So, now that I am home, after this amazing trip, I will continue this blog to share my experiences in the form of photo stories. (Thank heavens for the photography course!)

And to make it a bit more interesting, I have decided to steer away from the traditional format of a chronological account of the voyage. I am going to tell you (show you) some stories. (Of course you would, I hear you say)

Having said that, I think that the natural place to start, however, is with the ship, and my first encounter with it.

And so, finally, on Friday 9 February, after months of planning, researching and anticipating, the ship was before me.

Some facts about it:

• It is a Russian ship, approximately 70 m long and 12.8 m wide.
• It was built in 1983, and has a “birthday” of 24 March, which was when the keel was laid. It was launched in 1984, when it was originally used for scientific research.
• The ship is owned by the Russian government, and leased by Heritage Expeditions, who have full operational and maintenance responsibilities and obligations.
• While it is referred to as “The Spirit of Enderby”, technically it is called Professor Khromov. This is in the Russian practice of naming its ships after prominent scientists. Professor Khromov was an eminent meteorologist.
• The ship is ice-strengthened, not an “ice-breaker”. To explain… when McMurdo Sound was iced in this season, a Chinese ice breaker cut a channel about 12 miles long so that supplies could be shipped into the bases. Our ship couldn’t have done this. And this channel had sufficiently re-freezed so that we could have probably have pushed our way through for a number of miles. However, we almost certainly would not have been able to make it all the way. And we definitely would have got iced in at the end. As we were the only ship in the Ross Sea, our rescue would have been incredibly problematic, to say the least! However, being ice-strengthened, there were numerous situations during our stay in the Ross Sea where we cruised through various forms of ice, often powering through great slabs of fast ice.
• Both icebreakers and ice-strengthened ships have rounded hulls, without a deep keel. (Our draft was only 4.5 m). This shape makes them roll abominably in any type of swell! (More on this later!)
• The ship has a Russian crew of 22, which includes the Captain, officers, sailors, technical and support crew. Heritage Expeditions provides an additional staff of 10; the expedition leader, “hotel manager”, chefs, extra waitress (in addition to the Russian waitress), a doctor and four lecturers (all of whom assume additional day-to-day duties, such as zodiac operators and dishwashers!). The NZ government also requires that an employee of the Dept of Conservation be on the voyage as an observer, to report back our behaviour in the wilderness areas of both the subantarctic and Antarctic regions.

Now to take a tour of the ship….

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Settling in and unpacking was interspersed with safety briefings and orientation, including a short stint in the lifeboat!

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Everyone on board is assigned a passenger number, which is the basis of a number of administrative and risk management systems. For example, we used the passenger number to make purchases (limited retail opportunities, though). And the reminder of “have you turned your tag” soon became the mantra of crew and passengers alike.

Let me explain.

The last thing we had to do before leaving the ship on the zodiacs was to turn our number tag from black to red. And then, the first thing we did on returning was to turn it back to black. That way, it was always obvious who was still to return to the ship. (That is, of course, if you happened to have forgotten to do this. Then there was an announcement which brought a flurry of people out of their rooms as they rushed to the tag board before they got “named and shamed”)

Soon it was time to depart, and bid farewell to the pilot.

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The journey had started.

1,994 nautical miles (3,693 kilometres) to McMurdo!

When I was taking these photos, there were two things on my mind:

• I was madly snapping and sending them off to my daughters, making use of the phone reception which was soon to cut out. I knew that our communication would be limited for the next month, and just wanted to draw out these last moments of contact. I had positioned myself comfortably on the top level of the ship – above the bridge. From here I had a great view of the Port of Bluff as we left, and the ever-widening view of the ocean we were about to explore, which brought to me my next thoughts…
• What was ahead?? Would the seas be forgiving? Or would they prove challenging? Would my boating past stand me in good stead for the rough seas which were sure to present themselves?

It’s strange to think back to these early moments, now that I am home, after the whole wonderful experience is in the past.

And even though it in the past, I have already found myself secretly smiling at some random memory from the voyage. I know that I will continue to do this for a long time yet – maybe forever.