On Leave

Hello All

On leave at last. I will treasure this rare occasion. Thanks to all the support. The next chapter is going to be very interesting with the end of the year being spent in Finland while the new ship is being constructed.

Watch this space.

Freddie

Day 13 : 23 March 2011

Hello All

The cut off low passed us last night causing heavy rain squalls with thunder and lightning giving the air an electric feel. It all cleared up just before midnight as we entered the cold sector with the wind backing very quickly from the NE to the WNW.

The effect of the Agulhas current was also felt with us having to apply 30° of set at times due to the current pushing us further south.

This morning the NW'ly wind is hammering us and the short steep swell is slowing our progress down quite significantly. Luckily we have some time in hand so this will not influence our ETA.

Have a good afternoon and see you in the morning.

Day 12 : 22 March 2011

Hello All

Well to be honest there is not much to be said of the previous 24 hours with the vessel steaming along very nicely with the wind from behind and a eddy pushing us along this morning to 13.5 knots.

We are starting to sea the effects of the Agulhas current now as the sea temperature shot up to 24°C, giving a very humid feel onboard.

The passengers are being kept busy by documentaries and presentations, but most are now just settling down to relax before the rush of day to day corporate life and the likes ashore.

Hopefully everyone ashore enjoyed there long weekend.

Have a good day.

Day 11 : 21 March 2011

Hello All

We have been sailing mostly in thick fog with very little wind ever since we left Marion. The going is very good....did we take the wrong turn off? :-)

Last night the fog lifted for a while, which allowed an almost full moon to lit up the sea as if it was twilight with the Southern Cross by its side.

We retarded clocks last night and are now on South African time again.

Enjoy your public holiday.

Day 10 : 20 March 2011

Hello All

When we left Marion yesterday we ran about 20 degrees off course to weather route and brought our course round this morning again as the wind veered to the north.

Conditions are good at the moment and we wish it to remain that way. The sea temperature has jumped about 3 degrees over night.

With a average speed of 11 knots so far we are holding thumbs to make our ETA for Cape Town at 08:00 SAST on the 24th of March 2011. Tonight we will bring our clocks back to South African time.

Have a relaxing Sunday.

Day 09 : 19 March 2011

Hello All

We completed another hours worth of cargo off loading and back loading during the afternoon yesterday and went back to anchor in Macaroni Bay afterwards.

The official handing over function took place on Marion Island yesterday evening and it was apparently a magnificent event.

This morning we wanted to start early with the flying back of passengers and cargo, but Marion Island weather had something else in mind again with winds gusting well over 40 knots.

At midday a break in the weather brought the winds down below 25 knots after which we completed all the passenger and cargo flights. We are heading back to Cape Town now and if all goes well will be able to make our required ETA of 08:00SAST on the 24th of March 2011.

Enjoy your Saturday.

Day 08 : 18 March 2011

Hello All

We remained at anchor for the preceding 24 hours with once again another front passing and the winds increasing over 40 knots with frequent rain.

The barometric pressure is rising continuously now and the weather moderating. We would start with cargo flying this afternoon and only be left with passenger flights tomorrow morning before heading back to Cape Town again.

Have a good Friday.

SA Agulhas SMIT Amandla Times contribution

The SA Agulhas returned to Cape Town from a gruelling SANAE voyage to Antarctica on the 16th of February 2011 after which preparations for her very important voyage to Marion Island started.

The vessel departed for Marion Island on the 10th of March 2011 with many dignitaries onboard, which included the Deputy Minister of Public Works, Me. Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, the Deputy Director General for Oceans and Coasts, Mr. Mondy Mayekiso and the Director for Antarctic and Islands, Mr Henry Valentine, to name only a view. The mission: To handover the finally completed, multi million rand, state of the art scientific base from the Department of Public Works to the Department of Environmental Affairs on the 18th of March 2011.

The construction of the base started back in August 2003 and all the construction material used to construct the base were carried onboard the SA Agulhas and flown off by helicopter to the Island. Only one voyage in 2007 was done without helicopters with boats and rafts used to transport NDPW construction personnel and the required construction material.

