Sea Spirit: Day 2

So it’s been our first full day at sea, and it has literally been up and down.  Many are suffering from low grade seasickness, which varies from light headache to slight loss of appetite and fatigue.  Others are even worse for wear.  The Drake Passage is notorious for rough waters, but we have been told that this passage is 1 on a scale from 1 to 10.  Little comfort for those who are nursing a bad tummy in bed.  But let’s not dwell on the negative.  We have been informed that we may be able to make a landing tomorrow – which is a full day earlier than normal!  Apparently  our travel karma is pretty good.   So we did some walking around the deck to get some air and enjoy the sunshine.

                              On the deck of the Sea Spirit

Then there were several lectures and slide shows on a variety of topics connected to the Antarctic region.  So we have now become experts on Antarctic birds – albatross and petrels and penguins, oh my!  And the next time you see us at a party we will probably be dropping some wildly impressive facts about the Antarctic krill.  What’s the Antarctic krill you ask?  It’s a small (3-5 cm) crustacean which provides a huge amount of food for the ecosystem here and is the second largest species by mass on the planet.  Who knew? (sidebar: cows are first and humans are third).  If you want to know more, you will have to invite us to your next party.

                          Lectures and briefings

 There were also lectures on photography, whales, and the history of exploration in the Antarctic region.  So much information.  But seriously, you cannot see the wildlife here anywhere else in the world.  Most of the species of birds here live the vast majority of their lives at sea.  In fact, the wandering albatross (pictured below) will stay at sea and never touch land for 5 years at a time! 

                             The Wandering Albatross

So then it was dinner as usual and more chatting with new friends.  Most passengers here are on their first Antarctic voyage.   And there are people here from all over the world – Japan, Germany, France, U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Austria and Argentina.  Chatting over dinner it’s interesting to learn of other people’s world travels – that’s one of the fun things about doing a trip like this – meeting new people and hearing about some new exciting places to visit.  A few people at our table talked about trips trekking through Nepal, hugging koalas in Australia, and sipping wine in the Napa Valley.  It makes you want to start planning your next trip.  So now it’s off to bed for a good sleep since tomorrow should prove to be a busy day.

So, until then.....