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.