Breaking through the pack ice into the Ross Sea was far from a foregone conclusion. Aurora’s previous trip in January had not managed to do so, and we spent an extra couple of days battling this ice ourselves, venturing as far east as the dateline and using helicopters for recce flights before we found a path through. Once through and into the Ross Sea’s polynya, a recurring area of open water, our battles were far from over. Fast ice around the coast would challenge our attempts to approach some of our desired destinations sufficiently close for either Zodiac or helicopter landings. [View Full Entry]

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Hallo allemaal. Allereerst bedankt voor al jullie reacties, leuk om te lezen! We hebben ondertussen twee sneeuwstormen overleefd maar nu is het weer koud (-15C) en zonnig. Na een dag in het ondergrondse winkelcentrum (30 km (!!) winkels en eettentjes) hebben we een film gekeken op Imax formaat, The Spiderwick Chronicles, een sprookjes film. In deze bioscoop waren wel 20 zalen maar druk was het bepaald niet. Toen we uit de film kwamen werd duidelijk waar alle Montreallers waren... thuis. We kwamen middenin een sneeuwstorm, nog nooit zo iets gezien! Sneeuw tot knie hoogte en autos moesten uitgegraven worden of ze [View Full Entry]

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The crossing back lead us into an early false sense of security. Day one was beautiful - sunshine, calm seas and penguins swimming around us to keep us entertained. This lasted most of the night and we slept well. Sometime after breakfast on the second day though it started to change and the swell gradually increased. By mid afternoon we were riding 33 ft waves(!!!) which duly resulted in most of the boat retiring to their cabins feeling rather unwell. Phil, Dad, Julie (Calaforian new found friend) and I sat it out in the dining room - it was really quite [View Full Entry]

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To set the scene… Our trusty vessel, the Marina Svetaeva, was an ice-strengthened 1989 Polish-built, Russian-registered 90-metre passenger ship, recently acquired (previously leased) by Aurora Expeditions. While not an icebreaker, she was, effectively, only half a grade away, and we can certainly now vouch for her ice-bashing capabilities in the careful hands of her skipper, Kapitan Gena, and his Russian crew. In addition to the forty-odd crew, there were about twenty mainly-Australian staff and lecturers to look after our gastronomic, intellectual and logistical needs, from cooking and running the bar, to manning the inflatable landing craft, Zodiacs, and co-ordinating helicopter flights, [View Full Entry]

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Finally the time has come for me to write the final instalment of this seasons work here on the Brunt Ice Shelf at Halley Research Station. I left you previously with the update written while we were waiting out the storm which ended up keeping us cooped up inside for just over 4 days. Day 1 was great, a chance to chill out and relax, catch up on emails, watch a film and generally do nothing for once. Day 2, similar scenario, braving the weather each meal break walking down the rope line so as not to get lost. Visibility [View Full Entry]

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Deception Island is made up of the rim of a volcano which is hidden under the surface of the water. We arrived very early in the morning in the twilight and the mist. Our first stop was in Whalers bay where until 1931 the Norwegians had a whaling station, it was quite eerie seeing the old whaling boats, buildings and large whale oil tanks appearing from the mist. We took a walk along the bay and up the ridge of the volcano from where we could see out to the open sea. The highlight of the stop though was seeing numerous [View Full Entry]

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Today we took our first steps onto the actual mainland of Antarctica. In slightly higher winds, it was pretty cold despite our ridiculous number of layers. Here we saw a few fur seals, some skuas and gulls, and yet more penguins (not that we were complaining at all - the penguins are brilliant fun). The beach had thousands of small Bergy Bits (that is the technical term, trust me) which was a sign that this part of the sea was starting to ice over. In the coming weeks, the entire routes through which we have come, will be sheet ice. Here [View Full Entry]

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Living in the Antarctic Another day, another thousand penguins. This morning we took the zodiacs to Port Lockroy which is both a large penguin colony and also a British base used as a secret wartime initiative to monitor German shipping movement. (The war even reached as far as far as the continent of ice!). It is now a small museum, post office and shop rolled into one - where 3 British researchers (doubling as postmen, and shop assistants) come out to stay for the summer months. It’s quite a surreal place as there is literally no other human habitation around these [View Full Entry]

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Penguins galore AMAZING! What a truly spectacular, fantastic, awesome penguin party! Today we landed twice on the continent of Antarctica - firstly on Danco Island and then on Curverville Island in the afternoon. Arriving via zodiac onto Danco Island was unbelievable. There were simply thousands of penguins upon the hills and down to the rocky beach. Words don’t do the scene justice - the place was entirely unspoilt and the penguins completely uninhibited by our presence - it was really special. [View Full Entry]

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Antarctica. The windiest, coldest, highest, driest continent on this planet. The amorphous and largely-ignored white bit at the bottom of the map. The last place on Earth to be conquered by man. The obsession of near-legendary explorers such as Scott, Shackleton, Mawson, Byrd and Amundsen, and the death of many who sought to push the boundaries of man’s survival. A land of 24-hour daylight in summer and incomprehensible endless night in winter. Penguins, seals, whales. And all a very, very long way away. This was always going to be totally different to any other travelling I’ve ever done: long periods at [View Full Entry]

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