Day 25 At Sea - Life's Bounty

Tues 31 January 2023

Another day at sea! Although there is not a storm, the Southern Ocean is still reminding us who is boss. Wind speed is 65km/hr and the waves are almost as high as we encountered on the way down (6m vs 8-10m). We are travelling in a different direction to the waves though so we are getting a lot of pitching and rolling. Through out the night there were all manner of bangs and crashes, and that horrible feeling in your stomach when you go up on a wave and then hang, waiting to come down. It is getting warmer though – now above zero and we hope that we can reach Campbell Island tonight ready for our excursions tomorrow.

We stay in bed longer than usual this morning, and when we get to the restaurant we are asked to take our seats and they will serve us. No reports of further crockery breakages (yet). We certainly have to hang on when walking around the ship and Anne managed to make quite an entrance this morning as she sat on a chair that then slid across the floor.

Bryan’s lecture this morning is about ‘Living and Working in Antarctica as a geologist’. It is based on his time there over nearly 50 years (about 3 years total spent in Antarctica) and he shows us more details of the tents and rations, transport options etc. He also snuck in a picture of a glacier that had been named after him in recognition of his work but it was only when I asked if it had been named after him that he acknowledged that.

Richard has a lecture on his interviews with 3 of the remaining Ross Sea party but I decide that a read/snooze is a better option given the ship movement. Similarly Bryan has a rerun of his Rock Workshop after lunch that I miss as well.

I do attend Aaron’s presentation on Heritage Expeditions: – the history of how his mother & father formed the company and the evolution of the ships and the expeditions they offer. There are so many new ones that I would definitely love to go on (perhaps find a lecture series that I could offer in exchange!?)

Then we have another Quiz on the Ross Sea – our team does pretty well but not well enough to win the prize. It is great entertainment though and some of us stay afterwards talking for some time – solving the problems of the world. We also get the sad news that the unexpected strong winds/waves have been slowing us down considerably and we are still 300 nautical miles away from Campbell Island so at this point it seems unlikely that we will be able to visit there as planned. We all have our fingers crossed that something may still be possible.

Samuel was due to speak after dinner on overwintering at Dumont D’Urville Station but he will speak tomorrow – being replaced by a documentary film on Conservation in the Ross Sea. I decide that bed and a book is more preferable tonight.