Adam's diary of the holiday: on the Grigoriy Mikheev

Carolyn about to board the Grigoriy Mikheev

We found the Grigoriy Mikheev easily enough, and were particularly pleased to find that the helpful crew members were happy to carry our luggage on board. The room seemed better than the one in Cap Polonio. At least we had a double bed this time, and we also had a surprising amount of storage space and were able to stow all our Antarctic kit. We’d just finished unpacking when it was time to report to the dining room for our welcome briefing. Our guides seemed very friendly and welcoming. The slightly surprising discovery was that most of the other passengers were Finnish, and that all the announcements were translated into Finnish, so everything took twice as long to explain.

After the briefing, we went up on deck to watch the boat leaving Ushuaia. The sky had cleared a bit since earlier, and we could now see the snow-covered mountains in the background as we left. We also saw lots of birds. One of the guides, a Scot called Martin, cheerfully explained to us what all the birds were: various types of gull, petrel, tern, and even some albatrosses. They all looked like seagulls to me, but I guess I’m going to improve my knowledge of them by the end of the tour.

View of Ushuaia from the back of the Grigoriy Mikheev

At 6.30 pm it was time to report downstairs again for the lifeboat drill. This involved putting on life-vests and finding the lifeboats, although mercifully not climbing into them.

Once all that was over, we had a little more time to admire the view before going down for dinner at 8.00. The food was better than I had expected, a rather pleasant shrimpy thing for a starter, and fillet of pork with some nice Mediterranean vegetables for main course. The wine list was quite pleasing too, and we settled on a Chilean sauvignon blanc.

Up on deck again after dinner for some more admiring the view and bird watching. It stayed light until at least 11.00, although by that time it was getting a bit chilly, and Carolyn had already turned in a little while ago, so I did likewise.

Slept as well as could be expected given the movement of the ship overnight. Breakfast was served at 8.00 am, and was again a huge improvement on what was on offer at Cap Polonio, with a selection of cheeses and cold meats and even bacon and eggs.

After a little wander around on deck, our first lecture of the tour was at 10.00 am. Frits, a Dutchman and one of our guides, showed us some pictures of various types of wildlife we could expect to see, including penguins, seals, albatrosses, and other birds. Although the talk was interesting, I was very glad when it was over as the motion of the ship was starting to get to me. Going up on deck was very therapeutic. This, by all accounts, was a very calm crossing of the Drake Passage, so I hate to think what it would be like if it were rough.

Cape petrels and a sooty albatross

At 11.15, we had a very brief talk from Martin about bird watching, followed by a practical session where we went up on deck and watched the birds together. We were very lucky to find albatrosses, petrels, and prions. I now think I can even tell them apart, although it may be a while before I can tell a black browed albatross from a wandering albatross.

Lunch was served at 1.00, and consisted of a delicious seafood soup, followed by a pleasant although not very authentic pizza. I only ate about half of my pizza, as by that time I needed to escape. I went back to the cabin for a lie down, and to my surprise spent most of the afternoon asleep. Carolyn woke me a little before 6.00 pm, and we went down to the bar for a cup of tea. One of the nice little features of the ship is that free tea and coffee is available in the bar at all times. This was slightly spoiled by the nature of the tea, which was a typical attempt to make tea by those who don’t understand it: hot water instead of boiling, and UHT milk. I settled for a fruit tea instead.

We then went up on deck for another look at some birds and to see if I had any more luck with receiving the World Service when out in the open. Indeed I did, and was able to get a very good signal and catch up with what was going on in the world at large.

Dinner was served at 8.00 pm, and consisted of a nice pâté for starter, followed by slices of roast lamb: good, but perhaps a little overcooked. We tried a different white wine this evening, a French one, which was also nice. However, I was still feeling a little queasy and didn’t feel like drinking that much of it, so we took advantage of the system they had of writing cabin numbers on partially drunk bottles and producing them again at dinner the next night.