Many Officers and Crew onboard the ship has been involved with the loading and discharging of the new base material from the start and for them it is also a mission accomplished. The vessel will deliver a specially designed plaque that will be mounted in the base with the following words in addendum:

Marion Island Base Inauguration

18 March 2011

“A tribute from the SA Agulhas”

“Your each and every part was carried, through treacherous seas, in my belly and on my shoulders. You grew from a dream and through hope and perseverance, through blood and sweat; you were finally born an Icon. I will retire soon, but you will serve and protect many through the years to come. We wish you the best of luck” SA Agulhas Master and Crew

The vessel is scheduled to return to Cape Town on the 24th of March 2011 only to return 2 weeks later to Marion with the new year team, cargo, stores and fuel to sustain the island for another year. The next voyage will probably be the penultimate one for this ship to Marion with the new vessel due to arrive in Cape Town in April 2012.

The weather at Marion on arrival gave the passengers onboard the ship a glimpse of the hostile conditions the base was constructed in with winds gusting well over 60 knots and the squalls of rain at times including sleet and hail as two successive fronts made their way pass.

It is times like this that one can only be a proud South African."

Day 07 : 17 March 2011

Hello All

Yesterday the weather did not moderate and by 17:00 the afternoon flying operations were called off, with the next window only predicted for the next morning.

We had a early start this morning with the first passenger flight to the island leaving the ship at 07:30. By now many of the passengers are extremely anxious to step foot on Marion. The rest of the morning was taken up with the flying of the remainder of the cargo to the island. By lunch time we have completed most of the off loading and will continue again in the morning with some off loads and back loads.

For now the weather is good and we will probably be able to remain at anchor for the night.

Have a good Thursday.

Day 06 : 16 March 2011

Hello All

We waited in anticipation yesterday for the weather to moderate to a flyable state. This luckily occurred around 17:00 and we knew it was going to be a push to get the required passenger and cargo flights done before sun set, which was just before 19:00.

All in all a good days work with us getting done what was required. after which we anchored for the night in a favoured anchor position in Macaroni Bay.

This morning we were scheduled to do a round the island tour for the remaining delegates, but the swell out of the lee was considered to be to big for comfort and we stayed close inshore on the eastern side of the island, but still got to see some amazing wildlife.

We are now just stemming the strong north westerlies off the base waiting for the next front to pass before hopefully getting the very anxious delegates off to the new base.

Let us once more hold thumbs.

Day 05 : 15 March 2011

Hello All

We arrived last night shortly after midnight, surfing the Westerly swell into the protection of the Island.

This morning at first light we were close to the base, but conditions were nowhere close to being flyable with winds gusting over 60 knots and a view rain squalls bringing either rain or hail or both.

For now we are just heaving to the winds and bobbing up and down to the lee of the island playing cat and mouse with the Africana.

Have a good day.

Day 04 : 14 March 2011

Hello All

The temperature is dropping rapidly as we once again approach the Southerly latitudes of Marion Island. The front came through and even though we had a few prefrontal showers the wrath we were expecting was rather mild, perhaps the swell will still increase a little through the course of the afternoon.

We will be in Transvaal Cove by first light tomorrow and if all goes well the first flight to the island will be at shortly after breakfast.

Hold Thumbs for good weather.

Day 03 : 13 March 2011

Hello All

Yesterdays front was hardly felt on the ship as it went passed. The front passing later on today will be another story with its centre sitting at 968mb. The wind is gradually building from the north west and should persist while the front passes and later back to the south west.

Swell's of up to 7.5 meters are predicted for tomorrow afternoon, which might give the onboard media a better picture of what the roaring forties look like on a good day.

Bird life is increasing around the ship as we get closer to the Prince Edward Island group with our ETA remaining set for first light on the 15th of March 2011.

Have a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Day 02 : 12 March 2011

Hello All

Yesterday we really had a stunning day at sea with the outside temperature and sea water temperature matching at around 24°C with hardly a breath of air. A long, rather large swell built nicely after we finally left the Agulhas Bank with the current pushing the vessel south.

