Polar Radar for Ice Sheet Measurements

Sunday 29 October 2000
Gordon had been planning on going ashore for a while this morning to say goodbye to a few people but changed his mind at the last moment. Work continued to prepare the ship for sea. Temperature was around minus 20 all day, and in the afternoon at about time the boarding passengers came back it was quite windy making it very cold indeed. The helicopters flew onboard at 1500 and 1530 and were lashed down for the next leg of our journey. Last passengers aboard about 1615 and at 1645 we started to make our exit.

Leaving Davis and the fast ice was a fascinating experience – see the special report "Getting out of Davis".

Well, that’s Davis done. We are now 31 expeditioners only plus the 21 crew compared with a total of 103 when we left Hobart. The restaurant is unbusy and now there is no problem or embarrassment at sitting in one of the observing chairs on the bridge for hours on end reading or just looking. Unfortunately the paper work is still needed and it is quite hard concentrating on a keyboard and a complex spreadsheet trying to tidy up a manifest of the cargo load on the ship now. Aiming to get that done by Monday night, and then turn our minds to the Mawson operation which will be ‘in a few days’.

While the ice may seem daunting in today’s SITREP -10/10 new ice and ridging - we are making quite good progress but do bump and sway about.

Keep well out there!

Monday 30 October 2000
We stopped for almost five hours overnight due to darkness, poor visibility and snow showers. Onboard programs continue. The Observers have sighted many Minke and Humpback whales in this area.

Gordon tidied up a lot of his paperwork including manifesting all the cargo we are taking back to Australia from Davis – see the special report "Cargo from Davis".