Peter Kinsella's Antarctic Voyage Diary
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Tuesday 23rd January 2001, Campbell Island ( 52° 33.0' S 169° 09.7' E )
Despite heavy rain and very strong winds (15-20 knots) from the north west, we managed to make a landing on Campbell Island at about 0930 hours. It was very dangerous getting off the ship into the Zodiacs during rough (windy) weather. The Zodiacs rise and fall some 3-4 metres and it's difficult to get from the ship's ladder into the boats.
Once on land we walked 3 kms up a very steep hill to where hundreds of royal albatross, numerous shags and giant petrels were nesting and lots of skuas circling overhead to grab the eggs and/or the chicks. At the peak of the island the winds were gusting up to 70 knots (enough to knock you off your feet ) On the way back down the island we ran (actually) into our first seals . A young male sea lion bailed us up on the track back to the jetty and it was obvious he knew it was his island . There are no permanent inhabitants on the island and you can see why . Today was considered a good day and the weather was at 8° with average wind speeds and rain !!
Vegetation was low scrub and stunted tress but lots of colourful ferns , lichens and mosses etc . The island is also known for its mega-herbs , some of which can be eaten and taste like celery As we got back to the ship, some wind gusts of up to 70 knots started to come through from the next low front . We set sail about 1300 hours for the long leg to Cape Adare hopefully our first landing on the continent . Fairly rough this afternoon in the 50’s latitude with winds up to Force 10 velocity.
A cold/flu was getting around the ship, so that evening we invented a hot drink which included : vegemite, hot water and rum. For obvious reasons nobody else liked it, however it helped keep the cold at a reasonable state and assisted us in sleeping.
Wednesday 24th January, Southern Ocean. ( 57° 01.0' S 167° 59.2' E )
Today was another rolling day at sea. The ship rolls almost constantly because as an icebreaker he has a heavily reinforced hull and a very rounded bottom. The most frequent wind direction has been west producing beam seas. The captain was still tacking a bit to improve the roll comfort, and our maximum roll angle from vertical so far today had been 35° We moved further south towards the 60th parallel and the Antarctic Convergence which is where the cold polar waters dive beneath the warmer northern waters. This shifting zone is, and was, marked by fog banks and has a significant change in water temperature. This area has nutrient-rich waters which supports a great concentration of life and is food for the whales.
The swell was much lighter in the afternoon and surface wave action was down to about 3-4 metres so life was much more comfortable . Everyone on board had finally beaten the sea-sickness problem and started to focus on our expedition destinations. All are now listening intently to the lectures being given by the expedition leaders on subjects which include history of Antarctic, exploration, penguins, birds, subantarctic islands and weather. Tomorrow there is a prize for the first sighting of an iceberg and a great whale. So far all we had seen at sea were a few penguins and seals near Bluff and Stewart Island and heaps of sea birds (albatross, petrels and mutton birds). Whale spotting so far has been difficult due to the sea conditions..
Thursday 25th January, Approaching the Ice. ( 62° 09.1' S 168° 11.8' E )
Today, sea conditions had improved greatly to about 2.5 meters but confused . Nobody claimed the prize for first the whale or iceberg sighting (the iceberg had to be at least the size of the ship). However we were now seeing lots of penguins and seals on the ice in front of us as we pushed through their "homes".
Since now we were in calmer waters (the ice settles the sea down) we had briefings on helicopter operations and the code of conduct for Antarctic visitors. Both were mandatory to attend. These were followed by a very interesting lecture by Dr Doug Thost (Aussie) on icebergs and sea ice. A history of the world climate change is possible by analysing ice cores up to 4600 meters long from the Russian Vostok station and this corresponds to a time span of 420,000 years. Doug’s conclusion from his studies is that the world’s climate is warming and that this is against a normal cyclic trend governed by the earth’s position in relation to the sun.
A quiet day at sea mainly watching and identifying the bird life around the ship. We were always (other than rough weather) allowed onto the "Bridge" and talk with the captain and his officers about where we were and what course we were taking. It was very interesting to follow our trip on the captains' maps and to be aware of how far south we were each day. Each ten degrees represented about 600 nautical miles . So when we were at 60 degrees and were heading "hopefully" to as far south as any ship had been at 77 degrees, then we had around 1020 nautical miles to go before we got there. That's about 1840 kilometres.
Everybody on board had caught the cold/flu, including me. In the evening we attended the captain’s cocktail party and dinner in slight seas with periodic fog patches. A great time was had by all , so we partied on until late. At 5 minutes to midnight we spotted our first iceberg (position
approximately 65° S). It was a small one by Antarctic standards.There were two other ships in our general vicinity (within 1000 nautical miles). The ice is very thick near the Ross Sea and McMurdo Sound so these ships could not enter McMurdo even though one was an ice rated ship. The other was a fishing vessel who wouldn’t even attempt to go any further than the start of the ice . This meant we were the only vessel capable of getting to McMurdo this year apart from the US icebreaker which is based at McMurdo during the 3-4 summer months .