Several briefings kept all the passengers and media fully entertained with the required boot washing ceremony concluded this morning.

Our Noon average speed came in at a credible 12 knots, but tomorrow's average will probably differ due to the current dissipating and a rather fresh South Westerly building as the front is making his way passed.

Enjoy the Saturday and the Rugby.

Day 1 to Marion : 11 March 2011

Hello All

Here we are back at sea again after quite an exciting build up to this VIP/Construction voyage to Marion Island.

We are en route to Marion to finalise and officially inaugurate the new Marion Island research base, which has been under construction since 2003 and of which every part was carried onboard the SA Agulhas. It resembles quite a mile stone for the ship and for the SANAP program as a whole and we are privileged to be part of it.

Our tight onboard program and the program after arrival is packed with presentations and information from various fields while giving the onboard VIP's an overall look at the day to day activities of the ship and the island.

Our current ETA for Marion is AM on the 15th of March 2011.

Days 70 Arrival and Cargo work 17 February 2011

Hello All

Excuse me for sending yesterday's noon report only today, but the hive of activity prevented me from sitting behind the PC for long enough to complete it.

Well we are alongside now at East Pier and the first 3 heavy lift vehicles and 4 AWI containers has been discharged this morning with the rest going still this afternoon.

We estimate that cargo work will still continue until next week Tuesday with no Cargo work planned for the weekend.

It is good to be back even though the Cape Doctor is reminding us of its brute strength.

Have a good day.

Day 69 : 15 February 2011

Hello All

We are having a very beautiful day out here with the ships speed averaging 12.3kn for the preceding 24 hours. With this speed we are able to get into the bay by 23:00 and will probably go to anchor until first light before going alongside. This will at least allow members to dial their loved ones on their cell phones tonight.

Have a splendid day.

Day 68 : 14 February 2011

Hello All

We have had a good start to the week with only a few days left of this voyage. We managed a credible 11.8 kn average Noon to Noon, it is almost as if the vessel has smelled the stables and is now galloping in the final strides.

We had our Group Leaders meeting this morning and the feedback in general was quite positive with everyone successfully completing all the tasks set out to be done.

We all feel a bit overwhelmed by the sweltering heat with an outside temperature of 22.5°C, I wonder what we are going to feel like when we hit the 30°C mark in Cape Town.

Have a good start to the week.

Day 67 : 13 February 2012

Hello All

Yesterday afternoon we got hammered by a depression sneeking through quickly and pushing up quite a swell. Until midnight last night we had around 50 knots of wind with a 6 meter swell on the quarter as we maintained our course. The ship took it very well and we only made slight adjustments to allow for a comfortable transit.

Since then the barometer has been sky rocketing, providing the long last sunny day we were so hoping for. The swell still remains, but at least the wind is down and the sun is shining. Finally there are also no icebergs to report, which is a relief.

We are still awaiting the sight of some other vessels and will be expecting that towards tonight and tomorrow as we enter the shipping routes.

Have a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Day 66 : 12 February 2012

Hello All

We maintained a very good speed during the preceding 23 hours as the wind and current push us along. We advanced our clocks to GMT + 1 last night and will do so again on Monday night to arrive with the Ship time on SAST.

We are amazed to still see icebergs as we travel North East at 45°S. The seawater temperature is above 10 degrees and still we find icebergs...well there has been sightings of an iceberg reported from Cape Point years before.

There is another smaller front on its way pass now with isolated down pours observed from passing low level cumulus. I hope Cape Town has plenty of sunlight spare for us, since we have been getting very little and are looking forward to a nice sunny day.

Enjoy the afternoon.

Day 65 : 11 February 2011

Hello All

The visibility remained restricted the entire afternoon yesterday, but with only a few white horses from the wind the radar detection remained extremely good. We altered onto the 2nd last leg of the Good Hope transect last night after supper, but had to slow down for about an hour while the scientist recovered the UCTD.

