Antarctic Waters

Royal Navy Helicopter

Day 13: Wednesday, January 16, 2002

10:59 AM: The ceiling was rather low...

...so, we were a bit surprised to see the U.K. Royal Navy helicopter come pay us another visit.

Earlier, sitting in our cabin, we heard a very loud roar. Owen jumped up and ran out on our balcony, arriving just in time to see this guy fly by just above our 9^th floor cabin level. Zoom and he was gone. The captain, or somebody on the bridge contacted him and said, "Come on back." He was doing photographic missions, and next trip, he let us know he was coming. At 11:00 AM the bridge notified the passengers, so many of us were waiting on the observation decks this time. He made several passes around the ship.

Then he took a bow!

Royal Navy IceBreaker Hydrographic Ship HMS Endurance This is the helicopter's mother ship. She was anchored off in the distance to the right of ice-covered point in the picture below. Because of its large size, the Ryndam was a curiosity to all who saw her in the Antarctic.

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