WEATHER: Ocean cruising – Overcast and swells of 4-5m
HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Not getting sea sickness
WORD OF THE DAY: Have you taken your tablet? (relating to sea sickness)
I am the Albatross that waits for you at the end of the earth. I am the forgotten soul of the dead Sailors who crossed Cape Horn from all the seas of the world. But they did not die in the furious waves. Today they fly on my wings to eternity. In the last trough of the Antarctic winds.
Poem by Sara Vial – December 1992
Follow our journey at http://www.gadventures.com/marine/triplog-login/ where you can find our Daily Expedition Reports and other documents from our voyage. It also maps our itinerary and stops along the way, so you may find this of interest. You will need the following to get in:
Username: antarctica111107
Password: expedition
Welcome to the Drake Passage. Around midnight last night we felt the power of the Drake hit the ship and we started our rattle and rolling for the next expected 45-50 hours it was going to take us to get back to Ushuaia. We are going ‘uphill’ in layman terms. We are going against the current and against the winds, so we really have a job ahead of us. In the wee hours I could hear a door opening and closing for hours thinking it was Jeremy’s cabin next door, but it after seeing him this morning, he thought it was us but it was a cupboard in the hallway, which is now secured tight. I am getting some washing done today. I have left a bag of 25 pieces for Kenneth. It is costing me 66AUD, but I didn’t think that was too bad, and I was considering the last time I had my clothes machine washed was back in London on the 23rd October, so around 3 weeks ago, it was time. As mentioned in many previous blogs, an expense that just has to be shelled out.
There was no wakeup call this morning, just an announcement that breakfast was ready at 8am. I managed to get 10.5 hours sleep last night, which was great and I must have really needed it. I had a shower this morning, which was a small challenge as at this point the ship is really rocking. I can see why they make the shower recess so small now, so you can wedge yourself in there during rough seas and still get the job done. I even managed to wash my hair, which is a credit to me, just ask me. So off we head to the dining room. We are all walking around like we are drunk. The rule of ‘always have a hand for the ship’ is applied to today. If there isn’t a rail, we are using the wall for support, if you didn’t you would surely lose your footing. The plates were clattering and it was funny to watch people walking around the dining room back and forth from the buffet as their legs and arms flailed around looking for support from chair to chair or table to table. I had a glass of OJ in one hand and my plate of food in the other and I just couldn’t risk walking the 3m to my table with no hands, so I out my juice down, delivered my plate to the table and then doubled back for the glass of OJ. It was that bad. At one point my sausage nearly rolled of my plate a few times as we rocked and rolled. Jules and were feeling okay, but I did take it easy on breakfast and didn’t eat as much as I normally do. I’m erring on the side of caution till we know just how bad the Drake is going to get. Susan mentioned yesterday that last night and most of today were going to be not too bad, but they would have more up to date information later in the afternoon for the second day’s passage. We have not heard any further news at this point.
So with breakfast done, we staggered our way down one flight of stairs. I hit the internet for around 10 minutes basically just checking Hotmail and my Facebook account, literally. As the internet time is based on MB downloaded Facebook is a killer with all the content on pages, so I just make sure there is nothing important to be read and will leave the 40 odd notifications till I get back to land based internet.
We also found out how the Auction went last night and it seemed a great success. All the proceeds raised were going towards saving the Albatross. 100,000 albatrosses die needlessly each year on long line fishing hooks due to drowning as accidental by-catch in the nets. Hence they are a threatened species in the vulnerable category. This means there are approximately fewer than 10,000 birds in the wild and their population is due to decline a further 30% over the next 10 years, making the birds to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. In total the Auction raised 1500USD. The main ticket items were the MS Expedition flag from the bow of the ship went for 300USD, the nautical map for the cruise went for 840USD, the group shot photo that was taken and signed by the Captain and officers for 65USD and some glacier water in some water bottles went for 100USD to name a few items. For more information on saving the Albatross can be found on www.savethealbatross.net
There was a lecture at 9.30am by John on Southern Cetaceans (whales and dolphins). He certainly knows his stuff, but I have to say the rocking and rolling of the ship was a little off putting and after an hour, he was smart enough to stop at the Humpback whales section and we will come back to that in another lecture. It was interesting, but we haven’t really seen any of these animals on the trip, except this morning there were some whale sightings, so the interest for me is quite low based on this. But hey I showed up. The next lecture was at 11.15am with Scott on a compilation of historical Events and Explorers of Antarctica. I would have liked to have gone to this one, but after heading back to the cabin after Johns talk, and getting in a 45 minute kip, I just couldn’t shake myself again to get up, so I slept through till the lunch bing bing bong at 12.30pm.