Went up on deck again after dinner to get some more fresh sea air and watch the birds, and then turned in just before 11.00.

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Sunday 20 December

Got up shortly after 7.00 am, and had time for a quick wander up onto the deck before breakfast. It was definitely helpful to have some fresh air and look at the horizon, as the motion of the boat was still a little disturbing. It was fun looking at the birds too.

Shortly after breakfast, we went up on deck again and were able to see some whales in the water. Well, mostly we saw jets of water where the whales were blowing, but we did catch the occasional glimpse of the whales too. According to Martin they were fin whales.

After the whale watching, Frits gave a lecture on ice. We learned all about the differences between sea ice and land ice, and where icebergs come from (bits that break off ice shelves). We also learned that icebergs can be quite big, sometimes as much as 30 km long.

Still not feeling entirely on top of the boat’s motion, so went back to the cabin to lie down until lunchtime. Lunch was served at 1.00 pm, and consisted of a tasty onion soup followed by ravioli. I was feeling a little bit better by this time and had a beer with lunch too.

Our first penguins!

The beach we landed on had a small number of penguins: about 4 gentoos, and 1 chinstrap. They didn’t seem at all bothered by our arrival. They were also unbelievably cute. There were a few Weddell seals lying around as well. We wandered around for about an hour before getting back into the Zodiacs. The journey back was a bit more exciting, as this time we were going against the surf. I was very glad I had my waterproof kit on.

It was pretty much time for dinner when we got back. A delicious smoked ham and cheese pate for starter, followed by sea-devil for the main course. No-one seemed to know exactly what sea-devil was, other than that it was a fish. The system of keeping part finished bottles of wine seemed to work, which was a great relief.

Went up on deck after dinner to listen to the World Service on the radio: there was still a good signal. Also watched the sun setting, which was beautiful. It had finished by about 11.00, after which I turned in for the night.

Iceberg

Woken up by my watch alarm at 6.00 this morning, as breakfast was at 7.00 today. There was still time for a quick trip onto the deck before breakfast, which gave spectacular views of much ice: ice bergs, bergy bits, growlers, and young sea ice. I had been a bit confused about which is which, but Martin explained that anything rising more than 5 m out of the water was an ice berg, anything rising between 1 and 5 m was a bergy bit, and anything less than 1 m was a growler. Our captain seemed to be very good at finding the gaps between them, which was reassuring.

We had travelled into the Weddell Sea overnight, and shortly after breakfast we anchored just off Paulet Island. The trip ashore in the Zodiacs once again involved much spray and getting wet. Once ashore, we found ourselves among literally thousands of Adélie penguins. They were unbelievably cute. For the most part, they were very relaxed about our being there and just went about their penguin business, which they seemed to take very seriously. While some of them just sat among the rest of the flock, others were busily waddling along the beach to get somewhere. I don’t know where they were trying to get to, but they certainly looked as if they knew. Some of the penguins were sitting on chicks, which were even cuter than the others. Apparently they had to guard their chicks carefully: not only are they vulnerable to the cold, but an unattended chick would quickly be taken by one of the skuas that were hovering menacingly.

Adélie penguins on Paulet Island

Although it was cold ashore (apparently the temperature was somewhere around zero Celsius), I was a little disappointed that it didn’t feel colder. I was very warm with my base layer, down jacket, and Gore-Tex jacket on, and was beginning to wonder whether my inner fleeces had been a waste of money and packing space. I was, however, very pleased to have bought the snood and the outer gloves. After a couple of hours ashore, we got the Zodiac back to the ship for a much needed coffee.

Lunch was served at 12.30: mushroom soup for starter, and ‘tandorri’ chicken for the main course. The chicken didn’t taste quite how I would have expected tandoori chicken to taste, but maybe that’s why they spelled it differently. Quite pleasant nonetheless.

