Wednesday 02 March

Listen »

We are at 61.33 south, 86.41 degrees east and travelling well at12.3 knots. Just 565 nautical miles till Mawson. There is very little wind and a swell of merely a metre. This is smooth sailing.

Chris Brown in the ship's gym.

Oh joy! Kippers for breakfast again. And a lunch of almond encrusted Atlantic salmon followed by butterscotch dumplings. I checked out the gym today. We all talk about spending time there and there is a steady stream taking a turn on the rowing machine, the treadmill or the cycle. There are weights and punching bags and even a sauna on board.

Chris the biologist heading for Macquarie Island was on an arduous circuit, no doubt preparing for the challenging steep terrain and treacherous scree slopes he' ll be hiking. Some spend hours in there. At least I've had a look.

We are entering another world where very little is familiar. It feels at times troubling yet awesome and beautiful. When the sea freezes the transition will be complete.
Icebergs are common now. Great shards and cubes dot the horizon and when we pass close by the patterns of erosion reveal huge luminescent caves and cracks glowing ultramarine blue along the fissures. There are sharp lines where the berg has cracked and divided, then at water level they may be washed into soft, rounded forms.

The jade iceberg.

On the bridge this morning Tim the second mate spotted a'jade' berg. These are quite rare and distinctive for their opaque jade colour. This one was smallish and rounded like river stone. While no one is really sure, there is a theory that jade icebergs are formed on the bottom of the ice shelf where fresh water with algae in it has gathered and this causes them to go that colour. Some people spend years in the Antarctic and never see a jade berg but sometimes people see one or two around the stations over a winter. Seeing this is extraordinary.

Send Margot a question or a message in the guestbook »