RWSE Day 17: Bye Bye Gould Bay!

After our flight to Berkner Island, we grabbed some hot beverages and went up to the bridge deck.

The sea state was changing even as Ortelius gently moved around to facilitate the last of the heli ops. While the water near us was flowing, the further you looked out, the more glassy it was becoming. Reflections of the icebergs on the glass-smooth, clear water were more pronounced. Each change in the ship’s position — no matter how slight — was bringing out a heretofore unnoticed details. I have so many photos of two of the icebergs that it’s going to be near-impossible to pick the best.

The fog started moving in on one side, but the other side of the ship remained clear. As we were enjoying the changes, we heard that the zodiacs were being put in the water for the divers to go out for a dive. In the meantime, we’d be doing a ship’s cruise at a snail’s pace. My what a cruise that turned out to be!

The daily recap was moved to 6:30p … by which time the divers were back … earlier than expected as the fog was setting in and conditions were no longer suitable for them to take to the water.

EL Sara started off the recap by showing us a map of where we were and reviewed the plan for tomorrow. Essentially, we’ll be retracing our way back out of the Weddell Sea the way we came. It’s simply not possible to continue further west due to the big chunk of red on the ice charts indicating 10/10ths ice all the way to the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. I’d long ago given up on this part of the itinerary as that red area had not changed much since I looked at my first chart in January. Methinks we have several sea days ahead of us considering how far south we’ve dipped into the Weddell Sea.

We wrapped up the recap with EL Sara promising to wake us up — no matter the time — should liquid gold put in an appearance!Read more