22nd December 2008

Hi and thanks to everyone who have sent messages to the crew, some from family and others from people we don’t know. Whenever comments come in we post them on the mess room bulkhead and its amazing to see how the crew respond to a connection from back home. Again, thank you, and we’ll do our best to reply to all when we get the chance.

The weather has cleared today and we have 2 lines in open water north of the ice edge. This is not the spot we want to fish, that area is still ice covered at this stage so we’ll have to be content fishing on the northern hills for a few more days yet. Its better than looking at the big white monster (the pack ice) as we call it.

Rgds: John B.

A strange looking growler

Melting ice berg

21st December 2008

Stopped and drifting at the ice edge, 66 58s 177 30e. Weather conditions, SE 25-30kts, constant snow showers, very low cloud base, visibility 500m, calm sea with 2m N-NE swell.

Ice condition: open water to the North and 7 to 8/10th pack ice to the South.

During this part of the season we have plenty of down time while waiting for ice to thaw and leads (pathways through the ice pack) to open. Right now the crew are being briefed by the 1st mate and bosuns about SOP’s (Safe Operating Procedures). In the last few days we have modified some of our procedures and further training is required for some of the newer crew to bring them up to speed with safety aspects. We’re also taking the time to update our hazard register and run through, with the crew, some of the potentially dangerous activities throughout the ship during day to day activity.

SOP (Safe Operating Procedures) briefing, Left to right, Tangi ( 1st mate) Shand, Noel, Theo (boson), Aaron, Chevy and Kahu.

It is also a good chance to recheck the fishing gear, have a clean up or maybe write an e-mail, watch a movie or just chill out and do nothing for a change.

Ren burning rubbish 3 days ago, it was a nice day then

Bull splicing float lines

To go fishing in Antarctica you have to be patient. The last thing we want is to get into difficulties this far from home.

Rgds: John B.

19th December 2008

Today we crossed the magic line into the Antarctic Circle at:
66 35s and 177 30e.

Little by little we’re working our way south toward one of our favorite fishing spots, in past seasons we have done quite well there, obviously I can’t tell you exactly where it is, it’s a secret. One of the best things about this area is the easy ground for our lines to settle on, unlike areas to the north where the rocky bottom is a problem and stuck lines, huge tangles and strong currents can be dangerous for the crew in the hauling room.

During the last 10 days we’re seeing more and more sea ice and ice bergs as we move south. On the last count we had 10 large ice bergs on our 12mile radar range and 7/10th first year sea ice. To navigate in 7/10th sea ice it’s a bit like following a gigantic maze that zig zags for hundreds of miles with just as many dead ends. When we come to the end of a lead (the term used for an open track in the ice) we must turn back and look for another track or lead that will hopefully takes us in the general direction that we need to go. Sometimes this process takes days or even weeks depending on the season and how the ice is thawing, or isn’t with some seasons.

Heavy pack too thick for us to go further

Many factors govern the rate that sea ice thaws. The obvious ones are, water temp, air temp, (sunny days are good but few and far between) wind strength and direction, sea swell, tidal movement and the east setting Southern Ocean Currents all combine to break the ice up. We receive the most up to date satellite images daily from our support team back home and we can also access the National Ice Center web sight for more information if needed. Check it out at

http://www.natice.noaa.gov/products/antarctic/index.htm

then click on Ross Sea Central and you can sort of see where we are on the big picture.

For now we are just stooging along, setting the odd line in clear water as we find it while we wait for the ice condition to open up and allow easy access into the Ross Sea.

The leads are small now but growing fast

The photos were taken during the last few days. One shows a small lead toward the south and the other is ice too thick for us to enter.

Rgds: John B.

16th December 2008

It’s snowing again as another cold front passes over. Generally, weather conditions are reasonable at this time of the year once we get south of 65 degrees. Heading southwards from there, many of the low pressure systems are moving in from the west pass well to the north of our position. This gives us more weather from NE and easterly directions and therefore we don’t get hammered by the continual westerly storms that are typical in the southern ocean between 45 and 60 degrees south.

