we should all be issued with Velcro strips which could be attached to our feet so we can actually stay put without sliding sideways and banging into walls.

As promised in the daily program, there was no wakeup call this morning and we had to organize ourselves to get up and go down for breakfast.  How are we going to manage when we get home?  We are so used to being looked after and making no more decisions than what is on the menu for our meals.  It will be a rude awakening I believe.

We had patches of sunshine this morning, but the rolling continued and some of the bow waves were really spectacular with water slamming into the cabin windows.  At 9 a.m. Wendy, Nigel’s wife, gave a very interesting talk on ‘The Greatest Migration’.  This was followed by our documentary film, ‘Winged Migration’, which was a fascinating film on the distances that birds migrate on an annual basis.

Due to the rather difficult movements on the ship we were all really grateful that the chefs offered a lunch of pizza and pasta.  It was enough to get to the dining rooms let alone keep our food on our plates, so pizza worked really well.  I could not even believe what the guys were going through in the galley!  After lunch most of us took to our beds as it was so difficult to move around and with the bridge and front bow being closed, the best option was to take it easy and wait for things to calm down.  We did now have the albatross back, so that was super.

At 3 p.m. we had another documentary film from the Planet Earth series and after afternoon tea, Bob gave a fabulous talk on ‘Artists Representations of the Polar Regions’.  Debbie had a great “special of the day” being ‘Roaring 40s’.  This definitely defined what we were going through, but we were all in good spirits.  No one was falling down and we were all really proud of ourselves being able to function in these conditions.  The bridge was doing everything possible to make things better for us, but short of entirely changing course, we just had to battle on.

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True to his promise, Jonas woke us up at 6 a.m. Breakfast was served from 6 a.m. to 7.30 a.m. and those of us in groups 5, 6, 7 and 8, were encouraged to go to breakfast first. These groups would be landing at around 7 a.m.

The weather conditions were not perfect, as we had some rain showers, but the swell was manageable and we did not have too much wind. At first Captain Pavel tried to anchor, but that meant the ship swung around and the swell hit us side on, so we had a lot of rolling. Then he raised the anchor and let the ship drift, every so often turning so the bow would be into the swell. This worked perfectly, and soon the four groups were off and on their way to Sandy Bay.

It wasn’t a very long Zodiac ride, and once we arrived, everyone was on shore to greet us: King Penguins, Royal Penguins, Giant Petrels and Elephant Seals. Unfortunately due to the rabbit explosion which has occurred on this island over the last 5 or so years, the wooden boardwalk which gave access to a viewing platform overlooking the Royal Penguin rookery, has collapsed and been removed. Due to such extensive erosion it was not possible to walk up to see the rookery at all, but with so many Royals on the shore and going to and from the sea, we had plenty of opportunities to see these feisty little guys with their mad hairdos. They were not at all perturbed to see us on their beach and in fact almost ignored our presence totally.

The King Penguins however, were as usual extremely curious. Both adults and chicks came up to see who these visitors were. We all loved the experience of having the birds walk up to us totally unafraid. Again, most of the big bull elephant seals had already left, but there were still some sizeable fellows on the beach and further up in the tussock. They are very clumsy on shore and moving to and from the water, but once in the water they seem to glide effortlessly.

At 9 a.m. the groups rotated, and the second lot of people went ashore.

This way we did not have more than 50 people ashore at one time and everyone had an equal amount of time on the beach. Before boats came to disembark and embark passengers, Captain Pavel would turn the ship to keep it as still as possible to facilitate the embarkation process. Everything worked like clockwork and by 11 a.m. the last boat had returned to the ship and all Zodiacs were shortly secured on the stern in preparation for our crossing to Hobart.

Everything was secured and tied down on the bow deck and we were encouraged to do a similar process in our cabins as we will be entering into a low pressure system which could cause rolling. By lunchtime we had left the shelter of Macquarie Island, but the sea was not too bad and again, we are veterans now at getting around onboard a moving ship.

After lunch it was definitely nap time as we had all been up early for our exciting landing at Sandy Bay. At 3 p.m. we had another documentary from the BBC Planet Earth Series and after we had enjoyed afternoon tea, Kara talked to us about ‘Life in the Cold; adaptations of animals to living in cold climates’.

