Log Entry No 17 - 18th Jan 08. (Discoverer)

FROM THE CAPTAINS CABIN

To quote my mother, during a birthday telephone call: “Where are the penguins?”. I’m afraid that, like garden sparrows at home, penguins are so common that they pass without mention. As the average leopard seal eats up to 30 a day, perhaps it’s just as well they’re so numerous. So, Mum, here’s one of the crowd:

Adele penguin.

The mountaineers and the geologists report that all is going well for them on the Reclus Peninsular. Clem’s boys hope to reach the summit of Mt Johnston before the week end, and Dick’s rope will be collecting piles of rocks for us to ferry back to the Falklands. We’ve had the most fantastic weather since Tuesday, with scarcely a cloud in the sky and the barometer is slowly climbing up from the depths.

On board Discoverer, we’ve had an exciting and varied time. It started with a terrific sail down the Lemaire Passage on a beam reach, touching 11 knots at times, picking our way carefully (well, as carefully as we could!) through the ice floes. It was there, during that telephone call to my Mum, that I had to shout “Avalanche” to the gang as a huge fall of snow slipped into the ocean nearby; that produced the expected reaction 9,300 miles away in Great Malvern!

Happy skipper.

We spent the night back at Vernadsky, moored alongside a beautiful Australian yacht “Blizzard” owned by David and Hannah who operate commercially out of Hobart. We enjoyed a very productive chat about possible moorings further south, which reminded me of the ancient seafarers swapping directions “turn left at the sea weed, when the ocean turns blue”.

Next morning we had huge difficulty slipping out into the Grandidier Channel; the usual access passage was jammed solid with ice bergs, and the secondary access was barely passable. However, once out of difficulty, we were surrounded by towering bergs and the usual (by now, so boring!) Hump Backed Whales playing in our wake. It was time to turn south into that part of the chart labelled “unsurveyed territory”, broken up with the occasional mention of “numerous rocks” … hmm … well it’s exciting! In a windless day, we pushed on out to the South West to moor in Johannessen Harbour, Snodgrass Island. It’s obviously a place that is now very rarely visited for the wild life is hugely curious. Rob H was driven to distraction when a leopard seal gave “Burdock”, the inflatable, a testing nudge.

Today, we’ve pushed on south a further 45 miles to 66 deg S, through the most amazing scenery, again rarely visited. The charts are vague to say the least and the scenery stunning. As few of the many rocks are charted and ice bergs abound, the helmsman has to concentrate fully. A sudden decrease on the depth gauge is enough to set the adrenaline flowing.

Now we’re safely snugged up in Mutton Cove, which is an incredibly secure little creek. With no suitable chartage, Meryon went ahead of us on “Burdock” to test the depth:

Meryon swings the lead.

A pair of skuas, protecting a nest, spent an hour dive bombing us, but now exhausted they’ve retired to a nearby cliff top, leaving us to celebrate Geordie’s birthday in peace.

Well, that’s it from 66S. The passage further to the south looks pretty jammed up. I’m conscious that whilst it may be possible to push on at present, things would be very alarming if the wind got up. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

With best wishes from us all.

Andy Mills