Our next lecture wasn’t until 3.00pm. So back to the rocking cabin we retired. I bought an Antarctic Logbook from Port Lockroy, so I have been busy writing in the missed days into this amazing book. It is a beautiful book, with a wildlife checklists, information about Antarctica, the history, destinations etc… It will make an amazing keepsake, so I am determined to get that up to date before the end of the cruise, as I will be sending it home in the next package. I am only 2 days behind, and thank goodness I have written my blog, so I am just gleaning my information from that.
The 3.00pm lecture with Ozi was going through what the Antarctic Treaty is and what its main goal is. Unique among the world’s land masses, Antarctica had no indigenous people, no permanent inhabitants and it’s not the sovereign territory of any nation. In 1961 an international agreement was put into place known as the Antarctic Treaty System. The treaty came about as it was a way to deal with territorial claims made by the seven nations. During the first half of the 20th century Norway, Australia, France, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and the United Kingdom all declared portions of Antarctica to be their own sovereign territory. The trickiest part of all that was Chile, Argentina and the United Kingdom all claimed the Antarctic Peninsular and each of these nations treated the other two as if they were trespassing. The Antarctic Treaty dealt with these conflicting claims by ignoring them. It does not agree or disagree with the claims but just gets on with the job of governing the region as a large science project and more recently a tourist attraction. Military installations are banned and every nation operating there has the right to inspect any other nation’s facilities.
Research stations were built by the original 12 treaty countries and then by other countries as they joined the treaty. There are now stations of 29 countries in Antarctica. Even though science is the main focus of the countries being on the continent, behind the scenes, should the treaty expire, or it can now be dissolved by consensus, the claims game will begin with serious implications. Some people think there is an ulterior motive that when the treaty expires in 2048, that it may not be renewed and there is a lot of talk about mining in this area, and the impact obviously on the environment if this was to happen would be catastrophic. Even though there are now 49 countries in the Treaty, Malaysia was the most recent to join late last year, there are only 28 counties that actually have voting power. The other countries are able to attend the meetings they just have no voting rights. In the 5 decades since the Antarctic Treaty was signed, 35 countries joined the club. The current total being 49 countries, which covers 80% of the world’s population, which is bound by the agreement. If one of those countries was to break any of the rules governed by the treaty they will be punished by law in their own country.
We had free time till 6.15pm, when they had a compulsory attendance for our briefing on the disembarkation procedures of the ship on Saturday morning and how it all works and instructions on the finalization of our bill. There are 3 transfers that G Adventures are operating. One is to the airport, one into town and one for people that have later flights or doing their own arrangements. Julie, Jeremy and I are all on the 10.30am flight, so we are on transfer one. We have to have our bags outside our cabins at 7am with our purple tags on them (transfer 1) and then we head to breakfast and we are then departing the ship at 8am. Our bags will be waiting for us on the pier for us to identify and then we carry them to the coach that will then take us to the airport. We have signed credit card authorizations for the charges of the ship for the last 12 days. I pretty much only have one bottle of white wine, 3 internet packages, a sweater I bought in the gift shop and my washing that I got done today. My trip budget is looking healthier and healthier every trip. That is GREAT news as it means I will be able to keep travelling longer the more money I save. There is also tipping that needs to be taken care of. They suggest 10-15USD per day for this, which is then distributed amongst all the staff, including the behind the scenes people like the chef and engineers. An envelope will be left in the cabins tomorrow or you also have the option of adding the charge to your credit card. Jules and I have decided to put a 100USD on our credit cards to the major tipping pool and then we are going to tip our room steward Kenneth and additional 20USD each to say thanks. I also have a wad of Aussie stick pins still left, so we can give him one of those as well. Everyone has certainly deserved every penny on this trip. The staff have been more than AMAZING.
John finished his talk on Humpback whales after the briefing and then Alex the Geologist got up and explained some ocean floor stuff and then it was just about dinner time. It was the usual 4 courses and then back to the cabin by 8.45pm. I quickly checked the internet and I think I am going to have some time to burn tomorrow to use up the rest of my MB, but I am sure that won’t be too difficult to do.
So the Drake Passage hasn’t been too mean to us today, and (touchwood) the conditions are not due to change too much tomorrow either. On a rating from 1-10 Susan said we are probably in a 3.5 rating for the roughness of this crossing. Man I really would hate to even be in a 5 rating let alone something higher than that! Thank-you travel gods.
Goodnight from our second last night on the MS Expedition.
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