What's up doc?

First medical duty on board today… One of my fellow passengers woke up during the night to relieve a most normal physiological function, but in the process of getting back into his berth, had a close and violent encounter between his face and the side of afore mentioned berth. Which was the preamble to me being woken up at 5 by the next of kin to Elephant Man. Luckily, a raid to the freezers allowed me to make a quite convincing icepack (frozen snickers wrapped in kitchen plastic then in a towel), which proved effective for my patient does look quite human again. A slightly beaten up human that is, but no further harm done. O, and for the record: performing minutious care and examination of an injured eye in the constant rolling and swaying of our mini icebreaker: quite the experience, and I'm sure my patient will agree…

Apart from that, life is quite peaceful on board, with its continued routine of eating and sleeping. Since the rolling indeed got gentler, I gave a shower a try this morning (after The Eye, I was quite awake, for once!): felt good, but also extremely reckless, just the kind of thing to break your neck!

A couple of facts about our boat: it's a class A ship, and the smallest icebreaker. 65 by 12.8 meter, it rallies the 2700 km between Hobart and Tasmania five times during the summer season. We are taken care of by an extremely nice crew: they told me this assignment was a pleasure for them, for they often see the same scientists returning from year to year, and it ensures a good working atmosphere: everybody is happy to be here. I'll make sure to enclose pics from life on board as soon as I get back to a connection allowing for this.

A very happy new year to everyone!

Nathalie.