01.11.2012-21.11.2012 - Cameras and Kafka's whims

(Preparation of the cruise ANT-XXIX/3)

01.11.2012 (Thursday). I order my flight tickets via Opodo. Expensive: about 1500 euros. Departure on 16.01.2013, arrival at Punta Arenas on 17.01.2013. Return flight on 24.03.2013, arrival in Brussels on 25.03.2013. Flights: Brussels-Madrid, Madrid-Santiago, Santiago-Punta Arenas and Punta Arenas-santiago, Santiago-Madrid, Madrid-Brussels. Both complete travels = about 24h.

03.11.2012 (Saturday). I went to Globe Marine (Uccle) and was looking at the video camera system GOPRO (to be fixed on my head or helmet. Not cheap (around 400 euros with protection against splash) but this could be very useful to give the "live feeling". Not yet bought but I am seriously considering to buy it.

05.11.2012 (Monday). I tell Marie to urgently order her flight tickets. Otherwise their price will skyrocket. I download some old dictionary French-English and English-French in pdf format from Archives.org, because we will have to write quite a lot of things on board (the blog and the cruise report) and we had not the place for taking dictionary on board and limited access to Internet.

06.11.2012 (Tuesday). Discussion with Jiska Verbouw and Charlotte Degueldre (outreach department of RBINS) on the creation of the present Antarctic blog and on outreach issues. They will put a small introduction page on the website of RBINS (in Dutch, English and French) with a link on the blog itself (in English only). The blog itself should be uploaded on 'Blogspot' and should include this logbook (treating events before, during and possibly after the cruise). It will be to me and Marie to upload the pages from the Polarstern. Marie Verheye will probably also contribute to the redaction of the second part of the blog. I speak with Jiska and Charlotte about my idea to buy a GOPRO video camera and they are rather enthusiastic to the idea. Such videos could be used by RBINS or by television chains at my return from Antarctica. In two or three weeks, I will have to give to Jiska and Charlotte an improved version of the journal (with style corrections and removal of some too personal aspects). World Courier informs me that the priority samples will be sent from Cape Town to Germany and (as internal European transport) from Germany to Belgium. This would mean much less red tape for me and I am very happy with that.

13.11.2012. Julian Gutt send me an e-mail telling this. "I just discussed again the transportation of dangerous goods (...). (1) AWI will not organize transportation of dangerous goods e.g. by World Courier. (2) It is not allowed to store ethanol in a freezer or fridge, not on board Polarstern and not at home in the lab due to safety reasons. Before AWI offered to be in charge of the transportation of frozen material you asked to store ethanol samples in the fridge (Dorte [Janussen]) and at room temperature (Cédric). Would a solution be to store these ethanol samples at room temperature on board until Polarstern returns to Bremerhaven? If you would agree we have to check whether there is a place on board of approx. 1 qm to fulfill this requirement. (...)". And in a second e-mail " I did not yet write that we find a place for which we get the guarantee that the ethanol samples will not be stowed outside in a container with full sunshine on in in the tropics on the way home. I will ask for an opportunity to keep it reliably at normal room temperature and will inform you". So the issue of the non-priority biological samples is not yet solved.

16.11.2012 (Thursday). I buy the GOPRO video camera for filming scientific activities on deck during the expedition.

18.11.2012 (Sunday). First tests of my new camera Nikon D5100 (with the normal objective), at the Belgian coast. For macrophotographies, my objective Sigma (yet to be tested, will be mandatory.

20.11.2012 (Tuesday). Examination on my laptop of my first photographs and videos made with my camera D5100 proved to be very conclusive. The quality of the videos is impressive.

21.11.2012 (Wednesday). Julian Gutt send me an e-mail telling this. "Dear Cedric, concerning your request to store ethanol samples of a total of 0.7 cubic metres at room temperature from ANT-XIX/3 until the return of PS to Bremerhaven, I got the o.k. of the AWI logistic department, just the place, where to store the material has to be discussed on board with the cargo officer." So, a solution for the non-priority samples is dawning as well.

(Cédric)