Onboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough

We have now been sailing for three days, heading almost due south.  I am probably about as far from land as I have ever been on a ship before. 

The day we set off and the next morning were beautifully calm. 

 

Since then the waves have been getting bigger, the winds stronger and the temperature colder, as we head further south.  This morning the air temperature is down to 4 degrees. 

The current location of the RRS Sir David Attenborough can be found on the ship tracker here:

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9798222

The ships webcam can be found here (although it’s not always a very clear image):

https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/images/webcams/rrs-sir-david-attenborough-webcam/ 

Lots more information about the ship and its facilities can be found on this nice page here (if you go far enough down the page there is even a virtual ship tour):

https://www.bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/facility/rrs-sir-david-attenborough/

Here are a few pictures of the inside of the ship.  This is the mess room (dining room) and the food hatch (the galley (kitchen)) lies behind it.  This is arguably the most important room on the ship!  It has full length glass windows down its whole length so we get a good view at mealtimes.  We are fed frequently and very well! 

Whilst on board, we are mostly left to do our own thing, but we do also spend time helping the crew with housekeeping tasks (peeling potatoes, hoovering, scrubbing etc).  We have a large bar and lounge.

The cabins are spacious.  The ship is not currently full so we have a cabin each and plenty of room.   

At the start of each Antarctic season, the ship, fully laden with food, supplies and science equipment for the research stations, sets sails from the UK and travels south to do a lap of all of the British Antarctic research stations.  At the end of the season it does the same, and in between it conducts Antarctic scientific research at sea.  It transports people to the research stations and resupplies the stations with all the food and equipment needed for the following year.  First stop this year is Signy research station on Sunday, where I will be getting off to do my work.