We deployed a Weather Services buoy early this morning and are making very good progress. The weather outlook for tomorrow night is not looking to bright, but we will take it on the chin as see it as a farewell gesture from Neptune.

Our ETA has now been set to 08:00SAST on the 16th of February 2011, if all goes well we will see you then.

Enjoy the start to the weekend.

Day 64 : 10 February 2011

Hello All

Finally we made better speed during the previous 24 hours almost averaging 11 knots. The sea temperature is rising all the time as we pass the ocean front. Only one iceberg was detected by radar this morning, hopefully it will be the last.

Tonight, shortly after supper, we are expected to reach out northerly most point on the Greenwich Meridian after which we will alter more towards Cape Town on the 2nd last leg of the Good Hope Transect line.

Excitement for the arrival in Cape Town is now slowly building as we see the outside temperature also on an upward trend....hopefully we will not melt in the heat of Cape Town :-)

Day 63 : 09 February 2011

Hello All

We are still fighting a losing battle against the strong northerly winds, which is pushing our speed down as we travel north on the Greenwich Meridian while conducting underway scientific sampling throughout.

A smaller front approached again shortly before lunch suddenly surrounding the vessel with a thick fog bank, cutting our glimpse of the sun off.

We are still in bergy waters and are now looking forward to having ice free waters ahead of us. We are quite fortunate to have amazing bird life around the ship, which is increasing as we approach Bouvet Island. Several whale sightings are made every day.

Keep well and enjoy the midweek.

Day 62 : 08 February 2011

Hello All

The quarterly seas did not last long yesterday as the next front approached and the prefrontal precipitation started. By midnight snow would build up against the bridge windows and then fall down in sheets. Again we slowed down due to still coming across icebergs, bergy bits and growlers with darkness also in the mix now.

This morning it cleared somewhat, but by then the front was upon us and the wind came away strongly from the north pushing up a steep wind swell which affected our progress quite significantly. The wind is backing as we speak and hopefully later this afternoon we will be able to regain a better speed.

Keep well and enjoy the Tuesday.

Day 61 : 07 February 2011

Hello All

Snow, sleet and fog kept reducing visibility as the front came through with us having to slow down during hours of darkness due to reduced visibility in bergy waters.

This morning however we were very pleased too again have the sun on our faces. The sw'ly winds are pushing moderately with a 4 meter swell on the quarter making the ship more lively to what we are used to. A comforting feeling to some and a nauseating feeling to those who are still looking for their sea legs.

The average speed almost made 10 knots which is quite low but the result of the slow down during the night.

Have a good start to the week.

Day 60 : 06 February 2011

Hello All

We left Akta Bay with restricted visibility hooting and waving to the AWI personnel and the 6 members from the SANAE 50 team who saw the "red taxi" for the last time this year.

We thought we were completely free from ice while running north east to meet the Greenwich meridian at 68°S, but ran into some think ice at 03:00 this morning. The band did not last long and after heading north for a while it all cleared and we could get back to our course line.

We had to slow down again this morning due to heavy snow fall reducing visibility completely, but could luckily speed up again by tea time while we were doing the lifeboat drill.

Have a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Day 59 :05 February 2011

Hello All

How lucky are we, with all the cargo onboard and us heading back to Cape Town via the Good Hope transect line.

We worked late yesterday evening loading all the heavy lifts and flew all the SANAP guys back on, which only left the AWI containers for this morning.

This morning the swell still gave us a hard time against the shelf, but we managed to get all the cargo onboard and were finally backing of the shelf shortly before lunch and rang full away at noon.

At the moment we are still slow steaming while securing the cargo and setting up some of the scientific instruments. The fog and snow has closed up visibility, so we will take it slow while still in iceberg infested waters.

Have a good Saturday.

Day 58 : 04 February 2011

Hello All

Yesterday afternoon we were still unable to do any cargo work due to strong easterly winds blowing all the ice debris onto the western ice shelf with the swell breaking rough against the shelf.

