Wednesday 30th January 2013

Yesterday afternoon we successfully transferred the 29 tonne excavator to shore and the 25 tonne crane to the ship. It was a tense moment for all and a relief to complete the heavy lifts safely without an incident. We also transferred live marine samples to the ships aquarium laboratories for transport back to Hobart.

With the weather forecasted to deteriorate we packed up the ship and moved 10 nm off shore last night with the plan to return to Davis first up this morning. The sail out was surreal with flat calm ocean and sea mist covering the huge bergs in ice berg alley. I took some amazing photos of the bergs and sea ice and of the sunset around midnight before going to bed. Keldyn was out there too and man was it cold, our fingers, noses and ears where frozen. The weather forecast was spot on and we have been riding out the strong winds out in the open ocean and it has given us a chance to sleep in and relax for 24 hours. I got my washing done, changed my sheets, cleaned the bathroom and watched a couple of movies. The current plan is to sail back into Davis early tomorrow morning to complete the re-supply as the following three days weather is forecasted to be good, and then depart Davis mid-afternoon on Saturday 02 February bound for Mawson.

@ 14:00 UTC (9pm local)

Speed 3 knots

Heading NE

Roll 3 degree

Pitch 3 degree

Depth 300 meters

Water temp -1.10 degree

Air temp -0.50 degree

Wind E @ 41 knots

Lon 77.54E & Lat 68.56S

All these photo's were taken on the way out from Davis

 

 

 

 

 

Ever seen a penguin surfing ?

 

 

This photo was taken on the way back into Davis blowing 45 knots