New Harbour: Zodiac Cruise & Play Time On an Ice Floe

Thursday, 29 January 2015 (part III)
Off Cape Royds — McMurdo Sound
Current POSITION: 77°34’ S / 165°49’ E

After a wonderful morning during which we enjoyed great wildlife sightings  from the ship and a heli flight over the fast sea ice to the Dry Valleys, the day continued to treat us well, giving us an opportunity to do even more in the afternoon.

We were starving by the time we returned to the ship from the Dry Valleys, so we headed to the dining room immediately.  There was plenty of time before our turn to go for a zodiac cruise, which we were actually hoping would be delayed until later in the day as the orcas had by this time moved on.

In the end it was about 2:30p when the call came for us to join Group G at the gangway.  We queued up, went down the steps, and into one of the two boats awaiting us.

A two-fer … for our two modes of transportation …
Ortelius nosed up to the sea ice; a helicopter returning from the Dry Valleys.

There were still a few orcas around, but not in such numbers as this morning.  Rather than actively feeding and diving, they were lazily swimming around.  I enjoyed the closer encounter from the zodiac, but the sightings from the ship remain my best ones of the day.

Ready, set, shoot — with cameras of course … but I think I will
wait until we get a little closer to the orcas to start clicking.

Our zodiac cruise included disembarking onto a nearby ice floe — a piece that had broken off the fast ice where the ship was nosed in.  Hopping off the boat and onto the floe took a bit of agility, and the surface being ice was slippery and required being careful with our footing.  But what fun we had.  With a couple of Adélie penguins to keep us company, we walked around for a bit … sat and lazed for a bit … enjoyed the calm, sunny day … and the grand landscape in every direction.

This South polar skua takes off as our zodiac approaches the floe, …

… but the Adélies are unperturbed by our presence.

Standing on an ice floe floating in McMurdo Sound on a gorgeous day.
[Forgive the fisheye effect on this and other photos of me taken with the GoPro camera.]

Glad to have an opportunity to take this photo of one of the choppers landing on an ice floe;
as you might imagine, I couldn’t take a picture of us when we did a similar landing earlier.

As a safety measure, our drivers — Gill and Rolf — must
remain in the zodiacs while we are playing on the ice floe.

If Rolf can do it on a zodiac, I can strike a similar pose on the ice.

Then it was time to head back to Ortelius.  Knowing that the ship would be leaving New Harbour once all zodiacs were recovered and helicopters were tucked away, we were reluctant to let our driver point the nose of the zodiac toward the ship.  On the other hand, we knew there were exciting things yet to come — possibly even today — so like good soldiers, we obeyed Gill’s request that we re-embark the zodiac for a slow and lazy cruise back to the ship.

Why is everyone looking glum?  Could it be because we have to return to the ship?  Partly.
But mostly we’re just trying to get some relief from the incredibly bright sun we’re facing.

The last chopper returning from the Dry Valleys begins its descent to the
helipad even as our zodiac nears Ortelius.  As a safety measure, we have to
wait until the helicopter is on the pad before we can approach the gangway.

From New Harbour, the ship repositioned back to Cape Royds as part of Don’s plan to “hang out” in McMurdo Sound for possible additional activities.  The weather continued to be lovely, so Mui and I found ourselves a bench on deck 7 for a while, sipping hot beverages and enjoying the calm, warm”ish” conditions — such a rarity in Antarctica.

A cup of hot chocolate on a beautiful Antarctic day … what a treat!

Unfortunately, once at our destination, the zodiac recon came back with the news that the ice was still in and a zodiac landing was not possible.  Much as the pilots would like to have flown us there, they were tapped out from a full day of flying and “had” to take crew rest per regulations.  Bottom line, we will hang around overnight and keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow morning — our final opportunity for a landing at Cape Royds to visit another historic hut.

A two-fer of us from a different perspective.

At least we still have that bit of hope to hang onto.  Something we are especially grateful for since we also found out this evening that neither McMurdo Station (US) nor Scott Base (NZ) are able to “open their arms” to welcome us.  Even though I am disappointed that we can’t visit, I understand the reasons behind the decision and don’t blame them for not wanting us underfoot.

We are here at what is a very busy time of the year for the personnel.  At the moment, the supply ship is at the McMurdo ice wharf unloading provisions for the teams that will be overwintering.  In conjunction with that, the science teams that will be leaving — reluctantly, I might add — are wrapping things up and packing up for departure.  Add to that, the fuel ship that is waiting in the wings to replenish fuel stores before the ice becomes an impenetrable barrier.  I was talking to fellow-passenger Reedie earlier and he said that it seems quite late in the season for all this activity to be taking place, and that in their shoes he would have been quite anxious.  He ought to know — he served two tours of duty at McMurdo as a helicopter pilot.

Taken by and posted on Wikipedia under Creative Commons License to freely share with
attribution … the work of Gaelen Marsden.  (original image in this Wikipedia article.)

As I finished up this post in my quiet corner on the deck outside our cabin, Cape Royds came into sight.  I walked up to the bridge deck, where I managed to get a glimpse of the roof of Shackleton’s Hut — tantalizing us with what may come if the weather holds tomorrow.

P.S.  By the way — the flashcard reader went kaput this afternoon.  I am not a happy camper; especially since the spare I brought is missing in action as well … may have been in the bag of cards, etc. that got mislaid in a sightseeing van on a shore excursion in South America.  Luckily, others on the ship use similar devices, Rolf being one of them.  He has kindly offered to lend his reader so I can do daily downloads of my pictures to the laptop.

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