December 28

We have hit a bit of stormy weather. The winds are out of the west at 40 to 45 kt with seas of 15 to 20 ft. The captain is traveling towards the west (north of our desired course) to head more into the waves. He is also going slower (about 4 kt) to make the ride easier.  Last night there were a number of big bumps and big rolls due to the sea on our original heading. The ride was a bit uncomfortable.

(The cruise track is the heavy red line - heading to the west from the tip of South America. McMurdo Station is the red dot on the Antarctic Continent.)

We are still traveling along the northern edge of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). The green dashed line in the map is the average location of the SubAntarctic Front which is associated with one of the three high speed currents (jets) that make up the ACC. When the wind and waves calm down, we will turn more to the south to cross the ACC.

I am in the middle of a mystery. Yesterday afternoon I was reading a book which I put on the table in the Dry Lab where I was sitting. A big wave hit the side of the ship with a bang (causing a small leak in one of the ports). The ship rolled due to the impact. We were all startled by the noise. A little while later, I looked for the book but could not find it. It slid off the table and went somewhere. I have checked under some computer racks where there is a small gap but I can not see it. It has vanished. I will keep looking but it is a real mystery about where it could have gone.  Maybe King Neptune took the book??

It is now mid-afternoon. The winds and waves are down a bit and the sun is peaking out through broken clouds. The ship is now headed a bit more to the south and we are going a little faster. At the previous speed and direction, it was going to take us about 40 days to get to the sampling area. The joke circulating was that we would get to McMurdo Station in time to catch the plane home but we would not have any time for samples. I am sure that we will do better than that.

Today is Joe's birthday. He is one of the computer techs on the ship. In celebration, the cook made a huge cake with a slab of ice cream in the center and covered with whip cream icing. We all applauded his birthday and then devoured the cake.