Diary of a Journey under the World – Part 16 – Bad Weather
David travelled aboard the magnificent Le Commandant Charcot by PONANT Cruises earlier this year on a half circumnavigation trip from Ushuaia, Argentina to New Zealand and what follows are his notes and highlights of a once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica in 2023.
David Heydon has been many things, nominated for Australian of the Year in 2016, the 2012 recipient of the Moore Medal, and a deep seabed mining pioneer. Most days David would be one of the expert naturalist guides aboard a ship, but today he is a guest on the Le Commandant Charcot.
David is an expedition cruising veteran, one who is uniquely specialized in the Polar. His extensive geological knowledge provides welcome insight into these regions’ many fjords and glaciers.
The Adventure Continues…
As the Le Commandant Charcot departed from Cape Bird yesterday it hit a patch of rough weather, an unfortunate event but expected given the long streak of great weather David and the rest of the passengers experienced.
The wind gauge recorded gusts up to 70 knots high, before it froze and was incapable of recording anymore. The ship was buffeted by wind and snow all night, but the worst was yet to come.
The swell began to roll, and the ship’s stabilisers were unavailable as they had been in ice the previous days, this meant they had been damaged and needed repairs before they could be used again. So, a rough and rolling night.
Even though the decks are heated constantly by the recycled heat from the engine, the outside had to be closed due to the ship rolling on the swell. David woke up to two inches of snow on his balcony, but on the bright side, it showed how the underfloor heating on the ship works. The coiled pattern underneath melted the ice, while the areas that are not directly heated still remained frozen for a short time.
The Le Commandant Charcot is now heading north from the Ross Ice Shelf, beginning the 9-day journey to New Zealand, but first, it will be stopping at Coulman Bay.
David is expecting there to be plenty of icebergs and thick packs of sea ice as they approach Coulman Bay. This will slow the ship down and put it behind schedule, likely making it not arrive until late in the afternoon.
continued in Part 15 coming soon…