Ice Walk

We were slowed down a lot by the pack ice today and didn’t make it as far as we were hoping.  We were all thinking it was going to be another day at sea and we were starting to feel a bit of cabin fever.  I was down in my cabin when I noticed that the ship stopped and was pulling up next to a huge ice flow that had a bunch of Emperor penguins, a few Adelie penguins, and several crab eater seals.  Out of our port window, the ‘penguin door’ opened and out came a gang way with several of the naturalists walking out and onto the ice.

OMG, Rhyannon and I got so excited: we might be going for a walk out on the ice.  Sure enough, once they determined that the ice was thick enough and safe to walk on, the announcement was made that we were going to go out for a walk on the ice.

It was definitely one of the cooler things that I’ve done: walk on an ice sheet in the middle of the Southern Ocean.  We are in such a remote area that there is a blank spot on the map for creature surveys out here.  Our onboard scientist was so excited to get a bunch of different poo samples from the 3 different species that were on the flow.

Jane (our onboard scientist from Australia) is surveying DNA of the Antarctic animals focusing on pathogens and the health of the overall area.  This voyage was of particular interest because so few ships go into the Amundsen and Ross Sea on the West side of the continent.  It’s been so neat to be a part of science in action on this journey.  I hope you enjoy some of the photos of our stroll on the ice.