Henry's Igloo

• January 22nd - 28th
Free at last!! From the 6th of January until the 22nd of January the Polar Bird had been stuck in pack ice just North of Casey. The Ship had drifted North West with the ice from position 65 degrees 6 minutes South / 109 degrees 14 minutes East to position 64 degrees 53 minutes South / 106 degrees 1 minute East in just over 15 days. Although the pack ice was still thick it had broken up enough to allow the Polar Bird to break some leads through the ice and out into the open sea to the North of the ice edge. Now the Polar Bird had to find an easier passage through the ice band and into Casey. With the help of Satellite images of the ice and some rough weather, after several attempts the Polar Bird managed to make slow but sure progress through 39 Nautical Miles of thick but loose pack ice to open waters and into Casey.

We begin to move through some leads in the pack ice The dark band of sky above the horizon is the reflection  of the open sea on the clouds (water sky).	With relief we leave behind the thick pack ice band between us and Casey

After riding out a storm on open seas the scattered ice  on the calm waters is a welcome sight.	We begin to contemplate if we will ever get through the ice and into Casey.

After several attempts we start to make some progress	39 Nautical Miles of ice and 25 Nautical Miles of open sea later we finally see the rising plateau and coast of Antarctica

The Polar Bird anchors in the Bay off Casey and is welcomed by excited expeditioners in Zodiacs.

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