Ice breaking in McMurdo Sound

February 11, 1994

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 motionless in the water.

Pack ice in McMurdo Sound

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.

Pack ice, viewed from the Charleston Club

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.

Pack ice, viewed from the Promenade deck

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.

Passing through the pack ice in McMurdo Sound

Some of the ice flows that we passed by had interesting vertical formations on them, creating unusual colors and structures.

Wierd structures on an ice flow

After we were through, I went up to the upper deck again, and found that 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.

Looking back at the ice (with Marty videotaping)

You may continue with us through McMurdo Sound, or return to today's table of contents.