At 6 p.m. a small group of us returned to the Lecture Hall to hear Terry play his ragtime. He is a very interesting man and he plays the piano very well. He gave us a short lead up to each piece he played and at the end took requests from his list of music which he has with him.

By dinner time the ship was moving a little more, but still not so much that we felt uncomfortable. In fact it could probably be described as a very soothing movement and one which helped us to fall asleep very quickly.

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The sea and the swell had calmed down considerably during the night, so we awoke to a very pleasant movement on the ship and so many birds around us.  The sky was still very overcast, but blue sky was visible in the distance.

Bob began our morning’s lecture program with his talk, ‘Exploitation of the Southern Ocean –
 Sealers and Whalers’. Human beings have really devastated some of these southern areas and the wildlife found here, and in particular the whales, at least the larger baleen whales, have been slow to make a comeback. Unfortunately the fur seals have been much more successful and this has perhaps been to the detriment of other species within the overall food chain.Whales were sighted this morning, but they were far away from the ship and difficult to identify. At least it was good to see them back in these waters.

At 11 a.m. we all climbed up to Deck 7 to the lecture hall to have our briefing on Macquarie Island. Many of us were very excited to think we have reached this island and have a good chance of landing. We learnt what we could do and could not do ashore, and the most specific points were not to take any food ashore and that we will need to have our outer clothes and backpacks vacuumed before we go for any landing.

We have the possibility this afternoon of going to the Isthmus and visiting the Base. Half of us will do a Zodiac cruise and half will land and then the groups will be rotated. Tomorrow we hope to land at Sandy Bay and at some point we may do a ship cruise to Lusitania Bay and see all the King Penguins in the water.

We duly lined up in the stairwell areas on each deck to have our parkas, backpacks etc. vacuumed so that no foreign seeds etc. could be taken ashore. Our staff are becoming experts at working the “dust busters” and I wonder if they take these skills home with them to help their partners?

After lunch, Jonas warned us that as we drew closer to Macquarie Island there would be some serious rolling, but hopefully as we got closer to the shore, the swell and the winds would probably die down somewhat.

Soon we had Macquarie Island ahead to the port side of the ship. First it was just a hazy outline against the overcast sky, but eventually we couldsee it was land with dark rocky outcrops and very green vegetation. By 3 p.m. we were in position and very soon the first Zodiac groups were called.

We were split into two main groups as only 50 people can go ashore at a time, so four groups were taken ashore and then the other 4 groups went Zodiac cruising. Eventually all were rotated so we all got the same amount of time ashore and the same amount of time Zodiac cruising.

What an amazing place Macquarie Island is. Where we landed, at the Base, we had pretty much everything the Island offers. We had King Penguins standing around moulting, Gentoo Penguins who have moved into this area over the last few years, lots and lots of massive elephant seals and the usual skuas and giant petrels. We have to go a little further along to the coast, (where hopefully we will go tomorrow), to see the Royal Penguins at Sandy Bay, but we had the tussock grass and the fantastic Macquarie Island Cabbage plants.

The rangers from the Base were there to meet us and take us around the area in small groups so we could see everything. It wasn’t really cold, (in comparison to Antarctica), and we were lucky it was not really windy, but it was bleak with intermittent rain, which is what Macquarie Island experiences 360 days a year.

The really big bull elephant seals had already left, but the ones remaining to moult were still fairly large and some were busy practicing their aggressive tendencies. The rangers knew how to handle them without any confrontations, so there were no close encounters with our passengers. The females and the “weaners”, who are waiting to go to sea, were wonderful with their huge dark eyes. Sometimes it was hard to spot them amongst the tussock as they almost blended in with the color of the sand and soil.

It took the Zodiac cruise to see the rockhoppers which are as the name implies, always on the rocky shore where the waves seem to be the strongest.

These gallant little guys with their fantastic hairdos, are such feisty little critters and they take on the absolute worst of the weather and the shore landings as if they choose to work harder than the other penguins.

Getting back on board the ship was a little tricky as the swell was significant, but with Tim working the gangway and actually getting into each Zodiac as it came to unload, plus Anatoly and another Russian AB working the gangway, there was no way we could not get on board. I was literally lifted out of the Zodiac and placed on the gangway by these courteous and caring gentlemen
–
 all I had to do was climb the stairs. Then another crew member was there to hose us down, so our boots were squeaky clean by the time we entered the ship.What an afternoon we had experienced. It is always difficult to predict a landing at Macquarie Island, as the sea and swell in this area, not to mention the wind, can make conditions very difficult. We had been so extremely lucky.

