Thursday 5th January
We passed 40 degrees south this morning so the weather can be expected to get worse as we've entered the 'roaring 40's'...

We saw our first whale today, it was probably a humpback but it is very rough so it was hiding in the waves a bit. I've not been seasick at all which is a blessing, and just as well as Paul (our team leader) and I have been training up 4 new whale observers and this means that we haven't had any time off at all! Its very quiet so far, not too many birds or whales, but I hope that will all change soon.

Apparently, we may encounter the Japanese whaling fleet at a point that we will be transecting through later in our survey. At this point all we can do is keep a look out for ships on the horizon. This emphasizes to me the value of our whale surveys.

Friday 6th January
The excitement of today was a Barau’s petrel sighting. We had 3 following the ship! Although I have to admit that there is no way I could have identified it, we are incredibly privileged as Barau’s petrel are extremely rare, there being only 3000 birds in existence.

Saturday 7th January
Weather conditions hampered our sighting effort again today, with rough wild seas up to a sea state 8 and cold strong winds. We saw pilot whales this morning, close in abeam of starboard. We only saw them surface a few times but a rorqual popped up amongst them at one sighting. Pilot whales are known for their association with other species, and this was a first for me. Later in the day a pair of dolphins were briefly seen off the same side, close next to the ship. I can’t wait for the weather to improve so that we get more than a fleeting glimpse!

Sunday 8th January
I woke up tired and grumpy at dawn (04:00) and the weather reflected my mood. It was grey out and the wind was strong and gusting. My top bunk squeaks and creaks when the ship rolls at a particular angle, and I didn’t get a good night's rest. The Chief Officer, Chaz, who’s on his first visit down south, offered me a cuppa. This cheered me up no end – as did the resight of a wandering albatross that had been travelling with us a couple of days ago. But it didn’t improve the weather and so despite my enthusiasm to get on full survey effort out on the monkey island, its simply too windy and sloppy out and we were restricted to 2 person surveys on the bridge.

The weather calmed a little as the day wore on, patches of blue appeared in the sky and my mood lifted. We have seen some pilot whales and an unidentified dolphin today. We are now heading directly south and have just crossed the Polar Front (we are at 50 degrees South) and the bird numbers have picked up. We have seen crested and king penguins in the water and more flying birdies too.

Monday 9th January
Today we encountered our first iceberg! The bridge and the port side of the ship was alive with people with camera’s around their necks, awing at the berg as the 3rd Officer, Andrew, took us slightly off course for a closer look. We also crossed the Convergence (at about 52 degrees S).

Tuesday 10th January
We are currently crossing the productive Banzare Bank and so it wasn’t much of a surprise when we glimpsed a fishing vessel at 07:00 with lines set to catch precious Patagonian toothfish. We could barely make them out with our binoculars through the fog. We made brief radio contact with the vessel and continued on our way.

My first black browed albatross of the voyage has spent his afternoon with us, circling the ship, flying high over head and then from side to side behind us with the smaller prions and cape petrels. I was very pleased to see him but we have been at sea for a week before having such an encounter. Black browed albatrosses are most severely impacted by the impacts of illegal, unregulated and unreported long-lining in the Southern Ocean.

Currently we are amongst a bounty of icebergs of all shapes and sizes. It really feels like I am returning to Antarctica now. And I can’t wait for the adventures ahead.

For more information on Patagonian toothfish and seabird bycatch in the Southern Ocean, you can visit the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) website at: http://www.asoc.org

Back to Antarctic 2006