Day 3

I started opening the PIES, and realized that the cable to communicate with the instrument from a PC was missing from the package, along with other less important stuff ! Furthermore, the instrument did not seem to start as described in the user manual. I can't believe nobody tested this instrument before putting it on the ship !... Finally, John made a cable "a la Mc Giver" from bits and parts from the ship reserves, and we managed to talk to the instrument and solve the booting problem. I played with the settings and self-tests for the rest of the day.

We must have crossed the polar front during the morning, because suddenly the air was much colder, and we started to spot some icebergs ! It is impressive to see these huge pieces of ice floating on the ocean for the first time ! Then we stopped in a bay of the South Orkney Islands to test an instrument, and I saw some penguins on a rock that was too far to take pictures.

Tonight, there was a party on the ship. We drank beers and whiskey, and played a game where you have to build up a tower from a stack of small wooden logs, by removing some logs below, without making the tower collapse. Not easy in a ship rolling with the swell !