I just returned from a tour of the Swedish ice breaker Oden. Last year they were here helping break ice but didn’t have time for tours. Our guides were three of the senior officers of the crew of eighteen. We were greeted in a reception area inside the ship where we were invited to remove our coats and shoes before the tour began. The ships store was also in this area so of course I had to buy a golf shirt there. Then it was off to the crews berthing area. Each of the crew members has his own room but the ship can accommodate up to eighty people sleeping four to a cabin. The lounge/ bar was very homey and comfortable as was the movie theatre room with real movie theater seats. The sauna room adjacent to the sauna was really nice and warm. The second officer told us that they spend two hours normally per day in this area conversing in between trips to the sauna. The exercise room was well equipped with a full set of gym equipment. Our next stop was the control bridge of the ship which was very large and fully equipped with state of the art equipment. The officer conducting this part of the tour said that because of the flat bottom design of the boat in open seas the ship could list from 40 degrees port (left) to 40 degrees starboard (right) in a matter of twelve seconds. Under those conditions it was necessary to secure everything and everyone on the bridge. They described to us how the boat slides up onto the ice and crushes it down to the knife shaped hull which pushed it aside. They can make three knots of forward speed crushing through ice three meters thick. The ship also has a V shaped rubber bumpered stern to allow the Oden to be used as a hood ornament on a larger ship to help it break through an ice sheet. The crew told us that the Orca’s and Menke whales were moving up the ice free part of the channel they are breaking. The Oden will be in the area until the container ship leaves McMurdo around the 9th of February.

Before the tour on the Oden I was down at Hut Point watching a little Adelie penguin trying to find his friends. He would run along and toboggan for a while and then stand up to call out to his friends. When he didn’t hear anything he would head off again in search of them. He was really cute and really moved along quickly. The day was spectacularly pretty in full sun with no clouds but the wind was very brisk which made hiking kind of cold so I didn’t go up the hill to check on the Skua chick. I’ll try to head up the hill later this week in better weather.

Check the gallery for some new pictures