February 28, 2008 - Antarctic Sailing: Warm Water in Grandidier Channel
by Kate Laird

I wrote the previous entry this morning and then went to cook lunch. I realized I'd forgotten to pull a bottle of olive oil out of the bilge, and as any one who cooks on a yacht down here or in Tierra del Fuego will know, this is a big mistake: olive oil should be frozen solid in the bilge, and it normally takes a day or so at cabin temperature to thaw out. I pulled out the oil, and it was completely liquid. This in our uninsulated, unpainted aluminum bilge. It should be about 33 F / 0.5 C. We hauled up a bucket of sea water and measured it: 40 F / 4.5 C. This is a huge change from last year. The water here in the Grandidier Channel is warmer than the waters 400 miles farther north at Cape Horn. No wonder the ice is disappearing before our eyes.

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