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.....