After lunch, I was starting to feel the early start, so went and had a snooze for an hour or so until our next shore trip. By 2.30 pm we had landed just off Brown Bluff, which was our first taste of the Antarctic mainland. The Zodiac crossing was a bit smoother this time. Once again, there were a great many penguins. Not only were there many Adélies, but also some gentoos. The gentoos seemed to be more sophisticated at nest building than the Adélies, as they had made little penguin-shaped piles of stones, and were lying on the top of them.

Penguins at Brown Bluff

Both the gentoo and Adélie penguins seemed perfectly happy to share the same beach. Although there were areas that were clearly gentoo nesting areas and areas that were clearly Adélie nesting areas, it was quite common to see a penguin of the other species wandering through. Much of the beach was not a specific nesting area for either species, and there the penguins of each species would waddle along without having any problem about finding the other species waddling through the same space. Humans could learn a lot from penguins.

Got back to the ship about 4.30 for some herbal tea. Dinner was served at 7.30, and consisted of smoked mackerel for starter and steak for main course. After dinner the weather was beautiful, so we went up on deck to watch the icebergs go past in the sunshine. This was a truly wonderful sight, especially when the icebergs were blue. Stayed up until about 11.40 watching the sunset, which still wasn’t quite finished even though the sun itself had disappeared below the horizon at about 11.00.

Sunset in Antarctica

Got up in time for our breakfast at 7.00, to learn the disappointing news that the winds were blowing about force 8 and that it was therefore too dangerous to launch the Zodiacs. Although we had reached Hannah Point on Livingstone Island, where we had intended to go ashore, it now looked as though landing might not be possible. We were told that we would have to wait for further announcements and that a decision would be made about 9.00. In the meantime, we weren’t even allowed out on deck as that was also deemed too dangerous, but were able to have a look at the weather from the bridge. We certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be out in Zodiacs on that sea.

Stormy weather

Shortly after 9.00, we were told that there was indeed no prospect of going ashore, and that we would continue on to Deception Island, our next stop, with the hope of going ashore there. The sea was pretty rough at this stage, so I took another seasickness pill and went back to bed. We got to Deception Island at about 1.00 pm. The Island has a huge caldera in the middle of it, and is essentially an enormous natural harbour. Once through the entrance and in the middle of the caldera, the sea became very much calmer. Lunch had been scheduled for 12.30 pm, but wasn’t actually served until 1.40 pm, as it was not possible to serve it while the ship was lurching around on the open seas.

After getting up from bed for lunch, I was rather disturbed to find my vision was extremely blurred. I was aware that blurred vision was a common side effect of the seasickness pills, but I hadn’t expected anything quite as bad as this. I was therefore greatly relieved when I discovered that what had actually happened was one of the lenses had fallen out of my glasses when it fell off the window sill during the rough weather. Fortunately, I managed to get the lens back into the frame.

Once again, it was too windy to land at Deception Island, with winds around the force 8 mark. This would have been a chance to go swimming, using the hot spring waters found on the island, without instantly freezing, but sadly it was not to be.

We had hoped that the weather might calm down, but it looked like the high winds were here to stay, so at around 3.00 pm we set off for our next destination. Carolyn and I went up onto the bridge to watch the boat leaving the caldera. It was pretty scary, as there was a relatively narrow exit, with nasty looking rocks about. But we got through it, and back into the rough seas beyond.

I don’t know whether I was getting my sea legs, whether the seasickness tablets were working well, or whether I was simply past caring, but the motion of the ship no longer bothered me, so I was able to join Carolyn and one or two of the other passengers in the bar for a cup of tea. It was quite exciting watching the waves outside, which occasionally splashed right up against the portholes of the bar.

At 5.00 pm we had a briefing in the lecture room about tomorrow’s planned excursions. Monika, our tour leader, was planning 4 Zodiac landings to make up for not having any today.

By the time dinner was served at 7.00 pm, the sea had mellowed substantially. We were able to enjoy our dinner (something resembling bresaolo, but according to the Italians at our table definitely not bresaolo, followed by salmon en croute) without too many plates flying around the table. It was even possible to go up on deck briefly after dinner, although the visibility was poor and it started snowing, so I didn’t stay out for long. In bed for an early night by 9.30.

