We've reached Ross Island! What a sight...
I woke up this morning around 5:00am so that I'd be around for our first sighting of Ross Island and Mt. Terror and Mt. Erebus. When I went out around 5:15, it was very cloudly, extremely windy, and nothing was visible. I went down for the earlybird coffee and danishes at Raffles.
Around 5:45am, I noticed through the windows that the sun was just beginning to peek through the cloud deck, so I went back up to the Upper deck up front and found that the winds had dies down considerably. So, I went all the way out on the front deck to see what was up ahead. I was the only one there.
I noticed that the horizon was visible off to the left and the front. Then, I realized that what I had taken for clouds was at least partly the side of a mountain, completely encased in snow and ice! It was Mt. Terror, or at least the foot of the mountain. The upper parts were still covered with clouds.
It was huge! I was able to find the east (left) side fairly easily now, but the western (right) side was still mostly covered. Since that was the body of the island and the beginning of Mt. Erebus, I realized that it wasn't coming down to the water very far. E.g., the island's land was very high.
As I watched, more and more of the island became visible. The mountains were really very high, and the foothills were now clearly visible in the reddish orange sunlight. Along the coastline, the ice shelf caught the sunlight on many of the vertical facets, making it easy to see how corrugated it was.
It was very cold, but the winds were not as strong as before, so it was bearable.
Shortly, Susan came up, and then a British woman. We stood and watched the clouds slowly rise, revealing more and more of the mountains. The eastern side of Mt. Erebus was becoming visible, climbing more and more steeply up into the sky.
I was looking off to the west for a moment, when I heard Susan and the British woman exclaim in wonder. I spun around quickly, and caught a glimpse of a huge splash in the rough water about 100 yard from the ship. They told me that it was a whale, skyhopping right up out of the water. The waves were about 6 feet high or more, with whitecaps everywhere. It was a very beautiful picture. We watched together for a few more minutes, then suddenly the whale appeared again, jumping straight up out of the water into the sky, getting about 75% out of the water, twisting slightly, then falling back into the water on its side. It must have been a Minke whale, since it wasn't very large, only about 20-30 feet long. It was as if the whale were greeting us on our arrival to McMurdo Sound. This was the first time I'd seen a whale of any type skyhop during this trip, and it was very exciting! The power of the whale, to be able to leap out of the water like that. And the idea that it would make such a jump is incredible. No one knows why they do this for certain. But I do find it significant that the only time i saw it happen was when the sea what quite high and choppy. It's very possible that the whale wanted to get a glimpse of us above the water, and the only way it could was to jump up over the waves.
We watched for a while longer, then, when it was clear that the clouds had risen as high as they were going to, I went down to wake Grandma up and to got get breakfast.
After breakfast, I went back up on deck, and found that we were back roughly where we'd been before, but closer to the shoreline. There was a large band of pack ice in front of the ship. Susan was still on deck, and she said that the ship had made a large circular path while I was gone. We were now roughly still in the water.
While we stood there, the captain gave an announcement from the bridge. He said that we were roughly 60 miles east of McMurdo Station, and that there was ice between us and the station. The water in front of us showed a passage through the ice, but it was all uncharted waters, so we had no idea of the depth. So, we had to wait for the helicopter to report back on the status of the ice.
I went back down to the Charleston Club to read a little, and Lars-Eric announced that we were going to break through the ice. I went out on the rear deck (Promenade) to watch our progress. I took some interesting pictures of the ice as we passed into the pack, while we pushed our way through it, and as we pulled away from it on the other side. While it was thicker than the ice we went through two nights ago, this stuff was fairly loose, with room to push it aside. The other night was very difficult because the ice was solid, though quite thin.
After we were through, I went up to the upper deck again, and found the the sky deck (where the bridge is) was open for us visit. So, I went up there and looked ahead for a while. McMurdo Station was still not visible at all.
Everyone is anxiously awaiting news of our progress. It seems likely that we'll have to put off the landings until this evening or tomorrow. I hope that they don't cancel any.
We should be at McMurdo by 3:30pm.
The dozens of green, red, brown, and tan buildings, with ramp-like roads between them and trucks riding along those roads remind me of a toy town, or a toy train set. They seem unreal, maybe because of the pure colors, maybe because of the closeness of the buildings to each other, or maybe because there are so few people visible from here.
The feeling I had on seeing McMurdo for the first time was probably best described as sheer joy. I found myself smiling stupidly, staring at the slope of the hills covered with colored buildings, the ramp-like roads that go between them up and down the hillside, the truck moving around on those roads, and the observatories on the hilltops. It just screams, "People are here!"
It's cold outside! And the wind makes it even colder. I can see why no one would want to be outside. I saw a few people in doorways, but everyone else must be inside or in the trucks. Smart people!
If it weren't for the trucks moving around, I'd almost believe that the place were deserted.
There are several observatories on the hilltops nearby. One, off to the north (left), is just a large black ball on top of the mountain ridge. Another, above the station itself, is red and white and smaller.
There are several places near the shore where they've built what look like docks or piers, or maybe just staging for picking things up off the shore and bringing them up to trucks. Some of them have warehouses nearby, others just have a road leading to them.
It's amazing to see such activity and community here! Humanity is clearly in control here, unlike everywhere else we've seen in the Antarctic where humanity is just a speck, easily snuffed out by nature's whim. Sure, Antarctica could still destroy McMurdo with a massive eruption of Mt. Erebus, but it would take a lot, and the base seems well prepared for most eventualities. I can easily see why people like Ethan have been calling McMurdo a town or a city. ("Mac Town" is a common slang for this place.)
I can't wait to go ashore!
Observation hill, on the south (right) side of the station, towers over everything. It's a very triangular hill, right up to the very top. There is a road zigzagging up the hill, and another cross at the top.
While looking over at the Discovery hut, I saw a large whale, heading from the direction of the station out past Hut Point and into the Sound. It wasn't a humpback, so it was either a very large Minke, or else a Killer whale.