Wow, we are through the ice much faster on the return leg. We had about a week of pack ice on the way down, but after four days steaming out of Davis we’re just about clear of it now. We’re emerging into open water and the boat has started gently rolling. It’s only a small motion, but an instant reminder of what’s to come. I went down to the gym thinking I’d have a run before things got too rough. Someone was on the treadmill so I hopped on the bike instead – uh oh – even that slight roll, coupled with the motion of pedaling, was enough to make me feel a bit whoozy after a few minutes. Back upstairs and a short lie down to recover my equilibrium.

The wind and waves are forecast to pick up substantially today with a possible blizzard tonight and a high chance of a blizzard tomorrow night. The weather forecaster said ‘Get out the pills’. Yeah, easy for you Karen, now that you’re at Davis! I’m not sure how I’ll get on without my personal swell meter in the form of Louise, the other weather forecaster, by whose eating and lying down habits you could accurately judge the swell to about 6 metres. I think if she were here she’d be heading for lunch now and feeling nervous about dinner.

I doubt I will get back to the gym again on this trip which is a pity – I was getting my running speed up to a good level – but it’s just too hard to be in that little closed room with so many different motions happening at once. Hopefully I’ll find I’m fine working on the computer, as I was after the first two days on the trip down

A few people shared their seasickness approaches with me once we were on station. Interesting that the successful ones involved some kind of visualisation. Paul said a friend told him to eat a lot and picture in his mind that he was on a boat and what the motion was like. Someone else said he imagined that he was really drunk when he felt seasick, and just used the same methods of coping (whatever they were). I found on the way down that it helped me to picture something very very solid and stable – Mount Warning is what I chose.

Adios for now

Jesse xx