Just before bed last night Karen my cabinmate said ‘That sounds like ice’. We peered out the porthole to find the ship was moving through broken up sea ice. It was hard to go to sleep after that and I was awake early to see what was happening. I scampered up to the bridge in warmer clothes than usual and in every direction there was sea ice dotting the open water, with larger icebergs standing tall.

It’s a transformed world, from the rough steel blue ocean and spray and grey skies of past days. The ocean is quite still and flat, with a light breeze ruffling the surface. It’s still overcast, and the world is soft shades of grey. Pure white snow petrels are flying around the ship with the darker cape petrels. The boat is chugging along with almost no rise and fall, shouldering through the pancakes of sea ice without any trouble, then coming out into open water again. There’s such an air of excitement on the bridge. It really feels like we’re headed somewhere now instead of tossing endlessly on an empty ocean.

It’s -4 on deck, so quite chilly. After breakfast I’m heading up again with better clothing and some gloves. Wish I could send some pictures, but the limit on emails from the ship prevents it.