All at sea for 2 days en-route to Macquarie Island

Days 7-8.  Friday & Saturday 17-18^th  January – At sea en-route to Macquarie Island

Noon position: Latitude 51^o13.226 South; Longitude 165^o49.090 East           

Air temperature: 8^oC, Water temperature: 11^oC

Once we had left the shelter of Adams Island and Carnley Harbour the sea became very rough and this worsened as we made our way towards Macquarie, a journey of 360 nautical miles. By mid-morning we were experiencing 7-8 m high waves which often broke over the bow and bridge windows. The horizon came and went as the Spirit of Enderby handled the viridian coloured sea at 7 knots in a 20-35 knot south-westerly.

 We spent most of the time on our bunks dozing, reading, listening to my IPod (music or Science show) or doing Sudoku (Drew) or cryptic crosswords (both). We struggled up to the Bridge several times a dayto see the view of the sea from horizon to horizon with huge waves, hand over hand on the staircase balustrades, holding onto the railings along the corridors and then bracing ourselves against the instrument cabinets when we got there. Drew went for one tumble, flying from one side of the Bridge to the other when the ship lurched. Several other people had falls but nothing serious luckily. We learned to move only during the lulls between the big waves. It was worth being on the bridge to see the magnificent albatrosses, including a large Wanderer which stayed around the ship, taking advantage of the air currents to glide up and down the waves with its wing tips gently brushing the surface. Several pods of hour glass dolphins were sighted. By 7p.m the chart showed us that we were over 4000 m of water. Somehow the galley still managed to provide lunch and dinner for the few of us still with an appetite. 

Albatross

Photo: Katya Ovsyanikova:       Hour glass dolphins

Saturday 18 January Noon position: Latitude 53^o 13.207 South; Longitude 161^o 29.9 East           

Air temperature: 9^oC, Water temperature: 10^oC. Fog, with occasional light rain.

The next day was a bit calmer below a blanket of cloud. With better conditions the ship was doing 11.2 knots. At 8am we were over the Emerald Basin with a water depth of 3700-4000 meters There were fewer birds since they like the rough seas, with a lone Wanderer keeping us company. Rodney announced that our ETA (estimated time of arrival) for Macquarie Island was 9 pm and that the latest ice map indicated clear water which should benefit our entry to the Ross Sea and McMurdo Sound. Kerry Packer’s yacht, Arctic P, from Hobart carrying 12 passengers and a crew of 25, had just left Macquarie Is.

Other bird life we saw included (in addition to several species of albatross), Northern Giant Petrel, Cape (Pintado), White-headed, White-chinned and Mottled Petrels. We were still over the Emerald Plateau with water about 4000 m deep and the ship rolling to 10 degrees. At noon we had 104.4 miles to go. At 4.30 Rodney gave an excellent lecture on Macquarie Island, covering history, geology (the island sits on the Australian/Pacific plate boundary), wildlife, pest eradication and the landings we hoped to do over the next few days. We were fortunate to have retired NZ geologist, Jane Fergusson, as a passenger, who told us more about the origin of the iron and magnesium rich (ultramafic) rocks that had formed about six kilometres under the Earth’s mantle and have been pushed up; one of the few examples in the world of oceanic crust above water.

Excitement mounted in the Bridge as we debated how far off we would be able to see our first landfall for several days. The misty rain did not help, and when we eventually made it out through the mist at about 7 pm, its cliffs were already looming quite high in the sky. The strong westerly wind did not allow us to anchor safely inshore so the ship steamed up and down the coast all night, while we slept.