Friday, the 8th of January

After crossing the polar circle, we are now surrounded by the icebergs we had hoped to see. I counted 35 during my morning whale watch on the bridge. The view is unbelievable and the hard-drive of my Mac is filling up with photos. The sea is quiet. There are both types of icebergs: enormous floating masses and tiny blue-green sculptures.

The Swedish Committee for IPY have produced a report entitled 'Polar Shifts:Sweden and the International Polar Year 2007-2008 '  to inform all interested parties, including the wider public, politicians, Arctic residents, financiers and researchers, about the International Polar Year, with an emphasis on the Swedish efforts. This report, containing some wonderful images, can be downloaded in both Swedish and English.

It is 0 degrees outside, cold and icy, and I am lying on my bed in a comfortable 22 degrees reading a biography on James Cook, the explorer. It makes me wonder how comfortable this cruise on the Polarstern is compared to what Cook and his crew went through in the old days of seafaring.

Cook fared through these perilous seas for the second time between 1772 – 1775 and discovered many of the Southern Pacific islands and archipelagos. He came within 75 miles of the Antarctic coast and crossed south of 71°S. At present (as of 8th January 2010) we are at 66.38°S and have recently left Polar area behind.

Cook writes, “Ambition drives me not only further than any person before, but as far as it is possible for man to be driven.”

With the Resolution, a coal ship, he had traveled 70,000 miles with 123 men on…

Well, the phrase “holiday season” signifies, generally to the world population, the time between Christmas and New Year’s. In the last edition, I talked about a fulfilling Christmas celebration coloured with Christmas buddy gifts, chocolates, parties, delicious food and icebergs. The same trend continues this edition into the New Year’s Eve celebration, birthday parties, and Mid-Cruise get-together amidst all the workload, which seemed to have increased. The reason for such is that we were chasing a weather window until the 1st of January, after which bad weather was expected, and which therefore deemed it necessary to finish most of the coring station work before the bad weather came towards us. Hence, the holiday season was hectic with work but also double the fun with all the celebrations. It was almost as the saying goes, “You only deserve to be in warm water if you put your feet in cold water…