Karl-Heinz was kind enough to delay dinner by 30 minutes, so eventually we were all back on board, and we all trooped down for dinner at 8 p.m. We all had our appetites as well, as a good hike over Macquarie Island will make anyone hungry. We have picked up one of the rangers from Macquarie, and we will be taking Joss back to Hobart due to a family emergency. It was a lively group at dinner, but not so many stayed up late as we were all fairly tired from our excursion and Jonas had promised an early start in the morning.

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Well, we knew we were in open water during the night, as the ship was moving every which way. We had pitching, rolling and sometimes we felt as if we were completely airborne, which could hardly happen with a vessel of this size. But if you take the size of the Southern Ocean, ‘Kapitan Khlebnikov’ is just a tiny cork to be tossed around as the sea sees fit.

Early in the morning we were doing some serious pitching and the bow waves were of historical proportions. Then later we went into a more serious rolling movement as the wind and swell were changing. The upside of all this was that we now had the company of the magnificent albatross which were gliding effortlessly around the ship. I felt so unbelievably clumsy just trying to make my way around the cabin, while these birds just used the wind currents to soar without even a single wing flap.

We are a very stoic and heroic group of passengers. Most turned out for breakfast and life went on aboard as it should. At 9 a.m. Barrie gave his wonderful talk on ‘The Oldest & The Loneliest. Antarctica’s Prince Charles Mountains’. I can’t imagine anything happening on the ship that would

stop Barrie in his tracks, and of course he gave a fantastic talk and surprisingly a lot of people felt brave enough to climb to Deck 7 to hear him. It was well worth the trek.

Jonas had been going to have a ‘Wildlife Watch’ on the bridge at 10.30 a.m., but perhaps it was wise that he chose not to announce this, as I doubt the Captain and bridge officers really wanted too many passengers on Deck 10 in these conditions. However, there was a lot of wildlife to watch around the ship. We saw Adelie Penguins, Emperor Penguins, Minke Whales and of course many, many birds, including wonderful groups of Pintado Petrels.

At 11 a.m. Sue gave another fabulous talk ‘Behind the Scenes on “Blue Planet” ‘ in the lecture hall. It is really interesting to see how these documentaries are made, and the difficulties and personal emotions involved in making them. She has a fantastic way of telling stories and is an extremely interesting lady.

By lunchtime most of us had worked out how to get around the ship without falling down and breaking something, but there were a few faces missing from the dining room. As is normal, I think once the bridge heard Georgia give the announcement “the dining rooms are open for lunch”, they wrenched the wheel hard left and we began to roll like hell. But hey, we are veterans now, and nothing was going to stop us from tasting the shrimp wantons with soya sauce. It was sad to be back to damp table cloths, and Lars had problems maintaining his bottle of hot sauce, but you do what you have to do. A glass of wine always helps and once you learn not to be tidy and not to pack the cutlery on the plate when you have finished the meal, this really prevents your neighbor from being stabbed with your fork.

I feel so appreciative of what the catering people must deal with in the galley preparing all this food and serving it perfectly as if we were on land in a stable restaurant. Hats off to these guys for how they handle things. It is enough for me to just do battle with the shower and try to climb into clothes without falling on my face. But to prepare intricate meals and serve everything so perfectly is totally beyond my comprehension.  However, I think we all appreciated it very much.

At 3 p.m. another documentary was shown in the Lecture Hall, ‘BBC Planet Earth Series’, although I suspected many people took the time to have a nap.

Anyone on seasick medication was going to feel very sleepy and the best course of action in this type of sea, is to lie down and sleep. However most of us managed to make our way to the lounge for another wonderful afternoon tea which was followed by Nigel’s talk, ‘Macquarie Island –
 Wildlife Haven’. Nigel gave a wonderful presentation on Macquarie and the range of flora and fauna found there. Due to the time he spent on the island, working with Tasmanian Parks and the Australian Antarctic Division, he had lots of firsthand information for us.It was ‘End of Holiday Sales’ in the gift shop, so Saskia was doing brisk business for last minute items. It never ceases to amaze me that if an article of clothing, or in fact anything at all, even a notepad or an emory board has a penguin on it, I will buy it and obviously I am not alone here.

