One Last Day at Sea … and We Arrive in Bluff

Monday, 9 February 2015
Bluff, New Zealand
Current Position: 46°35’ S / 168°20’ E
Temps: 52F (11C) @ 7:30a (UTC +12)
Total Distance since Ushuaia: 6,225 NM (6,871 miles / 11,058 km)

The deepest principal of human nature is the craving to be appreciated.
William James (Philosopher)

Overnight, we left the Furious Fifties behind for the ‘calmer’ waters of the Roaring Forties.  You could have fooled me ;-)  Yes, the skies were blue when we woke up.  Yes, the sun was shining bright and warm.  But the Southern Ocean continued to make its presence known, with long, deep swells moving Ortelius along.

The Battle for Campbell Island: We Lose … the Weather Wins

Sunday, 8 February 2015
At Sea — Southern Ocean
Current Position: 50°43’ S / 168°48’ E
Temps: 49F (9.5C) @ 7:30a (UTC +12)
Distance Since Ushuaia: 5,971 NM (6,871 miles / 11,058 km)

Eternity is a terrible thought.  I mean, where’s it going to end.
Tom Stoppard, British Playwright

It was 5:45a when Don woke us up to say the ship was about to enter Perseverance Harbour.  All righty!

We hopped out of bed, pulled open the shades — and sighed.  The fog was thick; the day incredibly dreary — not what we had hoped for, but not unusual either.  We figured we would wait until later to take photographs of the inlet and proceeded to get dressed for for the day ahead.  Fifteen minutes later, inside the harbor, there were white caps on the water still.  Hmmm!  This didn’t bode well for our plans for the morning.

Across the Southern Ocean to Campbell Island

Friday, 6 February 2015
Southern Ocean — off Campbell Island
Current Position: 52°55’ S / 169°19’ E
Temps: 41F (5C) @ 7:30a (UTC +12)
Distance Since Ushuaia: 5,733 NM (6,597 miles / 10,617 km)

Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do.
Mark Twain [Questionable Attribution]

After a night of rockin’ and rollin’, we woke up to more of the same this morning.

Even as I write this, the winds continue to rage in the 50-knot (58 mph/93 kph) range, and the ship’s motion on the ocean is quite lively.  It’s been like this for much of the day.  When he returned from a quick trip to deck 3 aft this morning, Mui described the waves as being “mountainous.”  An apt description that I confirmed later when I went out and saw the action for myself.

A Wild Day Crossing the Southern Ocean

Thursday, 5 February 2015
At Sea — Southern Ocean
Position: 56°49’ S / 169°52’ E
Temps: 41F (5C) @ 7:30a (UTC +12)
Distance Since Ushuaia: 5,496 NM (6,325 miles / 10,180 km)

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

Overnight Ortelius left the Screaming Sixties and crossed into the Furious Fifties.  By most definitions that means that we have left the Antarctic behind.  Another thing — we had one and a half hours of darkness last night.  Can you believe it?  After weeks of nothing but daylight, the sun actually set for a while.  And the further north we travel, the longer those periods of darkness will become.

Expedition Day 28 — no longer in Antarctic waters.

Continuing Across the Southern Ocean

Wednesday, 4 February 2015
At Sea — Southern Ocean
Position @ 1:30p (UTC +12): 62°02’ S / 170°41’ E
Temps: 39F (4C) @ 7:30a (UTC +12)
Distance Since Ushuaia: 5,117 NM (5,890 miles / 9,477 km)

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
Oscar Wilde

A surprisingly calm ocean today — and this in waters that are notoriously stormy.  Very little wind as well — certainly not the norm for the Screaming Sixties.  Our luck couldn’t possibly hold, so I spent most of the day on deck to take advantage of Mother Nature’s weather gift to us.

Expedition Day 27 … we’re further north than indicated here, but I neglected to visit
the bridge to take my final reading for the day before changing into my jammies for the night.

North of the Antarctic Circle

Tuesday, 3 February 2015
At Sea — Southern Ocean
Current Position: 64°58’ S / 171°13’ E
Temps: 33F (0.5C) @ 7:30a (UTC +12)
Distance Since Ushuaia: 5,003 NM (5,757 miles / 9,265 km)

There are forty kinds of lunacy, but only one kind of common sense.
Swahili Proverb

After spending three weeks below the Antarctic Circle, we’re north of that imaginary line again!  We’ll actually have some hours of darkness now ;-)

Woke up to overcast skies this morning … snow flurries, visibility of less than a ½-mile, and ocean swells that were noticeably rocking Ortelius.  A few people were on the outer decks; a few were in the bar or the bridge; most were chilling in their cabins I think.

Mui and I put on Scopolamine patches — mostly because we knew that the windowless lecture hall, located on deck 3 forward, is a seasickness-inducing kind of place when the ship is rocking and rolling.

Expedition Day 26 — rockin’ and rollin’ across the Southern Ocean.

Last Ice: From the North Ross Sea to the Southern Ocean

Monday, 2 February 2015
At Sea — Southern Ocean
Current Position: 69°10’ S / 172°01’ E
Temps: 36F (2C) @ 7:30a (UTC +12)
Distance Since Ushuaia: 4,749 NM (5,465 miles / 8,795 km)

The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.
John F Kennedy

The party must have raged late into the night … there was no wake up call this morning.  Or Don, just didn’t set his alarm ;-)

Today was our day to go through the last bit of the bridge team’s nemesis — sea ice.  The ice charts have been notoriously unreliable on this trip.  We found ice where there was supposed to be none.  We found open — or relatively open — water where there was supposed to be heavy ice.

The helicopter crew takes advantage of a day at sea to do maintenance on the choppers.