Margo appreciates all the kind comments she receives about her wonderful writing in the blog. She must clarify and give credit where credit is due. Here is our general process for documenting our journey. Margo starts a draft describing what she recalls from the day, then Mark takes a pass and adds his part, generally the color commentary. Together we edit the writing before posting. The blog comes from Margo because she is the one who set up the site and posts the blogs. Margo does take the majority of pictures. Now, on to today’s post.
Crossing Drake Passage was a bit of a let-down for Margo. Mark was thrilled that our pitching and rolling was only moderate. According to the Captain, “It’s not quite Drake’s Lake but somewhat comfortable with 11’ swells.” We were officially in Antarctica when we passed the 60th parallel.
The excitement on the ship is building as we get closer to The Great White Continent. Monday morning we met outside on deck 7 to look for some birds with an exhibition leader. We first saw the wandering albatross, which is the largest flying bird in the world with 10 1/2’ wingspan. With a bit of patience, we then saw a northern royal albatross which is “a bit smaller at only 10’” The birds did not look a bit different to us but our expedition guide seems quite confidant. As someone on deck said to the exhibition leader, “You could tell us anything and we’d believe it.” We must agree!
After breakfast we went to a talk about the Adelie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguins. The exhibition leader has been coming here for 30+ years to track penguins and this is his 120th visit.
Our boots and trekking poles that we rented were delivered to our room today. We also had an “outer layer bio-check” for any foreign objects. Anything that we might wear ashore had to be inspected, particularly Velcro areas. Under the Antarctic Treaty we have to make sure we do not introduce any foreign material.
We then had the opportunity to exchange our boots if we needed a different size. We both thought the boots were a bit large but were convinced these were just fine because we would be wearing two pairs of thick socks. Everyone then stores their boots in a locker area, so they do not come into the ship.
Between all the presentations and required checks, Monday was another Trivia day. Our team crawled back up a few slots but we are still tied for 3rd overall. We were schlacked by a team who was the only one who won the bonus question that was worth 50 points. Because they were they only team who got the correct answer, they got double points. Darn…
Each evening there is a Recap and Briefing with the Expedition Team. Last nights’ was the first one where they reviewed once again and in more detail what to expect once we went on shore. We also learned what time our group is scheduled to go ashore (we are in Purple, that is scheduled for 12:30.) Our time will change each day. They also keep reinforcing everything is dependent on the weather and the movement of the ice in the cove. We can stay longer than an hour on shore if you want, as long as there aren’t more than 100 people at a time.
Dinner again was at the Thomas Keller Grille. We invited our new friends from Australia, Paul and Deb. It was quite nice, but the service wasn’t as spectacular as the night before.
Our next post should be about taking our first steps on Antarctica!