On 08December, Justin and Terry walked the last quarter mile across the sea ice and onto the Antarctic Continent.  The first visit for both of us.  We are on the road used to drive from the station to the ice.     We walked around the station and did a brief site survey of the… Read More

On the 8th of December, the Araon reaches its closest approach to Jang  Bogo station and docks in the ice.  We are about a half mile off shore, and there is a small iceberg stuck in the sea ice almost between us and the station. The full list of daily waypoints are located in this… Read More

We crossed into the Ross Sea around 04 December and Tera Nova Bay around 06 December, encountering ever thicker ice as we proceeded poleward.   At first, the strategy was to navigate around to find thin ice.  This is the job of the Ice Pilots.  We had two of them, from Russia, and one was on… Read More

On 02 December, we crosses the Antarctic Circle.  We are no longer virgins to the southern polar region! We won’t see darkness until we come by this way again in February. There was a party afterward….  … Read More

It is on Day 5, 01Dec14, that we encounter our first sea ice.  And then soon after that, our first seals and penguins. Somewhere around 62 degrees south latitude. The ice is light and at this time, and the penguins are fun to watch. The internet on the ship can be intermittent. Amazing that it… Read More

Days 3 and 4, 29-30 November, were uneventful.  Smoother seas were welcome.  The only notable item was that we sailed across the international date line, from 180 degrees East to 180 degrees West.  So while the ship’s clock reads New Zealand time, we are actually are a full day earlier.  Something only a true geography… Read More

29 November 2014 is our second day at sea.  At 13:00 ship time, the same time zone as New Zealand, our position was 51.93 degrees south by 177.1 degrees east.  The seas calmed down a bit, which is a huge relief.  We can’t really go outside on the deck, especially in rough seas, so its… Read More

We shoved off the dock around 13:00 local time on 27Nov14. It took this big blue tugboat to get the Araon away from the dock and headed out to sea.   On the way out of the harbor, we had several encounters with Hector’s Dolphins playing in the wake of the ship.  They were too… Read More

The RM Araon is the 360ft long ice breaker that will take us from Christchurch to Jang Bogo station.  It will be our home for 10 to 12 days, depending on when we actually leave and the sea conditions.  Terry knows nothing about ships and is not a water person, so this portion of the… Read More

On a trip like this, where we literally can not afford to “miss the boat”, we have to show up a couple of days early to work the inevitable contingency plan.  And this was no different, there was a foul up getting our stuff out of customs.  But it is one of those “Hurry Up… Read More