Penguins are addictive and if we can bring back the memories of Antarctica into our everyday lives, then that has got to be a very good thing.

By dinner time the sea had calmed somewhat, or maybe we had all just become experts at coping with the rolling, but the swell did seem to be much less than we had experienced earlier. We had another fantastic dinner and of course all the talk in the dining rooms was about our hopes and expectations for arriving at Macquarie Island. It seems we should be there tomorrow afternoon.

Again we found we had darkness at night as we reached further north.

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Jonas, our Expedition Leader, was very kind to us this morning and allowed us all to sleep until 9.30 a.m. We did have the chance of getting tea, coffee and pastries at 7.30 a.m., but most of us chose to take the extra two hours of sleep.
We awoke to a very overcast sky and still lots of ice which had slowed our progress somewhat during the night. However, we expected to be in open water later today, so we were duly warned to secure our cabins and not have any loose objects lying around which could fall on the floor. Again we have to remember not to put our hands in the door jambs and when moving around the ship, always keep one hand free to hold the railings.
From 9.30 to 11 a.m. our chefs put on the traditional New Year’s Brunch. This was ideal as we could come and eat at our leisure and this also allowed the chefs to get some rest before they had to start up again for afternoon tea and dinner. It was amazing that we could eat again after our late night/early morning buffet for New Year’s Eve.
We were all invited to the bow for an ‘Ice Watch’ at 11 a.m., and although it was bitterly cold outside, there was a lot of ice to see and I think we are all “hanging on” to the last of the ice. It is usually so sudden and abrupt when we leave the ice and enter the open water, but here we still had quite large floes in front of us and even though we are north of the Antarctic Circle, the ice must have been pushed here by winds and currents.

At midday Bob introduced our documentary “With Byrd at the South Pole”. This was an excellent film, but it was difficult for some of us to keep our eyes open after a reasonably late night, the gentle rolling of the ship and the comfort of the lecture hall.

Then at 2.15 p.m. Kara gave her very interesting presentation, ‘A Comparison of the Polar Regions’. Kara has worked on the ships for many years in both the Arctic and the Antarctic. She lives in Alaska and is obviously really at home in the polar regions. She gave us some excellent comparisons and differences between north and south.

At 3 p.m. our chefs surprised us again with a magnificent “High Tea”. What an effort they had gone to and again we all surprised ourselves at being able to eat without seriously being hungry. We are so spoiled by the food we are offered, but it is all so good. It will be hard to make the adjustments required when we go home. I doubt we will be given a menu for lunch and dinner and asked to make our choice of food, without lifting a finger to prepare anything. Debbie will not be there to say, “would you like me to get you a drink – just sit still and I will bring it to you”. Nor can we toss our laundry into a plastic bag and miraculously it appears washed and ironed the next day. Yes, we will have to do some serious debriefing I believe so we can get back into our regular lives.

By 5 p.m. we were still breaking ice floes, with lots of open water in between. It was surprising that we were still not in open water, but of course we loved the presence of the ice and the stable conditions on board.
We even had a glimpse of sunshine at one point. Birds were around the ship and apart from the snow petrels we also had the occasional Southern Fulmar visit us, and which to me is a really attractive bird.
Then Bob gave his very good talk on the “Non Existent Islands”, and showed some wonderful old maps where islands had actually been recorded where really no land existed. Were these sometimes a devious ploy by the early sealers to keep hidden the good sealing spots and direct competitors to areas where they would find nothing? Who knows, but today’s maps are pretty good and it is interesting to make the comparisons with the earlier versions.

And still we push on through the ice. So many of us were taking “last photographs of the ice” only to find that the ice was still in front of us.

But no one was complaining.

At 7 p.m. we all went for dinner, but often had to stand up in the dining room to admire the huge tabular icebergs which we were passing. It wasn’t until around 9 p.m. we realized we had bid farewell to the ice and suddenly we were in open water. We felt the movement of the ship, but it was very mild and it was more the loss of the ice that we mourned, rather than worrying about if or when we would roll. After the high jinx of the previous evening, most of us went off to bed very early and I am sure Debbie was extremely grateful.

