Saturday, January 19, 2008

sitrep 19/01/08

Sitrep 19th January 2008

Weather summary:

Partial cloud cover, with bursting through the gaps. The ocean is like a lake this afternoon.

Today's activities:

After completing all the station stops towards Dumont D'Urville, with plenty of time to spare, the French have decided to travel once again down to the Mertz Glacier to deploy one last mooring that they were unable to deploy in rough conditions last week. The heavy piece of equipment required a ramp to slide it off the back of the ship, so the only two chippies on board, Jon and I, happily lent a hand making up a timber structure to perform the task. This will be the last stop for their marine science program, and there is talk of a party of sorts this evening on board.

We are now on our way to Dumont D'Urville, and should be there Sunday morning, the deadline to leave the French base in Tuesday 22nd. Once their cargo operations are complete and we are steaming away from the Antarctic coast, clear of any ice, we should get a good idea of an arrival date back in Hobart.

In the meantime there is plenty of stunning coastline to enjoy between Mertz Glacier and Dumont D'Urville.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader Mawson's Huts Foundation

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

good on ya . ya aussie working blokes . keep up the good work ya chippies .