More than half way to Hobart

January 7

Эпиграф: на судне все идёт своим чередом.

While it feels like we are still just getting settled we have passed the half way point on leg one already. Today is January 7, Russian Orthodox Christmas Day, so Merry Christmas for those celebrating.
I am actually not sure if we crossed the half way distance point, but since we are not stopping at any islands anymore, we will arrive in Hobart in less than a two weeks. Hopefully.

Today was a rather productive day for the ocean-based teams, we did two CTDs (relatively deep and a shallow), trace metal rosette cast, bongo nets to look for phytoplankton, dredging to look for benthic creatures.

The weather has been rather nice, the wind and the swell were quite low, allowing us to do all this work. Yet, you can feel the high latitudes already, one needs a jacket and preferably a hat to go out on the deck even for a short while. It is hard to believe that we will be in summer clothes again soon.

As it is illegal to bring any fruit or veggies to Australia, I am eating an apple a day and sometimes two or three. That grocery trip on the last day in Cape Town was such a treat! And I have to say food on Tryoshnikov is better than in my previous cruises and Antarctic deployments. Alas, it is still getting quite repetitive. The crew meteorologist was joking with me how he can tell what day of the week it is by the soup we are having at lunch and dinner. Once again proving my point of a rather predictable life on a ship. Days of the week do not matter as much, you do your shift work or whatever the day brings, your meals are scheduled, you see the same people every day. It is very routine, but I have to say that I quite enjoy it.