Tonight we had darkness after so long of continuous daylight. It made me realize we were rejoining the real world. We were also asked to put our clocks back one hour before we went to sleep, so that means we are now on Australian time, ready for Macquarie Island and eventually, Hobart.

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We woke again this morning to brilliant sunshine and very little wind.  How lucky can we be?  Khlebnikov was smashing her way towards Coulman Island through absolutely beautiful ice and icebergs.  We had emperor penguins in the water and on the ice and snow petrels flying all around the ship.  What a scene – it just doesn’t get much better.  The high peaks of Coulman Island soared into the blue sky with the ice glistening in the sunshine.

Just after 9 a.m. Jonas called us all out on the bow to enjoy the spectacular scenery.  It was truly stunning and those not wanting the bow were either on the bridge or on the stern.  Long lenses were focused everywhere.

Soon after, Captain Pavel did a very nifty bit of maneuvering to put the ship stern first into the ice.  It took a little while to get a firm berth, but soon after the gangway was down and we were encouraged to walk over the ice to the emperors.  As with Cape Washington the colony had broken up into small satellite groups, many of which had already made their way towards the open water.  Some groups were just chicks but some were a mix of adults and chicks.  Most of the chicks looked about ready to “take the first plunge” and see if they knew how to swim and how to feed themselves.  Talk about baptism by fire!!
Some of the ice we walked over was fairly soft and many of us sank up to our knees in soft snow, but nearly everyone struggled on to make it to the penguins.  The sunshine was wonderful again, but there was a very cold wind blowing making it difficult to stand still for any length of time.  If we were moving and struggling through the ice we kept warm.

Jonas called us all back to the ship at midday, as our superb chefs put on an Antarctic Barbecue.  Because of the unreliable ice we were walking on, the barbecue was held on the bow in the sunshine.  Soon tables and benches were set up together with the full barbecue cookers and Debbie was there to serve cold beer or hot gluwein.  Due to the extremely cold wind which almost froze us in our tracks, the hot beverages were very popular.  It was a little tricky to keep our plastic cutlery, paper napkins and paper plates from sailing over the deck, but we soon became experts and many of us decided it was easier to just dump the cutlery and use our fingers.  We had a lovely spicy soup, fantastic barbecued meat and sausages, corn on the cob, baked potatoes and of course the usual wonderful salads.  This was followed by large chocolate chip cookies.  We have decided Melissa, our baker, will be responsible for a lot of excess “weight” on this voyage.  As she is slim as a pencil, she cannot possibly eat her own food.  However, the cookies were to die for, but fortunately nobody did actually “die” from eating them.

Jonas then gave us all a bonus and announced that the ship would stay in the same position until 6 p.m. so of course after lunch it was back on with the life jackets and off we went again.  By now we had lots of emperors around the ship and even some Weddell Seals.  The skuas were also in close attendance as they had hoped to join the barbecue, but they were unlucky as everything was cleaned up very quickly and efficiently, leaving no trace of us even being on the bow to eat.

It was a happy group in the bar that evening, talking about all they had seen and done, although there were a few complaining of sore muscles as walking in some places had required some strength and stamina.

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Jonas woke us an hour earlier this morning at 6.30 a.m. as we were approaching Franklin Island.  We had a wonderful view of the island in the morning light, with a low mist seeming to surround it.  Soon we could see the rookery directly ahead of the ship, but the ice was very thick.  It was pack which had broken and then refrozen and Khlebnikov worked very hard to get through.  Soon it was obvious we were not going to find any open water where we could use the Zodiacs so the decision was made to turn to the west towards our afternoon location, the Drygalski Ice Tongue.  Many of us were on the bridge or out on the bow looking at the amazing scenery all around us.  Many Adelies were on the ice or jumping into the few patches of open water.

