Freddy - 2nd engineer | Home | Maaike - 2nd mate

Wow - I cannot believe the beauty of the Southern Ocean. The elegance of the albatrosses and petrels in any weather. Seeing seals and penguins swimming past the ship and humpback whales frolicking around an iceberg. Can you imagine? And the ocean itself is amazing - never have I seen such colours anywhere else. The blues, the greens - they are indescribable. I feel insignificant here but I am also over-awed on a constant basis.

But it is a hostile place for humans and if I had my greatest wish, it's a place where we would not come, it is enough to know it is here. I'd been told this by people who have been here before but never really agreed - now I feel it in my bones. But we have to come because the Japanese government continues to send its whaling fleet to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and the Australian government, like so many others, continues to do nothing about it.

This is my first time here, and my second onboard the Espy as assistant cook. I cook with Isha and I try to keep the stores (huge grocery cupboards) in order - not an easy task when we are being tossed around in 12 metre seas! Apart from exploding yoghurt we have had no great mishaps so far! And that is a good thing because we have to keep the crew healthy and well fed, ready to put themselves on the line with the Japanese whalers. It is definitely an interesting task to prepare a meal for 38 while rolling 30 degrees in each direction! You have to laugh at what goes on in the galley under those conditions - like cookies that I am aiming into the oven flying off the tray and through the air, winding up metres away in with the boiling eggs! But we did wind up with about 70 chocolate chip cookies for morning tea.

So in the weeks ahead I know I will take in the beauty of this place as much as I possibly can, and I know that I will see my first whale killed, and my second, and my third. But I also have the opportunity to be part of an amazing crew that are here to stop whales being killed - and I will do my best to see that happen.

- Celeste

Respect for the cook. From my experience, it's one of the most challenging jobs on a boat: you need creativity, a good sense of humor and lots of organisation.
Plus, you're doing it for the whales, which is the one thing that could make it even more respectable.

Dear Old Cabin Mate,
thanks for the flying biscuits. But none of them got here!!

P.D. Do not tell me u've been cooking muffins without me o/b. cannot believe that!!