It was February. We had a clear, still day wandering through this beautiful island with elephant seals and birds. It was magnificent. Another wonderful day was on one of the Aurora Australis voyages, where we had to do some work tied up to the fast sea ice (ice that extends out from land into sea). The scientists who weren't working were allowed onto the ice and a soccer game took place. Scientifically speaking, probably the most memorable voyage was the last one I did in 2007, where I was chief scientist on Aurora Australis, which was carrying 62 scientists from 14 countries. We were attempting to figure out why biological productivity off the east coast of Tasmania is higher than in waters off the west of Tasmania. [We discovered that] the reason why is tied up with the supply of iron. It was great science, a great team of people from all over the world and it was great fun. The French research vessel, Marion Dufresne , off Crozet in the Kerguelen Islands with a king penguin colony in the foreground. We can carry about 40 scientists on the RV . On Southern Surveyor, we can carry a maximum of about 13 or 14. The increased number of scientists means we can go out and do interdisciplinary science. We can, for example, have atmospheric specialists on board measuring various things in the atmosphere and collecting aerosol samples. And, we can have biological oceanographers on board who are looking at the