On Christmas Day we finished crossing the pack ice that surrounds the openwater portion of the Ross Sea. It was an incredible evening - with fog settling over the ice pack and only high cirrus clouds above. These shots were all taken at 1 or 2 in the morning and are some of my favorites from the entire trip.
On Dec 26 we completed our crossing of the open water on the Ross Sea and reached the edge of the fast ice that extends all the way to Ross Island and McMurdo Station. Here is a view of the open sea at 3 AM on Dec 25.
This is where the Oden was finally put to work and where she will be for the next month opening and maintaining the access channel for supply ships from New Zealand. This is our first view of Antarctica - with Mt. Erebus steaming in the backdrop
Here is the shot of the ice edge right after we entered the fast ice
we were met by a pack of penguins that seemed a bit shocked by our 100 foot wide bow busting up their icy home!
Here's a view of the channel we cut on that first pass
The ice was relatively thin at first (less than 1 meter) but quickly thickened up by that evening. Recent reports from First Mate Ola Andersson said it has been as thick as 6 meters (about 18 feet) and they're still busting through slowly but surely. Here are a couple other shots of it breaking up
Although seemingly barren - the seas are full of life supported by the abundance of plankton and algae, this is what we find on the bottom of these chunks of ice - all algae.
late on the 26th, we came to a stop to allow the helicopter from McMurdo Station to come by and pick up our luggage. We were picked up by the same helicopters on the 27th and bid goodbye to our new friends and the Oden for a final time. Here the helicopter approaches with Mt. Erebus steaming in the background.
It landed right next to the ship - the clear ice surface is the result of the bow-spray system that the Oden uses to spray seawater on the ice for lubrication as it is breaking.
Time for one last photo in by the gangplank showing the ice broken by the ship - the channel was solid enough to walk on in less than half on hour.
Regulations required that we completely geared up for the 10 minute ride to McMurdo, that meant full extreme weather gear and helmet.
Here was our parting view of the Oden as we approached McMurdo - gives a nice view of the ice yet to be broken. Our latest report is that she has arrived at the ice pier and is making final preparations for the arrival of the cargo ships later this week. The distance here from McMurdo is about 12 nautical miles.
Here are our first views for McMurdo Station as we approached
And we landed at McMurdo - the entire area is covered with volcanic rock chunks of various sizes - no dirt in site.
Next post - I'll fill you all in about our short but very memorable stay at McMurdo, along with the C17 departure for New Zealand that very afternoon. Many pictures are already in the photo gallery if you'd like to take a sneek peak without any narrative (maybe they're better that way)
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