Southern Ocean Slap! (Written on Jan 28, 2014)
The last Southern Ocean slap – 8 m waves as we approach Cape Leeuwin.
Photo credit M. Jenner
Wow, with another wave, I am lifted clear off the bed. This levitating while sleeping thing is going to take some getting used to! The Southern Ocean is a lively, bouncy sea and for us, it hath one last slap. The ridge between a high in the Bight that has brought warm weather to Perth and a low-pressure system heading eastwards is dynamic, mobile and right where we need to be, for our final approach towards the WA coast and Cape Leeuwin.
Sleeping, I have decided over the last 18 years of sailing on our various craft, is definitely for later… Some later’s are sooner and others really will be later. Nothing beats a beautiful anchorage and a full nights’ sleep in a beloved cove… Nothing beats the stillness of the jetty after a bruising ride. But tonight, thoughts and dreams of these will remain very far away. Over the years, I have realised that fear has an important meaning… fear keeps you on your toes and ready to go. Being frightened, however, is the parallelising sort of fear, the bad one. In this game, you have to be adrenalin-pumped and dull to normal interpretation of a scary situation, primarily based on calculated risk. The risks are assessed as, ‘I have been in this situation before and all will be ok’. Right, this is why I am not prepared for returning to traffic lights and opening pool fences – the high of survival keeps one afloat literally and internally elevated.
The red line on our chart, our desired track-line, is aimed at Cape Leeuwin but over the last 24 hours, (since my last watch) we have taken a northern and now north-western course due to the prevailing winds WSW 35-45 knots and the swell of 4-6 m to 8 m. One last blast form the Southern Ocean shows who is boss and it’s latent fury. As well as the power of ocean basin fetch. We are steering clear of the continental shelf in the darkness, just to be cautious about large waves that build here, king waves they call them.
Fluke up! A Sperm whale dives into the productive, chilly waters of the Antarctic!
Photo credit M. Jenner
We all have many great memories from this expedition, among them, some I will treasure…
- the first whale, a sei whale swimming through pink krill,
- the first white iceberg,
- terrifying white foggy nights,
- photographing whales feeding at 1030 at night,
- seeing feeding lunges of three animals right beside each other – mouths agape,
- looking at the pink-coloured ventral pleats of surface-feeding humpbacks,
- a pink sky with tens of bergs floating on a purple sea,
- blue bergs with whales swimming beside,
- blue-blue bergs with turquoise dry-dock water,
- tasty Bollinger with the first sat tag deployed,
- white bergie bits with bubbles in our whiskey,
- the first biopsy,
- the soft ice-edge,
- snow falling,
- pretty snow petrels,
- crazy Light-mantled sooty albatross trying to land on my helmet!,
- sheltering overnight behind ‘Cream Pie’, (a huge iceberg),
- saying goodbye to the 6th last iceberg!
All this colour in a place that’s white!
Noon Observations Jan 28, 2014
Lat/Long: 350 26.9S 1150 52.0 E
Dry Bulb Temp: 19.40C
Wet Bulb Temp: 19.30C
SST (Sea Surface Temp): 20.30C
COG (Course Over the Ground): 3230
SOG (Speed Over the Ground): 8.7 knots
Barometer: 1023 hPa
Beaufort SS (Sea State): 3
WS (Wind Speed): 10-15 knots
WD (Wind Direction): S
Swell: SW 4-6 m, occ to 8 m
Wildlife: 1 Juvenile/1 Adult Wandering Albatross, Yellow-nosed Albatross, Flesh-footed shearwaters
WT: JCPG – 6.5
Antarctic Fact: At the South Pole the sun rises and sets once a year.
Antarctic Slang: greenout – shock experienced by Antarctic station members upon returning home and seeing trees and grass.
A flock of Sooty shearwaters feeding on the Antarctic ecosystem keystone species, krill.
Photo credit M. Jenner
At 1500 we were 29 nm abeam D’ Entrecasteaux National Park, near Esperance. “I can see land!” I called on the uhf radio from the fly-bridge! Dale confirmed my “Land Ho!” and that the pale cream and brown lumpy bits I could see, were indeed headlands and the coastline of Australia! Not that I doubted we had found Australia, I just wanted to know which bit! Wow, we are almost home! We also crossed the continental shelf at this time and the swell became a little less chaotic and reduced a hair. Otherwise, all afternoon, 8 m swell with a 12 second period tossed us sideways in interesting turns, keeping us on our toes. Anything that could fall – already fell about 4 weeks ago! Whale Song has been Southern Ocean-proofed for quite a while! Everything has found its’ natural place! And you would be surprised how normal she looks for all the ocean miles she has put in.
I have a poem for our crew, it goes as such…
Whale Song WAVES Team
Curt and I dared to dream
And luckily found a dreamy team!
Capt Curt, he leads our gang
With this adventure his heart sang
To the ice and we shall find
Humpbacks and blues – he had in mind
There’s Dale who’ll numb ya
With the numbers!
Whether diesel fuel-
Or a wine to make you drool!
Simon, he’s trying to impress the girls
With tales of Southern Ocean swirls
Got exercise on his slate
And mountains of food on his plate!
Sam is on rust patrol
Trying to keep it under control
With adventures to be had
He’s our great deckhand lad!
Resty has kept our bellies full
So delicious every mouthful!
All with a Filipino twist
We love everything on his list!
Inday – is our funny IT gal!
Lots of wild stories she’ll tell
“Sorry, sorry, is what she’ll say”
Many times every day!
Tas, our doll is so sweet
Making many a tasty treat!
Imagine going south at fourteen?
Not the usual teenage scene!
Rob is listening to the sea
Checking who’s in harmony
Warm a buoy in the lounge to deploy
An ice-edge hearing sonobuoy
Russ, well he’s here to tag the whales
To gather their life tales
With stories from Alaska afar
Of bears and bikes –our jaw’s ajar!
And then there’s me
Squeally me, at all I see!
A high seas sailing queen
Always looking for a ‘jellybean’!
This is the team we gathered so
To venture where many don’t go
They have been great and brave, together
In any sort of weather
Thanks a million
For memories a trillion
Will always remain
In my minds’ windowpane
Micah aired the stories so
The adventure all could know
Thanks you are wonderful
With dramas so plentiful!
Skipper – we missed you dog
Even the odd deck log!
Too cold and wobbly mate-
Better to go home in the crate!
Freo, we’re home, wow it’s true
Feeling like we missed you
Back again at a cracking pace
How I love my ocean space!
(Written by Micheline Jenner)
The working crew, Antarctic-style, on the top deck Tas is on the right and Resty on the left and on the Portuguese bridge below Curt is driving on the left and Dale beside.
Photo credit I. Ford
Dinner prepared by Resty was as always delicious. The last of the salmon bought in Hobart was baked with spring onions and served with rice and a hot, skua curry – yummmmm! As we cork-screwed our way homeward the crew are getting very excited…
With wonderful memories to share and hold very close, we will be home tomorrow, well today!
Mich
No comments yet.