So last night at the dinner briefing we were told that plans have changed and we are no longer going to the South Orkney Islands and instead heading straight down to the peninsula in hope of seeing some Emperor Penguins. Apparently there have been massive storms and they want to make sure we get to the peninsula because if we go via the Orkneys, we are likely to get caught and not make it to the peninsula. The down side is we have another 48hrs at sea before we get to land again. I felt a bit queasy last night but managed to sleep for 12hrs so feel much better today. I’m a bit disappointed we are not going to the South Orkneys but seeing Emperors would be cool. The ice is retreating and some of the Emperor’s habitat is disappearing so hopefully we get to see them.
I went to Dag’s lecture on ‘Why did Scott die?’ which was interesting as are all his lectures. We have another passenger slideshow on tonight so I gave Bruce 5 of my photos. This time I couldn’t find Tom so make them look better so they will be shown exactly how I took them, which in some of the photos, is quite dark. Oh well, again, I’m not out to prove I’m better than anyone else like the professionals are. I sat with some new people at lunch today in the smaller dining room and we have established they are the youngest on this ship at 30, followed by Nico and Brigette at 33 and then it would probably be me. For the most part majority of people are nice. I am still finding that the Australians, Brits, Swedes and Swiss still hang around together and generally avoid many of the Americans – who don’t understand any of our jokes.
We found out immediately after lunch that there was a 6.7 earthquake not too far from where we are so it will be interesting to see the follow on effect and if we will experience any big waves. I attended Doug’s lecture on Antarctica – Adaptions of Seals and Penguins but skipped the rest because the bar/lecture room is so depressing.
So now is probably a good time to talk about the ship. It has 6 decks and the bridge. The pleb level is 3 which is the one I’m on. It’s quite warm down here compared to the more expensive rooms on levels 4 and 5. The bar/lecture room is at the bow end of deck 3. There are no windows in there and its quite rough so most people start feeling sick fairly quickly in there. There are two dining rooms on the 4th deck. One is much larger than the other and its near impossible to get in and out of the tables because they are so close together. I’m usually the first in line for breakfast and lunch so usually get a good seat on the end where I can get up and leave when I want, not when others start to move. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style and dinner is a sit down 3 course meal. We get to choose between meat, fish and vegetarian for diner. Most meals have been quite good, although some have been a bit average. Apparently the head chef had to train the entire Russian crew of the ship how to cook.
Level 1 has a gym, sauna and plunge pool, although there is no water in the plunge pool. I’ve not used the sauna but a few people have. The 6th deck has the library and you can go up to the bridge from the 6th deck inside or outside on deck 5. Generally most of the people are ok. Some are a bit clicky but thankfully there aren’t too many snooty people. The Americans are still the butt of all jokes. The main people I hang around are Mandeep from London, Baltz, Gille, Nico and Bridgette from Switzerland, Thomas and Camilla from Sweden (poor Thomas is 6”10’ and can’t stand up anywhere inside without hitting his head on the roof. It must be so uncomfortable for him), Lisa from Canada and Matt and Laura from Australia. My room mates and I are spending more time talking to each other in the cabin and appear to be one of the only cabins who are getting along. Some other people are really clashing with their room mate/s.
The staff are all great. They are so knowledgeable in their own field of expertise and can answer any question you throw at them. It’s really quite impressive. Doug and Gail Cheeseman who set up the company in the 80’s plan to retire after this trip but their son, Ted who is our Expedition leader will take over full control of the company. Doug is hilarious. He’s a nutter but so intelligent and funny and it’s impressive to see him out driving the zodiacs and doing lectures at 74yo. I’ve only seen the doctor once and that was when I first got on because I still had a saw throat and blocked ear. She gave me these massive penicillin tablets, about 2cm long because I had tonsillitis. I’ve not had it since I was in school, but have had it about 5 times on this trip so far, so not sure why. Thankfully the antibiotics cleared it up within a week.
I’ve been sleeping so much on this trip but so does everyone else. Someone said it’s because of the motion of the ship that it makes you tired. I can have 3 sleeps a day and then still sleep a full 10hrs through the night only waking a couple of times. It’s a weird feeling.
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