S.A. Agulhas II with SANAE58 onboard heading South

The S.A. Agulhas II has departed from the East Pier of Cape Town harbour on 6 December 2018. The ship then docked at customs, where passports of all passengers onboard were stamped. The ship officially left Cape Town 7 December 2018 en route Antarctica.

Track the S.A. Agulhas II here.

: Programme Director, Nishendra Devanunthan, coming down the gangway after some final checks onboard.

: The 58th SANAE Overwintering Team.

: The S.A. Agulhas II departing from East Pier, Cape Town Harbour.

: SANAE58 Team Logo.

: Family and friends waiting on the quayside to wave goodbye. Some will retun in 3 months time, others will only return in 2020.

: Team members ready for their 14 month Antarctic Expedition.

: Team member of the 5th SANAE Team (1964), Guy Trevor Robertson, attended the ship’s departure. With him in the photo is Ria Olivier (ALSA), who will make sure Guy’s images, of his time in the Antarctic, gets archived.

: Two postgrad students of the Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Departmenet at Stellenbosch University (James Matthee & Christof van Zijl) that will be testing the ship’s shaft line during this voyage.

: Chef Chad Africa is ready for his 10th Antarctic expedition.

The voyage schedule is as follows:

SANAE	06/12/2018	19/12/2018			Annual relief voyage Cape Town to Antarctica (Penguin Bukta)
		20/12/2018	31/12/2018		Offloading, fuel pumping
		01/01/2019	14/02/2019		Weddell Sea Expedition
			15/02/2019	23/02/2019	Back-loading, fuel pumping
			24/02/2019	11/03/2019	Return to Cape Town (via SS Island if required)

Onboard the vessel is the 58th SANAE Overwintering team that will stay in and maintain South Africa’s Antarctic research station (SANAE IV), while gathering weather and space weather data for a period of 14 months.