Friday 26th Finishing up the drake passage means we were well past the convergence. The waters really started roughing up the boat by early morning, 3am-ish. Breakfast time was also a good time to bring a catchers mitt, since the plates and glasses slid from one side of the table to the next. The ups and downs also made it feel like I was eating on a roller coaster. Luckily the motion was also akin to a big cradle, and its powers made me more sleepy than sick. By noon, we reached Cape Horn, a beautiful mass of rocks jetting out [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 25th Back at sea and all caught up with journaling from previous days, I feel awkwardly energized by a long sleep and a few cups of tea. The ship’s historian, Steve, gathered us ‘round the lounge for story time. Today it was Shakleton’s adventure. While Steve is a particularly grumpy old man onshore, he is equally charming at storytime onboard. When he gives his stories, it is like he was there with the explorers recounting what happened as though he witnessed it firsthand. While the story of Shakleton is mostly about the Endurance, the earlier Nimrod expedition [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 24th I was waken by the cusomtary wake-up call from the expedition leader. “Good morning. Today is blah blah blah, spectacular lighting, good morning.” You could tell the wake-up call was rehearsed, as Lenny had been giving relatively the same call for over 20 years. But you could also tell that he really loves his job, and that he was meant to be just where he was. Lenny seems to be the kind of guy one might first feel sorry for. He has a dorky enthusiasm for natural lighting and whales that comes across whenever he speaks, which is quite [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday 23rd Currently cruising back to South America, via Drake Passage, I thought I would use this time to look back only a couple of days, starting with this one, the 23rd. And it is definitely going to be good that I write things down now, as even just a few days between writing and I’ve forgotten the specific days of the past; the details may have been lost completely were it not for a few notes I jotted down on my Grand Hyatt paper and for the pics my uncle took which I could use to refresh my memory. The [View Full Entry]

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Monday 22nd Cuverville Island and Neko Harbour Sitting back in the library, I’m glad I’ve worked into a little routine with journaling. But there is so much that’s been happening each day that it feels like I would need to spend hours writing to capture everything that’s gone on. And with all the memories fresh in my head, I realize now why my writing has been a bit scatter brained and some paragraphs have been underdeveloped. It’s just not enough to write down what i’ve been seeing (currently I’m looking back out the window and I am watching a pengui [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 21st Today is Sunday, and only because I have looked back at the previous journal dates do I know it is truly the day purported. This is what vacation should feel like. Last night, although I wanted to recount my day, I was a bit disappointed we were leaving the mainland to return to the Shetland islands, which is still part of Antarctica, but unmistakably a unique set of islands. Also, the cross over the straight made for some mild wave cruising, which put me into nausea mode by the time I was ready to sit down and write. Today, [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 20th Another early wakeup call from the expedition leader (I have figured out his actual title). Baby emperor penguins off the port side. Great, that means I can grab my shades and watch from my bed! But I was up and ready to start another excellent day in the land of penguins and icebergs; and that was what this day was particularly full of. From breakfast, the boat maneuvered its way through iceberg alley, which is just off the coast of Snow Hill and Seymour Island. Apparently, the emperor penguins breed not far from there, and as it is summer [View Full Entry]

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Friday 19th A 7am wake-up call told us the conditions made it too difficult to visit Brown Bluff, a piece of the Antarctic Continent rather than an island of. So, I fixed my eyes back to the pillow for a couple more hours. I even considered sleeping through breakfast, until I heard a scraping sound across the boat. I quickly jumped out of bed and opened the covers. I tried to pry my eyes open to see what was making the swishing sound, but it was too bright. I even counted, 1-2-3 OPEN, and couldn’t get them moving. So, I hobbled [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 18th Making excellent time across the drake passage, the captain decided to drop us in the Shetland Islands, at Half Moon Island. As I was eager to see land, not because of fear of the open sea, rather excitement built up from anticipation that I would be traveling to such a crazy place, I remained up top while all the passengers scurried to the lounge for an expedition procedure briefing. While I looked around, thinking I should practice my self-portrait technique, I noticed the two professional Nat Geo photographers chatting nearby. One of them pointed to an iceberg, which I [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 17th The day consisted of trying to pry my eyes open. The waves weren’t huge, 12 feet at best. But the lack of sleep caught up with me (and maybe the pills enticed my eyes). This was a day at sea, so nothing was really on tap. And the boat acted as my cradle, rocking me back to sleep even if I woke up grumpy for some yucky or a ducky. I do remember a few waves coming quick, and tipping us just far enough to move the plates and glasses to the edge of the tables. This could be [View Full Entry]

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