Date - 2 December
Weather - Sunny
Seas - Relatively Calm
Sunrise - 3.12am
Sunset - 11.26pm
We woke up on the open seas of the Drake Passage and surprisingly, the sea was relatively calm. We were relieved and happy as we had psychologically built ourselves up for high thrashing waves! Many of us have increased our intake of seasickness medication in preparation for rougher seas. As we weren't given the usual wake up call by the expedition leader it seemed that many of the passengers had taken the opportunity to sleep in. There were very few at breakfast at eight o'clock, however, the Aussie contingent of Cathy, Chris, Lorraine, John, Belinda and Graeme were there.
During the next two days as we make our way back to Ushuaia we will spend our time in lectures, other entertainment, and eating our way through more excellent meals. Jimmy, one of the marine biologists gave the first lecture of the day on "Orcas - Natural Born Killers". There were stunning photos which were taken yesterday from one of the zodiacs. The Orcas live in pods and live for a long time. One orca has been tracked for so long that she is now one hundred years old and was last sighted in October. Coincidently, the lecture was interrupted by a sighting of a pod of Finback Whales close to the starboard of the ship. We all ran to the starboard side to view them.
"Wintering at the Last Place on Earth" was the lecture before lunchtime. Dick, the expedition's historian, gave a fascinating insight on living at the South Pole during the winter of 1975 as part of the American Base Station. He was the support leader and described the uniqueness of nine months of isolation, no direct sunlight, storms of eight to ten days, only seeing each other (18 men) and also being dependent on each other for survival. The dynamics between the individuals was interesting to learn about. The base station is at an astonishing height of 3500m in altitude with a humidity in single digits so the environment is extreme. Dick recommended a number of books written by some of the people who had lived in such harsh conditions.
After lunch we had some downtime which was about the first time during the busy schedule of the expedition. During the afternoon we were encouraged to upload some of our photos onto the ship's journal. These photos as well as other information about the expedition will be available via a link about a month after the voyage ends. We will use the information to complete our photo book. A late afternoon talk was for all the budding photographers titled "Editing Antarctica and Sub-Antarctic Islands". It was a useful talk on enhancing photos through the use of a software program called Light Room.
At 6.00pm we all gathered in the Nautilus Lounge to view a video showing the 48 (nearly 25%) of passengers who plunged into the freezing sea. It was very amusing. This was followed by a fund-raising auction of fourteen items ranging from our voyage flag which was weather beaten and tattered by the winds of the Southern Ocean to an Antarctic Tartan scarf designed by the Antarctic Heritage Trust to represent the colours of the Antarctic. The funds raised went to the South Georgia Heritage Trust, Penguin Lifelines and Underwater Bait Setter. The latter organisation has developed a hook which is only operational at a depth that prevents the mass killing of Albatros. The voyage flag went for US$2,500 and the voyage chart for US$3200. Approximately, US$9,500 was raised.
Tonight Henk and I along with Sydney couple Belinda and John enjoyed scallops and lobster for dinner. All the meals on the voyage have been excellent. After dinner the staff were thanked by the passengers in the restaurant. It was good to acknowledge the range of staff who have worked both in front and behind the scenes to bring about such an excellent expedition.
Overnight we will leave the Drake Passage and move into the Beagle Channel. We have been extremely lucky with the weather which has meant we have been able to land at all possible locations and see an abundance of wildlife.
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