A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 7 (Christmas Day in the ice)

Well, here we are dear reader, a week into my self-indulgent trip down memory lane. I hope you are still with me.  If this is your first visit to this site - please go back to Day 1 (HERE) and rejoin us when you have caught up. 

Christmas Day at sea - let's get into it...

Saturday 22nd December 2001 (Aurora’s Christmas Day)

at sea (66 Deg S, 110 Deg E)

Early tomorrow morning we arrive at Casey and work will start straight away on the jobs of getting fuel ashore to the Station and commencing cargo operations. December 25 will be just like any other working day, with too much work going on for anyone to take more than just a moment to celebrate the day. So we celebrated Christmas Day today, December 22 while we are still about 60 or so miles from Casey Base. For the same reason, a similar event was taking place in Casey as like us they celebrated early in anticipation of the work to come over the next few days.

The day began quietly with Aurora proceeding on her way through sea ice with an occasional iceberg drifting past on one or the other side of us. As the name suggests, sea ice is formed from frozen sea. It is generally about a metre thick, but this varies as the ice is formed and floes drift together. Icebergs on the other hand, originate from land ice. To this we can add all the variations such as growlers and bergy-bits, but more on this later.

Later in the morning, we gathered in the Mess Room to receive a briefing about the day and to listen to some of the things that our expeditioners plan to do during the week we’ll be at Casey. Mark told us about the team of three glaciologists who are travelling with him to Law Dome, an area about eight to ten hours travel by tracked vehicle inland from Casey and, as the name suggests on an elevated plateau. In this area, the ice is over a kilometre thick. Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) have been taking bore samples here which provide information on ice which is up to 100,000 years old.

By testing the sedimentary deposits, salinity and general composition of this ancient ice, we learn invaluable information relating to climate change patterns and conditions that have existed over centuries of formation of Antarctic ice. Other expeditioners told us of the work they are doing on mosses and lichen and its growth rate over many years. In the search for possible forms of life on other planets, the survival and growth of such organisms in an otherwise hostile environment gives tremendous information on what may be expected in these conditions.

Of course, the real highlight of the day was Christmas Dinner. Apart from those on watch-keeping duty, at 3 pm sharp, the whole of the ship’s crew and all the expeditioners sat down to one of the most magnificent feasts imaginable. Honey glazed leg ham, sirloin of beef, roast turkey and cranberry sauce, Moreton Bay bugs, Tasmanian crayfish, prawns, salmon, oysters all made for a banquet which would have gratified Neptune himself.

Toasts to family and loved ones were shared as well as to the skipper and crew, with the loudest cheer of all reserved for the catering staff whose efforts were magnificent.

At 5 pm we eased ourselves away from the tables and gathered under the Christmas Tree in the library to await the arrival of Santa and his elves, and what a great looking bunch they were when they arrived. Earlier, we had all participated in a Kris Kringle where we each put a small gift under the tree for a fellow traveller whose name we had each drawn from a hat.

It was an excellent way to share the pleasures of giving and receiving without knowing the giver’s name. Although the logo on the caps might have been a bit of a clue to the guys who received our gifts!

As the evening progressed the next significant event was the auction run by ship’s captain, Tony Hansen. I mentioned in an  earlier entry that Aurora’s crew have adopted Camp Quality as their sponsored charity. Ship’s bosun, Per gave us all a personal account of the crew’s continuing involvement with this wonderful organisation which has for over 40 years dedicated itself to improving the quality of life for kids facing cancer. 

This was no ordinary auction – the items being auctioned were all the same – hair! Wintering Station Leader, John Rich started the ball rolling by offering his hair and beard for $1,000. John is one of those quietly spoken, gentle men with a Lincoln-like demeanour and a wonderful statesman-like beard which he told us, his wife had never seen him without. The money was quickly raised, and Elvis arrived complete with star-spangled overalls and dark glasses. To the tune of Blue Suede Shoes, John was rapidly transformed into a chrome-dome. A succession of candidates followed including second cook Mark, with his Frank Zappa locks and krill lady, Angela whose transformation from yesterday’s Queen Neptune to today’s Sinead O’Connor was a sight to see. All together about a dozen lined up to be sheared and the next morning at breakfast we suddenly had a whole group of new faces to get used to.

