Report from Mark McRae

29 January 2009

A Burger (Ice Burg) King store must be here somewhere in the Southern Pacific Ocean.

Our night was spent keeping watch for ice burgs. During the night we passed approximately fourteen ranging in size from small ones the size of football fields to massive lumps of ice perhaps a mile long.

It was difficult to judge accurately because of the darkness and most importantly the very heavy fog that surrounded us. Visibility was restricted to perhaps one hundred meters. Thank goodness Alye Parusa has a sophisticated radar system.

As the sun rose this morning the horizon about us was filled with a new bunch.  A brilliant morning, the sky above a fabulous blue, hardly  a cloud to be seen. Of course this shows off these ice blocks to their true majestic beauty. Last night we had to navigate within five hundred meters of a very large burg. As we got closer and closer, as the fog lifted for just a moment, it revealed a very ugly, gnarly, grumpy, cold old man. At night they look simply terrible. But this morning in the brilliant sunshine words are difficult to find to describe their incredible beauty.

It is interesting that when we sailed South, into the fifties we did not see a burg until 50.57S and of course there were many the further South we sailed but now heading North to escape we are finding more and more. As if this belt of Ice Burgs starts at 156.52 West and heads to the East with burgs close to the Forties.  We will continue to observe and note positions as we continue.

Otherwise life on board, apart from being incredibly cold and damp, is great.  Our gas supply is getting low, mostly because of the extended duration of this voyage. One cup of tea every second day really makes you appreciate a warm cuppa.

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