This morning the conditions were much improved and we made our way to the working area shortly after 4 to evaluate the suitability to work cargo. The swell was still running about 1.0-1.5m up the shelf and the ice debris has not moved from the shelf, but we were lucky to find a area clear of larger bergy bits and could get 6 lifts on before lunch.

Titan also flew their gear on and if the conditions remain we will do the heavy lifts this afternoon.

Have a good start to the weekend

Day 57 : 03 February 2011

Hello All

Yesterday afternoon we made another attempt to close the ice shelf, but conditions proved to still be unworkable. We continued with our running standby with the poor visibility lifting only slightly from time to time.

This morning we woke up to a snow covered deck with conditions seeming slightly improved, but on further inspection of the ice shelf our glimmer of hope for working cargo today faded when we saw the swell against the shelf and the 3 large icebergs blocking our working area. The visibility was not much better with the contrast dismal making travelling on the shelf very difficult.

The weather predictions is looking more promising tomorrow, but what the swell will do against the shelf we do not know at this stage.

Keep you fingers crossed and have a nice day.

Day 56 : 02 February 2011

Hello All

Other than the daily CTD we did not manage to do much as we waited for the CAT Train to arrive at the Summer Station. They arrived last night and conditions were to be assessed this morning.

This morning the snow, swell and the presence of icebergs made conditions unsuitable for working against the ice shelf...to be honest the swell and wind wave were breaking up against the shelf like it would do against the Cape Town outer breakwater during the winter months strong North Westerly.

We will have another look at conditions after lunch, but are not very hopeful for operations today with the shelf not visible at 2 miles off due to snow and the swell predicted to be up to 3m. This could also cause crevassed sections of shelf to break away.

Have a good Wednesday.

Day 55 : 01 February 2011

Hello All

Yesterday afternoon we completed all the cargo backloading (6x20' Containers) that was available to be loaded shortly after T1 picked up more people from the SANAE Summer Station to bring them back onboard.

As predicted it started snowing during the afternoon and it has been snowing throughout. It was amazing how many of the SANAE personnel went straight to bed when they arrived onboard. Either the movement of the vessel is the cause or they are extremely tired from their activities at the base, which was hectic the last couple of days.

I do not envy the CAT train drivers out there in almost zero visibility with the new snow probably making travelling on the ice shelf very challenging...good luck to them.

Have a splendid Tuesday.

Day 54 : 31 January 2011

Hello All

Sorry for the late report today, but we were engaged in helicopter, and then cargo, operations after lunch today. Needless to say there is allot of activity today as all the SANAE passengers return to the vessel.

A team of drivers were landed on the shelf yesterday to set out to move the containers out of harms way and to a position where the vessel will be able to load them. While they were doing that we continued with pax flights to the vessel from SANAE and could even fit in a quick visit to the Neumayer Station during the afternoon.

Once all the flights were done we made our way up to B15b iceberg again to monitor its progress, but it seemed to have drifted further to the north and for now out of our way. We then completed our daily CTD and stood by the bottom of the bay for the remainder of the night.

This morning we opted for a very early start due to snow falls predicted from the afternoon on. Titan 1 was airborne from the ship shortly before 5 this morning with the outside temperature at a fresh -7°C. We then completed 4 flights to the ship, completing the pax flights at lunch time.

Have a good day.

Day 53 : 30 January 2011

Hello All

Well it is nice and sunny, but not quite the lazy Sunday we were expecting with a couple of large section braking away from the ice shelf and some almost broken away. This morning we inspected the area where some container were depoted to find that a crack was running along parallel to the ice shelf about 100m in front of the containers.

We also found that the area we were working in before has now changed completely and the flags marking the ramp area drifted out to sea. The large iceberg approaching the bay has not moved that fast and probably went aground on the shallower areas to the NE of the bay.

The first of 3 passenger flights landed on deck this morning with another 3 planned for tomorrow. We will try and get some of the containers onboard the ship while the CAT train makes its way down to Neumayer with the remainder of the cargo. Heavy snow falls are predicted from the 2nd onwards, so I think we might still be in for a couple of challenges.

Have a lazy Sunday afternoon.