The evening was topped off for me by the most beautiful Antarctic evening I could have imagined. As midnight approached the sky which had earlier in the day, and generally throughout the voyage been quite overcast became clear and unclouded. The sun drifted toward the western horizon and stayed just an outstretched hands-width above the ocean’s edge. It was a great sight to watch Aurora’s shadow stretching to the east and reflecting from a nearby giant iceberg while the sea shimmered like a lake. A great end to another magnificent day in one of the truly great spots to be on Earth.

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 6 (Neptune visits)

 If you are reading this for the first time and haven't been following from the beginning - please DON'T! 

Kindly go back (HERE) and read my introduction and journal entry for Day 1 and hopefully we'll see you here soon.

Our days were getting busier - but we were getting closer to our destination and were about to enter the sea ice.  Read on...

Friday 21st December 2001

At sea (63 Deg S, 113 Deg E)

Tomorrow is the official longest day of the year and will be Aurora’s Christmas Day. We will be arriving and setting to work at Casey on the 25^th, so it has been agreed that this year, Santa will make a special early trip to our little part of the world. If tomorrow is anything like as long and eventful and enjoyable as today has been, then we’re in for a treat.

Most of us retired early last night – the ship was taking quite a beating and so were we. We had been experiencing severe gale conditions most of the day and many folk retired to their dongas to ride out the poor conditions.

At around 0200, the sea started to get calmer and by 0230 we were in a sea that was nothing more than a gentle swell. We were approaching the sea ice and by 4 am we were in the thick of it. What a spectacular sight. All day we have made our way through ice which at various times covers from ten to fifty per cent of the sea. It’s difficult to do justice to the scenery by simply writing about it. I’m sure much better poets and literary artists than me have tried and failed.

It is like being on another planet. We have all seen before, on countless documentaries the shapes and the shades of white and blue, but to see it for myself is like nothing I have experienced before. Little wonder that people keep coming back.

At one stage during the day, from horizon to horizon I was able to see majestic shapes of giant icebergs, looking for all the world like mountains, ocean liners, and city skyscrapers. Occasionally a small group of seals would stare at us from their ice floes as we passed and from time to time, we saw the odd minke whale.

Later in the morning we participated in a lifeboat drill which required all members of crew and expeditioners to muster on the helideck in full survival gear, complete with lifejackets. The drill went without a hitch with expeditioners responding immediately to the seven short and one long blast from the ship's siren over the intercom system. 

A couple of hours later, Yann and I sat in our cabin reviewing our video shoot of the drill. Our cabin door was open and we may have had the volume on the playback just a little too loud. It was a little embarrassing when two or three irate expeditioners, in full survival gear, complete with lifejackets arrived at our door having responded to what they thought was a second drill. Somehow I don't think we'll be allowed to forget this!

Following the safety drill, we carried out our krill trawl. Angela and a team from AAD are here to collect live krill samples (hopefully a few thousand) and carry out studies which will help us further understand these remarkable little creatures. Krill is like a tiny shrimp, as big as your little finger and abundant in the Southern Ocean. They are the main feedstock of most of the Antarctic animals including whales, seals, penguins, birds and fish, yet little is known about them. Many of us gathered to observe the activity on the Trawl Deck as Angela and her team, under the guidance of the Chief Mate, lowered a huge net which Aurora slowly trawled for about 15 minutes. We did this twice, but today’s catch recovered a few jellyfish, some squid and a several tiny fish and worms, but sadly only two krill. We will try again at Casey if time and weather permits.

The highlight of the day’s activities occurred later in the afternoon, just before dinner. To a fanfare of blaring conch horns and drums, King Neptune with his Queen and entourage entered the house  – and what an entourage it was. With a team of fearsome enforcers looking variously like Incredible Hulk, Angry Anderson and Zaphod Beeblebrox (complete with two heads), Neptune and his stunning Queen made their way into the E Deck Mess. Here Voyage Leader, Greg humbly beseeched His Majesty to make welcome those first-time travellers who had entered his Antarctic Domain. There were about 15 or 20 of us, including officers, crew and expeditioners who were venturing for the first time – or in the case of the second mate, had been getting away with coming down here for years without ever once getting caught.

