So! The ship was rocking pretty hard last night. Not just a little bit, but from peak to valley I was able to slowly count to eight “1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7- 8”. In order to get a good night’s sleep I flipped my head 180 degrees to be where my feet are. I woke up holding the sides of the bed to ensure I didn’t fall out horizontally as we were traveling. It was certainly an interesting way to sleep. I woke up early to go hit the gym before I started the day. Some of that was the morning sun coming out earlier than expected, but it was also because of the anticipation to finally be heading to Antarctica. I quickly changed and went up to the gym. When I opened the door, I could tell the staff was expecting a lot of sea sickness because the handrails along the sides of the ship had opened sea sick bags every few feet. It looked like a late Halloween party. Going up the stairs was extremely easy for 50% of the trip because every time the ship listed one direction I was able to jump up 3 steps easy… when it listed the other direction however I had to hold onto the sides of the stairs to keep on it. I made it up to the fifth floor and ran into a few of the expedition crew (Christian, Adam, and Heidi) working out as well. The gym had two elliptical’s and a stationary bike. With some workout room to stretch or plank off to the side. The whole room was about 8 feet by 8 feet. I jumped on the elliptical and nearly hit my head on the ceiling. I would describe the feeling of using the gym equipment on the boat during rough weathers like bicycling through San Francisco hills. I only used the equipment for about 20 minutes before deciding to head downstairs, change, and grab some breakfast. Since I was unsure about how the sea would affect me, I chose some oatmeal, bacon, and breads. The oatmeal was an AWESOME choice. It made the rest of the morning much easier. I also watched my water and used the slow and steady technique for keeping well.
Around 9am we had our first lecture on-board. The presentation was on the history of Antarctica. It was really quite fascinating to hear about the previous explorers and the Antarctic treaty. The Antarctic Treaty was signed stating that no-one could own Antarctica but rather that it’s a wildlife reserve for scientific exploration. In the early 1990’s it was approved to allow for tourism; albeit highly restrictive. Since our ship only has about 100 passengers, we are afforded more opportunities to explore the continent than a ship with 200. It means we’re able to stop off at smaller islands, and have more landing sites available to us.
I spent my down time in the bar upstairs writing for freerangehobo.com and meeting some of the other passengers. Every once in a while I would head downstairs to make sure Brad was alive and try to coax him to eat some food. Brad did manage to hit the bird lecture around 11am. Unfortunately, I fell asleep halfway through the lecture all the way to about 1:30pm and woke up with an empty lecture hall. By now it was around lunch Brad still hadn’t surfaced from the room… so I stopped back in to the room to check on him. In simple terms, he was green and ultimately just not doing well. I left him in the room and went to grab some lunch.
The lunch room was full, so I chose a spot at a table with several Asian ladies who were very gratuitous. After speaking with them for a while, I learned they were here with a group organized from California. The head lady was from Los Angeles and the others were from around Mountain View area. We had a nice chat, and talked about California. Unfortunately, one of the ladies was not feeling well so she pardoned herself to the hall. The other ladies talked in Chinese together, but I could tell from the conversation that one person hadn’t been taking her sea-sick pills and was instead trying to drink tea to comfort her. Unfortunately, that does the exact opposite of what she was intending to do. I tried to tell her to grab some solid food, to stop the sloshing in her stomach which is making her sick. By the time I left the table, she was eating a partial meal and seemed to be happier.
In the afternoon all passengers were required to clean their outer gear with vacuums and scrub their boots, poles, etc for foreign contaminants. After cleaning everything, it was time for the photography lecture by the ships professional photographer, John. He had some great commentary on how to frame phots, layout photos, composition, etc. I spent a good deal of time being tutored by him after the lecture on the ratio between ISO, shutter speed, and focus. He seemed very knowledgeable and helpful for techniques. At the conclusion of our conversation, there was a cocktail hour in the library. I sat and enjoyed the conversation with fellow passengers as we swapped stories from around the world. I must say that the people here are extremely friendly, and fascinating. I have thoroughly enjoyed speaking with everyone on the ship.
At dinner I had a lovely conversation with Natalie and her mother. John (the photographer), and Ma (Botanist) joined us for dinner. It is fascinating to hear how they each chose to work in the Antarctic. Dinner seemed to pass quickly as I was extremely tired. I wound up heading to bed and falling asleep with the sun still up, even if it normally sets around 10pm).
