Arrived at Davis!

One day short of 3 weeks travelling to Davis! 3 of those days doing only 3nm crunching the ice just outside Davis. The ship is still about 2nm from the Station, close enough to do the resupply though. I walked from the ship to the station across the ice this afternoon for my first time on the Antarctic Continent! Weather was beautiful but soon turned ordinary very quickly about an hour later.

I mostly enjoyed my time on the ship. The first couple of days were beautiful, but the weather and seas got gradually worse over the next week. I was pretty much bed ridden for 48 hours and managed to sleep most of that time, awaking only for meals. Yes, amazingly I did not lose my appetite! After taking some Avomine (sea sickness tablets) I gradually got used to the 6-8m seas. Once amongst the ice, conditions were fantastic.

Progress was a lot slower than I expected with the ship backtracking a few times to look for a better route amongst the ice. Occasionally we found areas that had too much snow on top of the ice, which slows the ship considerably. The weather wasn't that suitable for the helicopters to fly until just the last couple of days. This gave me the chance to do my job for the very first time.

The meals on the ship were awesome, with many people probably putting on a few pounds! There was also various entertainment to keep all occupied and stop the boredom. Amazingly most of the way there was also plenty of wildlife to see. This included birdlife including Petrels and Albatrosses. It is truly amazing how far these birds fly! There were also whales (minkey and orcas), seals (Ross, Leopards..including a female which had just given birth to a pup!!) and plenty of penguins (Adeile and Emperors etc.)

I think all the new expeditioners are happy to be finally on the station and doing some work. After a quick tour/induction of the station this afernoon, I was thrown in the deep end and shown the ropes of the job.

By my next post I will finally be able to post some long awaited photos of the trip so far.