February 4 - Somewhere in the Drake Passage

We’ve been rocking and rolling all day. It was supposed to abate this afternoon, but despite the fact that I see hardly any whitecaps, we’re still doing lots of moving.  I noticed fewer people out and about today so there must be quite a few people feeling off.

I was awakened with a start this morning.  All of a sudden my cabin was filled with sunlight and the roar of the wind.  Somehow the latch on my veranda door came undone and the door opened and my curtains were being sucked out.  I had a devil of a time pulling the door shut and all is well.  At both breakfast and lunch in the Colonnade I could periodically hear the crash of plates and glasses that slid off the tables and on to the floor.

Nonetheless, life has gone on.  Of course there was trivia at noon.  There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that we’ll climb out of the hole we’re in, but it has been fun anyway.  I went to a couple of lectures today.  The first was about life in Antarctica from dinosaurs to krill.  The speaker was okay, not great, but he did show a very short video clip from one of his trips there.  It was a mother humpback with her baby who was trying to learn how to dive.  The youngster was having a hard time figuring out to put his nose down and leverage his tail to help him go down. It was like watching a toddler trying his first steps.  Eventually the little guy gave his tail a big slap and down he went.

This afternoon I went to a talk by one of the two geologists in the team.  She was a lecturer on my cruise over Thanksgiving and she is absolutely fascinating.  She gave a talk about plate tectonics several days ago and today was a continuation of that but more specific to Antarctica. She’s a good speaker and able to explain things in a way this non-scientist can understand.

This evening before dinner there’s a Latin fiesta that’s supposed to include salsa dancing.  I’m not sure there will be many people trying that because standing up as we lurch about is difficult.  After dinner we’re supposed to have a singer who is known as “the Voice of South Africa.”  I’m not sure that will happen because I sat with her at breakfast and she was having some real issues with the ship’s movement.  We’ll see.

Tomorrow afternoon some time we’re supposed to make “an operational” stop at King George island in the South Shetland islands.  Katie, that’s where you and I went long ago.

So, that’s all for now.  Not very exciting but perhaps that’s a good thing because the next several days should be more active. Bye for now.