Today the air temp is -2, sea temp -1, visibility 2nm, but only 100m when the snow showers roll over.  Moderate low sea with 5-10kts northerly winds. We can see the ice edge to the south on radar as we track it moving slowly S-SE about 2nm a day. As the ice retreats south it also thaws and becomes easier to pass through.

Just for now we’re doing ok on the fishing front with enough fish to keep the crew busy for much of the day but we are looking forward to getting to the main fishing grounds in the Ross Sea when the ice eventually thaws.

Shand hauling the line

Snowman on the deck of the Antarctic Chieftain

Grover on deck, 15th December

In a couple of weeks about 60,000 square mile of ice will have melted or broken up, giving us access into the Ross Sea down the traditional 180 degree Longitude track. Vessels have been entering the Ross Sea via this route since Sir James Clark Ross discovered the area in 1841 in his ship the Erebus, after which he named Mount Erebus. Mount Terror, right next to it, was named after his support vessel.

Rgds John  B.

6th December 2008 – 18:00hrs

The day started at 01:30hrs with the sun rising in the SSE, that’s the first sunrise we’ve seen this trip, its been quite bleak and murky until now.

Antarctic sun rise

Shortly after a huge black cloud rolled over from the NW bringing a regular Antarctic snow storm. It doesn’t rain in these latitudes, its too cold for that, instead we get snow and heaps of it. By 06:00hrs we had 10cm covering the deck. When the sun finally came out again the snow melted fast and we finished up with a beautiful day and a temperature around +3 degrees.

We also came close to our first large ice berg for the trip, we expect to see many thousands of them as we move further south when the sea ice melts a little more.
But for now we’re happy fishing on ice free grounds just North of the ice edge. I expect the sub area we are now in will be closed by about Christmas Day when the fleet quota should be caught. At that time all vessels, us included, will move south another 400 mile to the main fishing grounds.

Rgds: John B.

3rd December 2008

We finally arrived at the ice edge and the northern area of our fishing grounds last night at about 22:00hrs, Latitude 64 30south.
We’ve had thick fog for the last 24hrs and can only see about 600m right now so we’re not real sure just how much ice there is, we can see about 30 ice bergs on our radar. For now we’ll stop in this area until the fog clears and hopefully start fishing tomorrow.

Yesterday we had a small Minke Whale swimming along side and around the bow like a Porpoise would. She stayed with us for about ½ an hour, it’s the first time we’ve seen one do that, usually they just swim by. We reckon that’s gota be a good omen.

The water temp is -1 and the air temp +3.

Rgds: John B.

25th November 2008 – 12:00hrs

Antarctic Chieftain sailed from port Nelson bound for Antarctica and CCAMLR  ( The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources ) waters.

We had a slight delay while waiting for some paper work to arrive but eventually got underway after dropping our harbour pilot off and making a course to round Stephens Island and head through Cook Straight.

ETA into CCAMLR waters 29th Nov, weather permitting. 

Total crew for the trip;
John Bennett – Skipper
Tangi – 1st Mate
Pete – Chief Engineer
Karl – 2nd Engineer
Mathew – 2nd Mate
Steve – Factory Manager
Mike – Cook
Renata – Boson
Theodore – Leading hand
Paerau – Leading hand
Christopher – Deck hand
Shand – Deck hand
Nicholas – Deck hand
Noel – Deck hand
Chevy – Deck hand
Aaron – Deck hand
Joshua – Deck hand
Adam – Deck hand
Kahu – Deck hand
Noelan – Deck hand
Marli – MAF fisheries observer
Peter – CCAMLR observer.

Weather conditions, Nly 25 – 30kts on the port shoulder, mod sea, easy going at 10kts. Boat muster and fire drill are scheduled for 18:00hrs.

Rgds: John B.