My French colleague, Yann was singled out,  being held accountable for a long list of Gallic transgressions ranging from the Moruroa Atoll and the Rainbow Warrior incidents to the Davis Cup. Yann was sprayed with water pistols (filled with gin) and painted with Vegemite. He humbly apologised on behalf of the entire French Nation and was eventually admitted to the Frozen Domain after kissing the feet of the beautiful Queen and her fearsome King. Bad as this might have been, I believe the worst treatment was saved for the little grey-haired guy from the waste company who somehow managed to carry the responsibility for 100 years of human activity in the Antarctic Region. Since I was the last to be seen by His Awfulness, it seemed they had nothing else to do with the rest of the ice in the bin they had but to put it all down the front and back of my shirt. I think it will be a week before I manage to get all the Vegemite out of my hair.

The ceremony concluded with a sumptuous barbecue on the Trawl Deck attended by all expeditioners, officers and crew who weren’t on watch. There really was no better place to be on the planet.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day...

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 5 (first view of the ice)

Please remember, if you're reading this for the first time, stop and go back to the beginning HERE.

Otherwise welcome to Day 5 on our Antarctic saga...

Thursday 20th December 2001

at sea (61 deg S, 125 deg E)

We’ve had the smooth and now we’re getting the rough. It is as if having been granted smooth passage through the furious fifties, we’ve had to make up for it in the shrieking sixties. We crossed the 60th parallel at about 1230 and the barometer fell rapidly.

The big excitement of the day, however, was the iceberg sighting. The first one was spotted this morning at 0230, which ended the ice raffle and raised $150 towards Camp Quality when Ian, one of the meteorologists on the way south for his fifth winter donated his prize. However, since it was at half-past two in the morning, not many people other than Jake the second mate who was on watch at that time, were able to see it. It wasn’t until a little later that morning that we got to see the object for which we had all been waiting.

At about 10 am, a bunch of us were clustered around the bridge when the skipper drew our attention to a blip on the radar about 10 miles dead ahead of us. As we got closer, it loomed out of the mist on our starboard side. It was a monster, looking like a big white rocky island with cliff faces on all sides and waves breaking against it. It was at least 40 or 50 times the size of the ship, like a massive silvery-blue Gibraltar drifting ever so slowly in a northerly direction. It was so close that we could make out the discolouration from some organism, algae maybe, on its upper parts. It was a spectacular introduction to this great south land and filled us all, especially the first trippers with great anticipation of what was to come. We saw another two or three as the day wore on, although most of them were too far away to see their features and were nothing like that first spectacular sight.
After this, the weather deteriorated and by later afternoon we were heading into the teeth of a strong gale with winds of 35 to 45 knots and six to eight metre waves crashing over the bow and occasionally going straight over the top of the bridge. By early evening, our speed was down to six or eight knots as we diverted course slightly further south-south-west to get into the sea ice earlier and provide some calmer conditions.
This would be a good moment to mention the ship’s bridge and the attitude that the officers and crew of Aurora have toward the expeditioners. The bridge is without a doubt the congregation point; and all the officers and crew without exception, make their passengers welcome throughout the voyage. As an old ship’s engineer in a former life, I will always remember that the engine room is the real heart of a ship. This is where you will find the thrust and the muscle and the energy needed to get us to our destination – but the bridge is where the decisions are made; where the eyes and ears see, and the voice communicates. Little wonder that during my own sea days, I would spend as much time that I could on the ship’s bridge, rather than down below in the artificial light of a hot and noisy engine room.
Captain Tony Hansen has been a most gracious and informative host to us all. No question is too inane or pointless and no request for information is too much trouble to answer. Yet throughout this his officers and crew go about the task with an air of professionalism of which the ship’s owners and the Australian Antarctic Division can be justifiably proud.
I haven’t had a chance to talk more about the scientists today. Angela is our krill expert who will be collecting them as we approach the ice edge. Tonight’s krill fishing has been postponed due to the poor weather – more about this tomorrow.