Icey Christmas

but not a done deal yet!

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/27/22059393-great-news-rescue-vessel-within-sight-of-explorer-ship-stuck-in-antarctic-ice?lite

but not a done deal yet!

 

 

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/27/22059393-great-news-rescue-vessel-within-sight-of-explorer-ship-stuck-in-antarctic-ice?lite

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-28/chinese-icebreaker-unable-to-reach-stuck-ship/5176938

To me this sounds great. Being trapped by ice would be the trip of a lifetime. Not sure if my wife would agree with this, however. I have always wanted to do the New Zealand to Antarctica cruise.

DON

To me this sounds great. Being trapped by ice would be the trip of a lifetime.

DON

I'm crazy enough to think it would be a pretty amazing experience as well! :) (Of course, it doesn't hurt to know that they have 7 weeks of food on board, and that two more ice breakers are on their way.)

I love that one of the potential rescuers is the same french ship that my own ship had to divert to cut free 2 years ago !

http://www.news.com.au/world/china-icebreaker-closes-in-on-mv-akademik-shokalskiy-stuck-in-ice-near-antarctica/story-fndir2ev-1226790959484

You might want to read Alfred Lansing's book Endurance: Shackelton's Incredible Voyage if you think getting stuck in Antarctic ice would be fun! It might be an adventure for awhile but Shackleton's ship the Endurance was stuck for over a year before......it was crushed and sunk. Different times for sure! Just finished reading several books on the Endurance, preparing for our Antarctica cruise on Jan 3. I' m sure they are in good hands!

You might want to read Alfred Lansing's book Endurance: Shackelton's Incredible Voyage if you think getting stuck in Antarctic ice would be fun! It might be an adventure for awhile but Shackleton's ship the Endurance was stuck for over a year before......it was crushed and sunk. Different times for sure! Just finished reading several books on the Endurance, preparing for our Antarctica cruise on Jan 3. I' m sure they are in good hands!

I don't think anyone said she wanted to be stuck on ice in the early 20th Century! :)

Have a wonderful trip!

I don't think anyone said she wanted to be stuck on ice in the early 20th Century! :)

LOL exactly! Slightly different these days where it actually happens quite regularly and communications ensure everyone knows about it instantly - on my last voyage in East Antarctica we diverted to cut out the Astrolab and there was another ship nearby stuck that we stayed "on call" for, but another breaker was closer to them to assist in the end.

The passengers and crew are doing daily twitter updates and posting photos and videos on facebook every few hours.

At "worst" they will helicopter over to the nearby Chinese breaker if the Aurora Australis doesnt succeed in cutting thru.

Also noticed in the photos there is a lad who looks about aged 10-13 (I am terrible at guessing kids ages these days) - what a tale he will have to tell for the rest of his life. All his school friends will have nothing that exciting to talk about from their christmas holidays!!

I'm crazy enough to think it would be a pretty amazing experience as well! :) (Of course, it doesn't hurt to know that they have 7 weeks of food on board, and that two more ice breakers are on their way.)

I did hear today that they were worrying about running out of beer. There are a lot of Australians on board so that would be a real problem.

Seems like in the end, the Australian icebreaker may be the one to rescue them.

DON

I did hear today that they were worrying about running out of beer. There are a lot of Australians on board so that would be a real problem.

 

Seems like in the end, the Australian icebreaker may be the one to rescue them.

 

DON

You are about 3 days behind Don - the beer quote was back on Friday or Saturday.

The AA has given up for today after only managing to cut through 2 nautical miles of ice. The choppers are out checking for lines and the Snow Dragon may work with it to cut from 2 angles.

But AA expeditioners have been packing everything up and making room in their cabins for additional passengers to be choppered over if the cutting fails tomorrow. Its becoming too costly and Casey Station have had their supply drop seriously delayed as a result.

You might want to read Alfred Lansing's book Endurance: Shackelton's Incredible Voyage if you think getting stuck in Antarctic ice would be fun! It might be an adventure for awhile but Shackleton's ship the Endurance was stuck for over a year before......it was crushed and sunk. Different times for sure! Just finished reading several books on the Endurance, preparing for our Antarctica cruise on Jan 3. I' m sure they are in good hands!

Also Shackelton's own "South - The Endurance Expedition." What a great - yet scary story.

See you on board!!!

As one who took the Kapitan Khlebnikov ICEBREAKER for a 31 day cruise from South America to New Zealand, I am wondering about the competency of the CAPTAIN of this ship???

WHAT in the h**l is an EXPLORATION ship (not an ICEBREAKER) doing in those waters?????

He has put the entire ship at RISK!!!! I wish the passengers well. Thank goodness, there are helicopters that can rescue the passengers.

But what in the h*** were they thinking taking a NON ICE BREAKER in those waters????

Been there, done that-NOT for the faint of heart and NOT for an EXPEDITION ship without ICE BREAKER CAPABILITIES!!!

The last I heard on news earlier today was they were still awaiting rescue.

What are the latest updates?

LuLu

The last I heard on news earlier today was they were still awaiting rescue.

What are the latest updates?

 

LuLu

There is a team of journo's on board doing updates every few hours - can be followed here

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/66-degrees?rand=1387268168810

Greatam the Shokalskiy has been down there plenty of times before - it was sailing 24 hours behind the KK breaker when we got to Mawsons hut in 2011.

A pretty savage blizzard caused this latest lock in. Can happen to anyone. Even the trusty old KK got stuck back in 2009

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/cruise-ship-trapped-in-ice-for-four-days-20091117-ij2h.html

Pp. the journos were on aurora not the stricken ship

I am having a big hahah at the moment as the ship we are to travel on next week took a bail due to encroaching sea ice. It received very negative reports on FB.

Pp. the journos were on aurora not the stricken ship

 

I am having a big hahah at the moment as the ship we are to travel on next week took a bail due to encroaching sea ice. It received very negative reports on FB.

Sorry yes that lot are aboard the Aurora - its a Fairfax pair of journo's on board the actual ship that are doing separate reports - but I have used up my quota of views for the month so I cant access the page til tomorrow :( and I am too stingey to pay to view haha !!

All very exciting and a bit scary too as we fly out on the 7th for our Antarctic adventure.

All very exciting and a bit scary too as we fly out on the 7th for our Antarctic adventure.

We leave tonight for Argentina.

Latest new is the Chinese ship is also stuck in the ice -- so no helo rescue for now. An American Coast Guard ice breaker is 10 days out :(

We leave tonight for Argentina.

 

Latest new is the Chinese ship is also stuck in the ice -- so no helo rescue for now. An American Coast Guard ice breaker is 10 days out :(

The Snow Dragon isnt stuck - its garaged off the edge. They held off chopper rescues yesterday due to high winds but have prepared a landing spot today - plenty of news footage here showing the stamping of the ground to flatten it out etc.

http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/trapped-aussies-celebrate-new-years-eve/story-e6frfkui-1226792835051