1 February - At sea - 2 degrees Celcius - 63 degrees 23 minutes South

Crossing into the Convergence (below 60 degrees South) has made all the difference. Now it is proper cold.

It was a quiet day, but the late afternoon and evening was packed. First up, Dad and I saw our first whale standing out on the deck. It was just a fin and a spume of water, but they are obviously lurking out there, so I hope to send some photos soon.



Secondly, we have started to see icebergs. I got some nice shots of a couple of massive tabular bergs in the evening. I hope the fog and cloud clears so that we can get some photos of them with the sun reflecting off. On the horizon, you can start to see "iceblink" which is patches of light on the dark horizon, indicating pack ice or icebergs. Before the radar and satellite technology that we use now, this was the most effective way to navigate through the ice.

Thirdly, we were told that during the night we would be crossing 66 degrees South. This is the Antarctic Circle boundary. Apparently there were "traditions" to perform, so we were to come to the aftdeck when we got the call during the night.

Finally, as we are making good time, we are expecting to arrive at Cape Adare about 2 am on Saturday morning. Because the sea ice can come across and block the Zodiacs at anytime, we may get a call to kit up from 5 am on. I am really looking forward to hitting the continent proper and it's not far to go now.

Sure enough, at 2:30 am, we got a call over the speakers and turned out on the back deck in our togs to find it covered in snow. The expedition leader was waiting for us and we got sprayed by a fire hose. Afterwards we bundled back inside for hot chocolate. Modesty forbids the posting of these photos :P

It's odd, but standing outside beforehand was worse than when the water came. Either way, it woke us up and we didn't get back to sleep for an hour.