Blog Archive

Monday 27 February 2017

16th February 2017 On The Way To Antarctica

16th February  2017

Woke this morning to the Expedition Leader on the speaker waking us all up and telling us to come for breakfast. He is going to be very irritating, Steve had decided.
After a rocky evening, the sea had been very kind overnight with just a gentle 4m swell, rocking gently for our first night’s sleep on the ship. As the morning wore on, the swell picked up and the sea sickness bags that are everywhere on the ship came into use. By the end of the day, everybody including the crew were sporting anti seasickness tablets, bands, gels, tablets and prayer to prevent the onslaught of the inevitable.
We were holding up well and our little patches behind our ears were doing a good job if we needed it and we were still eating and drinking.
1000 miles of nothing

By lunchtime there were only about half us there.  Presumably, everyone else was in their beds wanting to die. The ship’s doctor was at full stretch handing out pills, patches, advice as well as injections for the ones really badly affected. In fact, looking around, you would probably be the odd one out if you didn’t need anything but we were determined not to let it get to us and it didn’t.

We had to hang on to some part of the ship as otherwise in heavy swell, we ended up running down corridors we didn’t want to go down or falling in someone’s open cabin door.  We had already had 3 complete strangers in our cabin.
Although the swell was very high, the weather was beautiful, clear and sunny, and the air was crystal clear, so we ended up sitting outside with the whole observation deck to ourselves.
Drakes Passage - Steve topping up the tan.
After 30 minutes in this clear air he was burnt!

We had several talks from the experts on board the ship and there were many true experts to choose from. There was an in depth talk on Whales and some great footage of what they had seen. We also have the Scientists on board who are surveying whales, so all really interesting.  









Not an hour has gone by without a lecture from a scientist of one sort or another.  There is also a professional polar historian on board and his session was also really interesting. Not sure how he ended up as a Polar Historian when he comes from Florida !! Later, coming aboard from another ship, was a writer and videographer from National Geographic Magazine and like all of the rest, were very accessible to talk to and very interesting.


Open Bridge policy where you can go on bridge anytime
 - Steve obviously in control


After dinner it was time for the bar with some of our fellow travellers, so a few night caps and then off to bed in our cosy cabin for a completely disturbed night sleep. .

I hope the captain is taking this driving seriously




Just a small swell they said.....arrgghhhh !!

17th February 2017 " Nearly In Antarctica"

17 February 2017  "Nearly in Antarctica"

Another (bloody annoying) Tannoy announcement start to the day with Boris the Expedition Leader on the blower waking us all up and telling us to come for breakfast and briefing. Today he was channelling his inner Robin Williams and Good Morning Vietnam style. The best news was that we had just crossed into Antarctic waters although we still could not see a thing other than a million miles of sea.

It had been a much rougher night and as a result most people had slept badly, including us. When we got up, the swell had us running across the cabin before bouncing off the cabin door like a pair of runners up in “Come Dancing”.  The return swell had us back sitting on our bed like we were tied to elastic, so it took a while to get washed and dressed (shaving – a nightmare) but was very funny.




After breakfast we had to go a mandatory session on the rules for anyone landing in Antarctica;  no chasing penguins, watch out for fur seals and if you are attacked by birds on a nesting site put your hand up in the air.  
This was followed by a lesson on how to access and leave the Zodiac  boats that will take us on to the continent of Antarctica from the ship. With Janette looking decidedly green, this is not looking good for tomorrow.
After this it was up on deck for some fresh air. We have never seen so much nothing…and in two days of sailing, we have not seen one ship which adds to the feelings of trepidation. W
e both agreed that even though this was a normal trip for the crew, most passengers were anxious and seemingly outside of their comfort zones.



Next session was getting all our gear ready for our first expedition tomorrow once we have reached the first set of islands in Antarctica. Because of the seriously strict regulations, we have to vacuum all our outer clothes, take our boots and dry bags through the disinfectant to make sure we don’t take anything non-native with us onto Antarctica or bring it back.  This was a process we had to do every time we left or boarded the ship. 
The leader of the whale research team then did a fascinating talk on Antarctic whales and their research programme. Before the treaty to stop whaling in this area was introduced, over 100 years of whaling activity, nearly a million whales were killed. The populations are now recovering slowly but they are all still pretty fired up about the Japanese starting to kill whales again for “research” purposes. The view here is the research that Japan refers to actually has not been read by anybody and was just used as an excuse to start whaling again. 
Land Ahoy - Our first sight of Antarctica - The Smith Islands

Just before dinner we had a briefing on what we could expect to see the next day. Unbelievably we have been so lucky with the weather we were told the ship would pass through the Lemaire channel for the first time this season. It is one of the most stunning entrances to the Antarctic region and rarely does the weather allow a visit.  5.30am alarm was set for us to witness a sight that promised to be stunning.

After dinner and a fun evening with our new Aussie friends Mick and Ang, or as Steve called him “Crocodile Dundee”, we headed off to bed full of excitement and even more trepidation. Sleep hadn’t been easy and now we were almost there, it was even harder.