Fri
28 Feb
2020

We have rea­ched the core area of our voya­ge, McMur­do Sound, the heart of the Ross Sea.

But, alas, the timing appears to be bad. A strong low pres­su­re moves over the Ross Sea area and the coas­tal zone of low winds in McMur­do Sound that the fore­cast had pro­mi­sed tur­ned out to be non-exis­tent. No chan­ce to get ashore as the winds are raging from 25 knots upwards to more than 50 knots. We pass Cape Royds and Cape Evans, Hut Point and McMur­do Base and even Scott Base – the sea is com­ple­te­ly open as far as that! Unbe­lie­va­ble; that does cer­tain­ly not hap­pen every year. But it is alre­a­dy start­ing to free­ze over again. The tem­pe­ra­tu­re is around -12 degrees and grey stripes of grease ice are all over the waves.

mcmur­do soand (gal­lery):

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

Cape Evans

Fresh ice crys­tals forming in stor­my waters.

Scott's Dis­co­very-hut at Hut Point near McMur­do Base.

True wind speed (TWS) in the upper right cor­ner.

Fri
28 Feb
2020

The wea­ther in the Ter­ra Nova Bay area is not exact­ly gre­at today. No chan­ce to make a landing on Inex­pres­si­ble Island, whe­re Scott’s nor­t­hern par­ty spend a mise­ra­ble win­ter in 1912 and whe­re Chi­na is curr­ent­ly pre­pa­ring for buil­ding ano­ther sta­ti­on (gre­at! Ano­ther sta­ti­on! Ant­ar­c­ti­ca needs more sta­ti­ons! Chi­na only has four sta­ti­ons, they do need ano­ther one! And the­re are only three sta­ti­ons so far in Ter­ra Nova Bay, the­re has to be a fourth one! For­gi­ve me for get­ting slight­ly sar­ca­stic here).

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

We pass the Ita­li­an Mario Zuc­chel­li Base and later we get a glim­pse of the Ger­man Gond­wa­na Base. Then we find a litt­le bay that pro­vi­des enough shel­ter for a love­ly litt­le Zodiac crui­se, with ple­nty of Wed­dell seals, Adé­lie pen­gu­ins and some good sce­n­ery. The view is clea­ring up towards the evening.