We awoke at 6:20 this morning with the ship rolling from one side to another; the captain had said we would begin rolling around 6:30 and he was right! We awoke to 5’ seas as we left the fjords for the open sea. The seas increased from 6 to 8 feet by noon. We sure hope that Drakes Passage from South America to Antarctica settles down to well below the typical 20 feet!
Margo was the first to succumb to a seasick patch. Walking in the ship is entertaining! Jan, the cruise director, had said “low and slow… walk with bent knees and slowly.” I don’t think we can get low or slow enough to save us from bouncing side to side down the hallway!
There is a chart on deck 7 that shows which mammals and birds have been spotted each day by species. According to the chart, Blue Whales, Dusky Dolphins and South American Fur Seals were spotted January 14th, and Humbolt Penguins on January 15th. Yet all we have seen are birds in the sky and seals from afar. We must step up our wildlife viewing skills! Do we need to work on our patience, our eyesight, or both? After talking with members of the exhibition team we were told that we need patience. You know that will be challenging for both of us!
Today is the second day of trivia. They keep scores cumulatively so winning on day one doesn’t really mean a lot. We came in second today, and are in 2nd place overall. One of our team members, Deb from Australia, is very competitive! You should have seen the look we got when we were wrong about how many days there were in February 1900. We were extremely confident (Mark even said, “NO, I KNOW this one!) there were 29 because it would have been a leap year, but no… There is the rule of the century which is if leap year falls in a century year then there is no 29th day. And who knows what JPEG stands for? We got the “Joint”, but missed the rest of it by a mile.
We recovered from our 2nd place finish and went to hear expedition team member, Sean Todd, as he talked about Whales of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic Peninsula. You can identify whales by the formation of their blow – is it high, or low? Sean has a course through The Great Courses entitled “Life in the World’s Oceans” (www.TheGreatCourses.com/Todd). The expedition team presentations are limited to 45 minutes. No one in the auditorium is ready to leave and wants to hear more. These people are like the very best professors you had in college.
What would a cruise be without a galley tour? There are 7 different galleys on the ship. The organization and structure of the galleys is particularly impressive! Margo was interested in what they do with the waste. Danny will be pleased with their environmental awareness and approach. The use a reverse osmosis system to desalinate the ocean water for on-board use. The waste food is separated between that which can be recycled in the ocean to feed the fish from that such as egg shells, lobster shells, etc. that is compressed and off-loaded at specific waste stations along the way. Glass waste is ground up and compressed. They only use one of the two dish washing machines to save water. The entire wash cycle takes 90 seconds at 180 degrees!
During dinner, Margo saw a whale 3 times (or 3 different whales). We were not right beside the window, but she saw the blow, then a little bit farther saw it blow again. And then she saw it a 3rd time! We will ask Sean what kind of whale it was. The blow was high and thin, not short and fat. There are no pictures because we were just enjoying the experience.
We ended the day watching Donovan and Rebecca, an impressive acrobatic variety act. Their strength and balance were beyond description. Look them up on YouTube. What was even more amazing is they were able to perform with 6 – 8’ seas.
We set the alarm for 7:00 so we could see the glacier that we are promised to see tomorrow morning at 8:30. More on that later!