Feb 16th- Ice breaking unexplored bays

Alan here (position Prospect Point s66.00.3,w65.20.8)

It was fair to say that after yesterday's nine hour day and complete feast
of eye candy, it was going to be hard to get out of bed. I was woken early,
since have stopped wearing a watch I can't say when, by the engines coming
to life and the sound of the anchored being weighed. Rubbing the
condensation off my small porthole I gazed blearily out to what is becoming
the normal view, an iceberg. Crazy, how when we first arrived in Antarctica
that the sight of a single distant iceberg would cause a flutter of shutters
as we clicked away our digital film. Now we are living amongst them, their
beauty, variation and magnificence hasn't diminished but the desire to photo
absolutely every one has. So I just squinted and turned over to let the
drone of the engine and the rocking of the swell drift me back to sleep. As
I drifted in an out of sleep I was aware that the usual sounds of guides
waking up and gathering the troops and our endless amounts of gear, was not
happening. So time for a wee lie in. My joints certainly were telling me
they had a good work out.

Breakfast called and ended my slumbers. The cloud had dropped so the very
tops of the peaks were not visible and the light spectacular brought by
yesterday's sun now gone. The plan for the day was to motor to another
island to look for a possible landing place to do a first ascent, this time
as a ski tour. We all joyfully grazed on an extended breakfast as the good
ship Evohe, ground her way around and sometimes through the smaller
icebergs. Those of you who are following this blog will have difficulty
recalling any mention of this trip being aboard an ice breaker. And quite
right because we are on a yacht, albeit an 82 foot long steel one. Decidedly
not an icebreaker. So it is is rather amusing but often disturbing to hear
the sound of the ice grinding against the hull and the occasional shudder as
the foredeck man has misread the size of the ice berg and slammed into it.
With a weight of one ton per cubic meter, these "bergy bits", offer
significant resistance to our forward motion.

Today, has been one of exploration as we endeavour to find either a safe
anchorage or access to the shore. Both are increasingly difficult as we head
south. The still weather means that the ice has spread out over the sea
rather than being blown into lee bays. The result is that we have motored
all day often slaloming around the ice and almost doing circles just to make
our way forward. I joked to the ultra cool skipper, Steve, that today must
be the yachting equivalent of rally driving equivalent as he yet again spun
the wheel fully one way then another. He chortled a deep laugh and a look of
jolly madness spread across his face. He was loving it. Even as I type we
have just had a major crunch and an equally major roar of laughter burst
forth from the wheel house. Everyone seeks their pleasures and thrills in
different ways, our fantastic trip in the mountains was respected by Steve
but he had no desire to follow us up.

Anyway, have to go. Finally reached a known anchorage and with good weather
tomorrow we will step foot on the Antarctic mainland for the first time...
temperature has dropped, sea temperature -1 and the air temperature around
freezing...