Thursday 10 February 2011

Sailing in the storm


Our morning started with sunshine. During the night we reached the Antarctic Sound where we planned a landing in Brown Bluff. To reach this place we had to cruise between amazing tabular icebergs. The tabular icebergs are drifting with the main current and the wind from the Weddell Sea into the Sound. The scenery was so spectacular, that most passengers were standing in the bow or in the Observation Lounge. After a while the wind picked up and then we got a real storm, more than 35m per second. The sea-spray was flying over the ocean and against the sun you could see even rainbows in the sea-spray. With such a wind it was not possible to land in Brown Bluff and the Captain and our Expedition Leader made the decision to cruise with FRAM in the direction of the Weddell Sea. So we could watch the wonderful landscape and the tabular icebergs more intensively. Around lunchtime we saw Humpback Whales again. They showed their fluke very often, so that we got several possibilities to make good photos.


In the afternoon we enjoyed the lectures given by our experts from the expedition team. We always try to get as much information as possible.
In the evening we passed through the Nelson Strait into the Drake Passage. This was the moment to say good bye to Antarctica, although we wish to stay longer.
After dinner we met for a question round with our officers in the Observation Lounge and got the answers to all our open questions regarding the ship.