AIP contracted by Aurora for transit voyage and as EL for inaugural expeditions

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Ashley Perrin was onboard Aurora’s new polar explorer vessel the Sylvia Earle to help with the planning, preparation and logistics  ahead of the vessel’s first expedition to Antarctica. This involved the transit across the Southern Ocean from New Zealand to Argentina, prior to its first commercial voyage.

The Aurora polar explorer vessel Sylvia Earle being watched by penguins on the ice off Petermann Island in Antarctica on her inaugural commercial operation, which was guided by expedition leader Ashley Perrin

The Sylvia Earle at Petermann Is. on her first expedition to Antarctica.

A team of six prepared the expedition aspects of the vessel, opening boxes of new equipment, assembling shore bags, crevasse rescue kits, checking the Zodiacs and putting management and safety systems in place to manage up to 128 passengers during operations ashore and on the Zodiacs in remote polar environments.

Kayak, snorkelling and Zodiac operations including landing and small boat cruises among the ice along the shoreline of Antarctica are run from the stern of the explorer vessel Sylvia Earle.

The stern ‘beach’ of the Sylvia Earle from which kayaking and other operations are run

Ashley’s first expedition of the season as EL (expedition leader) crossed the Drakes Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula and returned to Ushuaia. Places visited included Hydrurga Rocks, Cierva Cove, Cuverville Island and the Amirante Brown (Argentinian) Base via the Lemaire Channel. As well as onshore activities, sea kayaking, snorkelling and Zodiac excursions are organised to provide the widest possible experience and insight into Antarctica and the animals that inhabit the region. The Sylvia Earle is equipped with a citizen science lab and this is a particular passion of Ashley’s.

Citizen science undertaken by guests including collecting climate information, recoding whale sightings, analysis of beach and water samples are a amjor part of operations undertaken in Antarctica, South Georgia and the Arctic

Citizen science is a primary activity and strongly promoted onboard Aurora’s ships.

The third expedition was very special with Ashley as Expedition Leader, marine scientist and explorer Sylvia Earle christened the vessel named after her and hosted the 2023 Antarctic Climate Change Symposium. The climate can be of course a very real problem operating in Antarctica as is evident from one of Ashley’s log entries:

“This season has been one of the toughest I have worked as EL down south. A huge weather system stretching from Puerto Montt to the southern end of the peninsula approximately 1700+nm long. The systems are coming thru faster and packing a stronger punch. “

Whale watching and identification is part of the citizen science activities onboard Auorora expeditions and yachts travelling to the the Antarctic, South Georgia and the Arctic. This Minke whale was spotted during the 2023 Climate Change Conference

One of the many whales spotted during and emphasised the purpose of the conference.

My team had to deal with a three day northbound flight delay requiring us to sail with the passengers northbound to Puerto Williams. They finished their expedition 5 days late. As we are under contract to wait for three days on the Peninsula we continued to carry out landings and kept the passengers in expedition mode. Aurora had to cancel an entire expedition due to the flights being unable to come into King George Island. The plus side for us as an expedition team is that we had plenty of time to work on our expedition equipment and to carry out training.  I was very sad for people missing their trip of a lifetime however.“.

Small boat Zodiac operations from the explorer vessel Sylvia Earle in the Neumayer Channel off Damoy, Antarctica.

Sylvia Earle off Damoy with Zodiac operations and shore landing underway.

For me personally I enjoyed leading two very strong teams of talented hard working individuals. I got to visit four new sites for me and even got to the Danger islands but that was bitter-sweet. The sea ice was the lowest on record this season, there was none in the Circle and none in the Weddell. The snow levels were extraordinarily deep. The penguins will have a very bad year. At Cuverville we saw some nesting on the waterline and their nests were underwater at every high tide.