Helen FieldsScience Writer

It looks like we’re headed out of the ice for good tonight. We’ve been in and out of the ice for five straight weeks, but now the boat is pointed toward Dutch Harbor. Here’s a picture of our trail:

The ice is still reasonably dense here, but we’re going south and this can’t last forever. My semi-educated guess: six more hours of ice. (It’s a little before 11 p.m. local time on Thursday.)

I’m sorry to see the ice go! It’s just so fascinating – it comes in so many shapes and forms, and it changes all the time. I don’t know if I’ll ever see it again.