At 9 a.m., our documentary series was continued in the lecture hall, but many people, especially our ardent photographers, could not tear themselves away from the scenery outside.  Bob kindly stepped in at 11 a.m., and gave his excellent talk on how icebreakers work.  This was such an interesting presentation and gave us all a great overview of how this impressive vessel does what she does so well.  By lunchtime the ship had slowed as were had the ice tongue directly ahead of us.  As soon as lunch was over, Zodiacs were in the water and a Zodiac cruise was offered.  We had two groups and each had about 45 minutes cruising along the ice tongue, which is fascinating to see and it is amazing how far it extends out over the water.  We then pushed on towards Inexpressible Island.  Sometimes we were in open water, but often found ourselves back and breaking large patches of pack ice.  The sunlight remained with us all afternoon and of course into the evening – there is no night time darkness now.  We have had continuous sunshine ever since we reached the ice which seems so long ago now.  It is wonderful to have sunshine every day and our photographers can take photographs 24 hours a day if they want to.

We had a recap at 6.30 p.m. and we discussed what we had done at McMurdo Station and Hut Point and then Jonas outlined our plans for the next few days.  Tonight he said we would try for a landing on Inexpressible Island, where Bob explained there is an ice cave, used by 6 men from Scott’s Northern Party, who stayed there in 1912.  It is literally a cave, dug out from a snow slope.  Tomorrow we will try again for Coulman Island in the morning and Cape Hallett in the afternoon.  It sounds like a very exciting day.

Once dinner was over, Zodiac groups were organized and off we went.  It was a lovely evening with not too much wind.  Once ashore we had a fairly easy landing and managed to climb up over a boulder field and further up the slope to the ice cave.  The New Zealanders had erected a memorial plaque, in 1969, which shows the location of the ice cave.

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We awoke this morning to a lovely sunny day and with only a light wind, which meant we were good for a visit to the US McMurdo Station.  A schedule for the visit to McMurdo was in the daily program and the first group to fly would leave straight after breakfast at 9 a.m.  There was much excitement on board as we prepared ourselves.  The flights would begin at 9 a.m. with the last group returning from the Station at 5 p.m.  It would be a long day for the pilots as each flight took almost 30 minutes by the time the helicopters were loaded and then unloaded.  We flew across the almost completely flat fast ice until we came to Ross Island, where dark brown rock and scoria showed in patches through the snow.  At times, near tidal cracks, or grounded icebergs, we could see Weddell Seals lying hauled out next to their breathing holes, where they could enter the water to feed.  Apart from a few Skuas there was very little else in the way of wildlife.

Soon we could see the Station ahead of us.  A massive base, sometimes known as “Mac Town”.  For those groups visiting the Station, we were met by some of the base personnel as we landed on the ice and walked across a wooden bridge on to the gravel roads leading up to the buildings.  Two helicopter loads of 14 passengers, (2 groups of 7 per helicopter), were escorted around the Station by 2 McMurdo staff members.  This was not a Station where we were free to “walk where we wished”.  We saw through one of the science laboratories which also housed the aquarium section.  Only one small tank was currently being used, but at times we were told the large tanks can hold the enormous tooth fish found in the Ross Sea.
We also visited the Chalet, which is the building used by National Science Foundation and many took pictures of the bust of Admiral Bird standing amidst many flags.  Then came the most important part of the visit for many people – the shop.  They opened it especially for us and there were all styles of t-shirts and sweatshirts, hats, neck warmers, mugs, patches ….  The staff did ask us not to buy any toiletries, or food and drink items as these are in fairly short supply for the people living on the Station.

Obviously many of us had suffered from a lack of shopping, so soon the sales girls were doing a brisk business.  After our “shopping fix”, we had time to visit the coffee shop where we were offered tea, coffee, water and some snacks.  Then it was off to the McMurdo Station sign for more photographs and finally the Chapel of the Snows which is a beautiful little church.  Then it was time to return for our helicopter flight back to the ship.  For some groups the visit to McMurdo meant missing lunch, but Karl-Heinz and our chefs had hot soup and bread ready for us, together with a delicious lasagna once we climbed out of our outdoor gear and went up to the lounge.

As we had been given the choice, some passengers chose to visit Scott’s Discovery Hut at Hut Point instead of the Station.  This Hut was part of the Discovery Expedition, 1901-1904.  It is an interesting Hut to visit as it is made in the style of Australian buildings with an open “verandah” styled roof around the main building.  Once everyone was back on board, the ship slowly eased out of the ice.  Captain Pavel did an intricate three point turn and we were off north towards Franklin Island.  Everyone had really enjoyed the day.

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