Saturday 4 March 2006
Setting Sail
The shadow of the ship against the ice shelf at N9.
On Monday the second wave of passengers and cargo arrived at N9. After unloading the sledges we waived them off for their long drive back to base. We were expecting to see them one last time, as the ship was planning to sail round to one of the closer Creeks the following day to give them a proper send off.
Waiving off the last of the winterers. The convoy of sno-cats in the distance are ready to be driven back to base.
Unfortunately we woke on Tuesday to fog, snow and bad contrast, which looked like it would prevent the winterers from travelling to the coast. So instead the ship turned North and I stood out on deck to watch the ice shelf fade quickly out of sight.
The ice shelf fading into the fog.
We sailed through thin, recently formed ice for the rest of the day, but that night we hit bad weather that left most of us struggling to find our sea legs. After a queasy first day I started taking the sea sickness pills which helped quite a lot - at least I'm now able to sit at a computer to write this.
We are due at South Georgia on Monday - if weather and work permit I'm hoping to find time to climb Mount Hodges, a nearby peak that gives spectacular views of South Georgia on a good day.
Posted by simon at 6:24 PM | Feedback (4)