Before heading to bed on the 20th, we received the following notice: "Open Sea Warning: Take care moving around the vessel. Keep one hand free, and be wary of doors that may swing unexpectedly. Ensure breakable items are carefully stowed before retiring this evening." In other words, "batten down the hatches" and "one hand for the ship, one hand for you".
Rounding Cape Horn happened during the night so we missed the sighting of the Horn itself. At 0515 we awoke to an announcement stating the ship was near a pod of whales. We were some where in the Drake passage. I donned my coat and hat and grabbed my camera and headed to the upper, outside deck. After climbing the last set of stairs, I slipped on black ice. My head hitting the deck was heard in the bridge below. After being examined for a concussion and given a ice pack for my goose egg. I went back to sleep until the normal wake up announcement then, joined everyone for breakfast.
To pass the time at sea, Anthropologist Jackie Windh gave a presentation on "Natives of Patagonia". For the past several years she had sought out the few remaining native people, documented languages and, wrote a book about them. Later another presentation titled "Wingspan, Courtship and Stomach Oils - Birds of Antarctica" was given by Sue Forbes, our Ornithologist.
Early morning sun on the waves.
We had clear skies and following winds. The normal, westerly swells were fairly laid down. The amazing hull design and stabilizing systems of the Resolution calmed the ship movement to a minor rocking with an occasional bump. My primary entertainment of the day was joining groups of passengers as we giggled and outright laughed while negotiating the hallways. The ship movement was not bad enough to require using the handrails but, without being able to see the horizon, sudden shifts in the deck's position sent us swaying side to side, like a drunken, wayward snake.
Sea pictures taken during the day, from my cabin deck, with a handheld camera.
This trip had a Jr. Explorer program. The teens conducted daily experiments relating to the environment. As we crossed the Drake Passage, they took hourly ocean temperature readings to determine when we had exited the South Pacific Ocean and entered the Southern Ocean.
I sucked on ginger candies as a nausea preventative and, truth be told, because I really enjoyed them. Sitting in the back seat of a car has always produced nausea. I had absolutely none on this ship.
During the afternoon we had a Mandatory Antarctica Landing Briefing. Rules meant to protect the Antarctic ecosystem were laid out. Preventing the possible transmission of bird flu and transport of non-native vegetation governed out visit. Only boot soles could touch land - no sitting, kneeling, lying or putting down packs or clothing.
Later, called down by our zodiac groups, we brought our rain pants, boots, hiking poles, tripods, backpacks and anything we owned with velcro to the "Base Camp" locker room (where we normally boarded kayaks and zodiacs). Every mm of velcro and zippers was inspected; tweezers removed all particles then; our clothing and packs/camera bags were vacuumed. Boots were scrubbed and picks were used to clean out any missed particles. After a through cleaning, the pole tips, boots and rain pant legs were dipped in a sanitizing solution and put in our lockers.
Ths evening recap included the Nat Geo photographers' critiques on photos we submitted. We could only submit one photo. As they were shown, the Nat Geo photographers gave their impressions and explained possible improvements. I was pleased to have mine highly praised.
Solstice on the Drake Sea.
From my cabin.
And the end of a long day at sea.
