Sara Keltie - Landlubbers again After seeing land on Saturday March 2nd, for the first time since beginning the voyage, we all found ourselves savoring the last few days of sea life. As if mother nature herself wanted to send us one final reminder of what we would miss when we returned to land we were blessed with two dolphin sightings over the last two days. Both days of the weekend saw pods of dolphins make a beeline for the ship to take a ride on the bow. On science vessels as with tourist vessels; the moment dolphins arrive all work stops as everyone runs to greet them like excited children. Luckily we were well on schedule on the Sunday with regards to packing and cleaning our cabins and preparing all of the samples for transfer to the University or CSIRO for analysis. Whilst the PM crew had a late night hard at work for their shift the AM crew were able to relax knowing our work for the day had been successfully completed. We did, however, have a late night also. We first adjourned to the lounge to watch one last scary movie together, after which we all planned to go striaght to our bunks for a good nights rest. Somehow between the lounge and our cabins we made our way to the mess for one (or two) last hot chocolates and a big old chat. After four days on board working and living together we enjoyed the last evening we shared together. It was early on the Sunday when we stood for a group photo on the bow, grabbed our bags and stepped onto land. We all said goodbye and made our own way home and to catch up with the loved ones whom we had missed. The cruelest irony of all was that as we stepped onto land many of us felt ourselves overcome with land-sickness much as we had been overcome with sea-sickness when stepping on-board the ship four days before. For the remainder of the day the city swayed beneath my feet until I made my way to bed. And when I did I found I really missed the sight of waves out of the porthole and being rocked to sleep. Just as I knew I would.

Russell Ayers - 3/2/13 Final day. We awake early to clean our cabins and pack up the equipment, followed by a quick breakfast. Out on deck, I can see the entrance to the Derwent River, the final leg to our home port of Hobart. On my left is Bruny Island with a layer of low lying cloud sitting above, it looks spectacular. And below, there is a few dolphins that seem to be escorting us into the river. I go inside again to check everything is ready for disembarkation, but notice the CPR log needs to be amended as some omissions were noticed, cross referencing with CTD logs and logs kept up on the bridge the problem is quickly rectified. We meet up with the Hobart Pilot, and dock outside CSIRO, farewells are said and I feel sad that it’s all over. But hopefully there will be a next time.

Russell Ayers - 2/2/13 Awoke to less rolling this morning, get up and head out on deck to be greeted by the first sight of land in 4 days. I can see the north east part of the Freycinet peninsular, this means we will make it to our intended destination today; a long term monitoring site near Maria Island.. But first we complete a station, CTD, XBT all the usual stuff, we then redeploy the CPR and continue on our way to Maria Island. The sun is out, and the crew take the opportunity to get out on deck to take some photos and enjoy the sight of albatross and dolphins that have decided to follow the ship. It is a beautiful site to see so many albatross in one place, over 100! On arrival to Maria island a huge pod of dolphins, at least 50 strong, ride the wash of the ship and can be seen breaching the water and generally frolicking around the ship, as we slowly steam into position to run our final 4 stations for the voyage. 4pm, we deploy the CTD at a shallow depth <30m then head out to complete the second and third stations, on the third station we have a bit of fun by deploying some polystyrene cups that members of the crew have decorated we attach them atop the CTD and drop it to bellow 900m! the immense pressure at that depth squishes the cups down to about a third there original size. Really cool! The final CTD drop is done a little further east; I am a little sad that the voyage is almost over, as it feels as though we only just began.

Emily Panietz - Day 4 I found my sea legs today!! And just in time because today we went past Maria Island! Hundreds of dolphins were swimming around the boat - jumping, spinning and playing with each other is a sight I don’t think anyone will forget! The only thing that would have made this day any better is being able to swim with the dolphins, but one of the rules on the Southern Surveyor is no swimming. We sampled our last stations close enough to Maria Island to capture some beautiful photos! A beautiful day with no seasickness is amazing! I wish we could stay on the boat for longer but we arrive in Hobart tomorrow morning. Even through all of the seasickness I loved being out at sea and hope I get to return soon!