We recently had the opportunity to travel to a nearby nunatak (mountain peak jutting out through the ice) called Knotten, in order to retrieve geodesic survey equipment. As this didnâ??t take too long, I snatched up the chance to christen my ice-axes and crampons on the steep ice in the windscoop.  It was a beautifully ‘warm’ day wth the temperature just below zero and no wind. More photos to follow soon.
I’m still aboard the Agulhas, holding station off the ice shelf. We’ve finished the ramp and unloaded all the heavy cargo. Poor weather prevented us from flying yesterday, so the lighter cargo operations had to wait. The benefit of the poor weather was that we had very heavy snowfall onboard, with some drifts up to 30cm deep.  We had a good snowball fight on the newly cleared foredeck, followed by a roaring party last night – about half the expedition teams have been transferred to SANAE IV already, but they’ve been replaced with German construction workers left without a home because their construction ship is still stuck in heavy ice. They were flown in to construct the new Neumayer station, but the temporary accomodation cannot be offloaded due to the thick bay ice, so they were being hosted at SANAE. In any case, we had a festive night, celebrating SA’s New Year at 2200 ship’s time, then Germany’s at 2300, then our own at 0000. Whee. Needless to say, the tables were empty at breakfast 😉
Today “dawned” beautiful, with a clear sky, flat sea and almost no wind. One can work outside in short sleeves if active. The light cargo (smaller containers and fuel drums for the choppers) was flown off to the depot on the ice shelf. I spent the morning in the clinic doing stock taking and my medical report, and then the afternoon doing washing and logistic planning. Half my team is already at SANAE; the rest, including myself, are scheduled for the last flight tomorrow. We have to hope the weather holds, of course.