Peter Kinsella's Antarctic Voyage Diary
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Friday 26th January 2001, Approaching Cape Adare.
( 67° 45.3' S 169° 21.7' E )There was fog, south east winds to 10-15 knots and outside air and water temperature of -1°C. The sea was calm today and there were small icebergs dotted everywhere . The old ice was iridescent blue. So far there had been no whales . Today, Tim and I had a sauna and swim.
Today was also Australia day and I managed to con an Australia Ensign from the crew which they use when in Australian waters. I asked our Expedition Leader (Verner) if he could get the chefs to do something Australian for dinner. They were great and responded by having an Australian menu. The meals were the same as usual however named …....baked barramundi topped with barbequed scallops, The Great Aussie pork steak with Pumpkin Damper and Coonawarra sauce, Aussie outback vegetable lasagne, etc.,etc. Everyday, the lunch and dinner meal consisted of :- a soup and a choice of three main meals described as explorer, ocean & vegetarian (this made it easier for the Russian waitresses to understand what we were ordering). Then there was a magnificent dessert of some type. There were always fresh fruits, assorted cheese with crackers etc. The food was some of the best I've ever had and it wasn't too rich. It was cooked on board by two Austrian chefs who cooked and served with the help of the fantastic Russian waitresses in all weather conditions .
The night went well as we (16 or so Aussies) had a few drinks, sang a few numbers (guess who stirred them all up ??) and generally let everybody on board know we were proud to be Aussies. We also got the waitresses to sing a song or two. From that point on everybody knew we were mad Aussies!!! It was a great night.
Straight after our Australia Day dinner we hit pack ice. The icebreaker then showed its superb form in ice which would stop dead and break all other ships . It just brushed aside and cracked the ice as though it was thin pieces of glass . Our speed dropped from 14 knots to 7 knots but he just kept ploughing on as he cracked the ice sheets 30 metres across and 2 metres thick. At 2300 hours in broad daylight, we got some photos of the ice and we saw minke whales, adelie penguins and fur seals. The view of the ice was indescribable but after 3 hours on the bow at -10° C, we retired to the bar about midnight for some hot vegemite with rum and a couple of other drinks and then bed. We were now only 40 nautical miles from Cape Adare.