Cold

9 January 2014

When the sun shines and there is no wind the temperature is quite comfortable here in Antarctica. But if there is wind, a grey sky and it snows like today it is cold.
But you can dress for the cold. I start with a thermo shirt and long johns. Then two t-shirts, a thick warm sweater with wind stopper and jeans. Then first my sailing pants and then my polar shoes. A scarf, sailing jacket, hat, hood, snow goggles and gloves. And when you are at the wheel during your watch… it is still cold.
Today we sailed through Lemaire channel to the south. The channel runs between high mountains and is sometimes only about 800 meters wide. While the mountains and glaciers reach out far further than our masts we manoeuvre through the channel avoiding the numerous icebergs and ‘growlers’. It costs a lot of time, but we will get there. We are now at 65 degrees. First we take a look at Peterman Island, before we sail on to Vernadsky, the Ukrainian base, which is our most southern destination.