That's More Like It!
THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!
We left Casey Station late afternoon on 24th Feb, the same day that we arrived. We had excellent weather for the helicopters to unload personnel and equipment so it took less time than expected. While we were waiting to depart we noticed the sea water around the Nuyinas' hull was beginning to freeze in the sub zero temperatures. The sea ice doesn't suddenly just freeze but it morphs through various stages of which I read about in a document provided by an Italian Sea Ice Scientist on board who gets very excited about... sea ice. There are about 8 stages of sea ice according to the document but several are very hard to detect and some I couldn't be bothered distinguishing between ( mostly the ones that describe its deterioration ) so I will list the most notable according to me. Dr Google with have further info for those keen to discover the detail.
Stage 1 Frazil Tiny crystals form on the surface of the sea.
Stage 2 Grease Ice The crystals from thin sheets of ice that appear like a sheen or grease on the water.
Stage 3 Pancake Ice The ice forms into roughly circular "Pancakes" and thicken.
Stage 4 Solid Sea Ice The pancakes freeze together and eventually form a solid mass of ice which can be three or four metres thick.
Stage 5 It melts Eventually it warms up and ... melts. Yes there is more but I can't be bothered.
Left:
Frazil is furthest from the hull with the pancake ice obvious against the hull.
Above: Grease and Pancake ice on the surface as we leave Casey Station.
We headed for Davis Station now, about five days sailing away. The sea ice developing at Casey seemed to disappear for a few days but by the 27th Feb we began to see more solid ice and eventually it covered the entire ocean for as far as we could see. This was definitely more like the Antarctica we were expecting to see! The Nuyina came to a complete stop after pushing its way through sea ice that appeared to be up to 50cms thick. Apparently we had been cruising along using the secondary engines, but now with the ice becoming thicker it was time to connect the real power so we would not be struggling to get through. While the sea ice was sporadic the animal numbers were consistent but as the solid ice came to cover the ocean the numbers dropped as penguins and seals had no way of getting into the water through the ice.
We did see a couple of unfortunate Adelie penguins launch themselves off their respective ice berg "ships" and gracefully dive into.... ice too thick to break through. They shook their heads and ran around trying to find some water. Several times the Nuyina had to change course slightly so as not to run over a flock of penguins or a dozing seal on a lump of ice as they refused to move over for the intruders in the big orange thing.
Above: An Iceberg "Sailboat" in sea ice two days out from Casey Station
Below: Nuyina pushing through sea ice at night
Above: Bergy Bit glowing blue near Casey Station
As we neared Davis Station we began to see more and more icebergs with "Jade" ice in them. Scientists aren't totally sure how it is that the green Jade ice forms but the latest theory is that it has something to do with the iron content of the sea water freezing. All I know is that they look pretty much spectacular and each time we came across one the Nuyina would tilt to the side of said Iceberg as all the expeditioners and crew raced to that side to get their award winning photos. Some icebergs are totally composed of this Jade ice but we haven't yet seen one of those.
Above: Two unusual icebergs with "Jade" decorations
Rather than the sea ice being solid it came and went quite quickly. Sometimes it stretched as far as we could see and then suddenly we came to the edge of it and returned abruptly to open ocean again. Then it was back to spotting normal boring icebergs. It doesn't take long for special things to become boring unfortunately. But we did have clouds clear up and the sun came out... which has been a rare thing over the last two weeks. End result was then a spectacular sunset.
The day before we arrived at Davis Station we noticed a wall of ice on the horizon. At first we assumed that it was simply the coast or one of the huge glaciers that live on the coast. Eventually someone handed us a satellite photo of what we were actually looking at. This was Iceberg number C18B ( which my finger is pointing to below ) The size of it is apparent in the video that hopefully will load for you under the photo. The really mind boggling thing to note is that the iceberg C18B in the video is huge.. but compare it to the other two in the below photo D15A and D15B. It is possible that these two behemoths are as big as some small European countries!!
Below: The beauty of this place is undeniable!
Above: Iceberg C18B .. boggles the mind!
Above: Davis Station
We eventually arrived at Davis station on the morning of Feb 29th. A rare sunny day greeted us to the view.. which I had to confess was a bit uninspiring. The summer had left the rock around the station bare and harsh and not particularly inviting. Apparently Davis Station has the reputation of being the "Riviera" of the Australian Stations, but in the absence of any sandy beaches etc I wasn't particularly disappointed to move right along that afternoon and be finally heading for Mawson!
The next few days were relatively uneventful as the sea ice disappeared again and the Southern Ocean was in a good mood with swells only 2-3 metres... we hardly even notice those heights any more.
Then at 5:13AM I was woken by a message from one of our Plumbers ( who has a habit of getting uo very early each day to go to the gym... there is one on board Nuyina ) which said " I can see our new home!!" Sure enough after breakfast 2 hours later ( I wasn't getting out of bed... Mawson Station wasn't going anywhere I figured ) we could see a tiny mast on a brown smudge in the distance which turned out to be the wind turbine at Mawson. In the background were some seriously spectacular mountains and a huge ice plateau.
But getting to station would have to wait. The Katabatic winds coming down from behind the station were blowing at a leisurely 45 knots (83 Km/h ) and did not slow down until mid afternoon. This is apparently quite normal for Mawson as cold air from high up in the Antarctic mountains rushes down to sea level in the morning. So we waited around some more which is qute normal for us all now. To fill in the afternoon we took the opportunity to take a tour of the Nuyinas' engine room which we had been wanting to do since we left Hobart.
The tour was impressive to say the least with so much equipment, pipes, cable going in all directions and making us wonder how on earth it was ever installed in a manner that allowed it all to fit in. But the stars of the show were undoubtedly the two huge 14 cylinder Rolls Royce diesel engines that are the main power train drivers of the Nuyina. Perhaps it was just the Rolls Royce plate on them that got me but I was impressed.
So perhaps I can now say I have been driven around in a Rolls Royce
for a couple of weeks at no cost to me!
Above: Mawson Station from a distance..Framnes Mountains in the background.. and below a bit closer with the ice plateau behind.
By the end of the day with all the catch up things going on due to the wind we resigned ourselves to another night on Nuyina. Tomorrow will bring the beginning of the next chapter in the adventure... on continental Antarctica.
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