We were woken at about 5.20 am by Monika’s voice announcing over the tannoy that the pre-breakfast landing was on, and would depart at 6.00 am. The weather was beautifully calm today, and the Zodiac ride ashore was extremely smooth, especially in comparison with some of the earlier ones.

Chinstrap penguins on Orne Island

We landed on Orne Island, but weren’t able to get very far from our landing place as there was a great deal of deep snow about which made it tricky to walk far. Still, we were able to see a colony of chinstrap penguins, and also had fantastic views of the ice both from the Zodiac and from shore. There were many bergy bits and growlers scattered around, looking very beautiful with their blue colours.

By the time we got back to the boat shortly after 7.00, we were certainly ready for breakfast, and it was cheering to see that the chefs had prepared copious quantities of bacon and eggs.

Our second excursion of the day was at 8.30, so there wasn’t much time after breakfast before we were back in the Zodiacs again. This time we stopped at Cuverville Island, which had a great many gentoo penguins. They moved from one part of their patch to another by walking along tracks in the snow, made by constantly walking along them and flattening the snow. At some points, the tracks were so deep that the penguins disappeared into them.

Gentoo penguins on Cuverville Island

Iceberg

Got back to the boat after a leisurely Zodiac trip back stopping to look at some of the icebergs close up. Once again, the blue colours were amazing. When the boat started moving again, we went through waters with a spectacular collection of icebergs. The crew were clearly expert at navigating through the maze of ice without ever hitting any but the tiniest bits of ice.

Lunch was served early today, just after 12.00 pm, and our next shore landing was at 1.30 pm. This was our second landing on the mainland, at Neko Harbour. The beach was full of gentoo penguins. We walked upwards from the beach up a snowy path. It was very easy to sink into the snow up to your knees if you didn’t follow the footsteps of the person in front. Once at a ridge, a few intrepid souls walked up a little bit further and then tobogganed down on empty plastic bags. Once Carolyn had a go at this, I couldn’t resist following myself. What fun!

We walked back down to the beach, where some even more intrepid souls went for a brief swim in the sea. Given the sub-zero temperatures, this was surely proof that all foreigners are completely mad. The swimming party consisted mostly of Finns, but with the addition of our Dutch chefs.

Swimmers in sub-zero Antarctic water

Zodiac cruising in Paradise Bay

After the swimmers were done, it was time to get back in the Zodiacs and return to the boat for a much needed hot drink. The boat then sailed on to Paradise Bay, through more spectacularly icy scenery. We anchored in the bay, and then at 6.00 pm we got into the Zodiacs for a Zodiac cruise. No landing this time, just an hour spent among the ice looking at icebergs up close and personal, including some with seals on them. We saw two Weddell seals and one leopard seal, which seemed mildly interested in our presence but not particularly bothered by it.

Sailing through the Antarctic scenery

Our early morning announcement from Monika brought rather disappointing news: on the way to the Lemaire Channel in the night, the ship had encountered more ice than it could safely get through, so it had turned around and started heading north again. Carolyn and I went up on deck before breakfast to have a look at the scenery, which was still very beautiful.

Breakfast seemed a little emptier than usual this morning. I wondered whether the free wine and beer the night before had kept some of the passengers in bed a little longer than intended. The plan for the day was now apparently to sail through the Neumayer Channel in the morning and the visit one of the scientific bases in the afternoon.

The lens fell out of my glasses again this morning. The glasses obviously weren’t going to survive the rest of the journey until I could get them to an opticians to have the lens put back in properly. I don’t think there are very many opticians in Antarctica, so it’s just as well I packed a spare pair.

Humpback whale

The Neumayer Channel was indeed stunning. The water had many icebergs, and also quite a few penguins. We even very briefly spotted a minke whale. But this was as nothing compared with what was to follow. Later on in the morning, two hump-back whales came right up to the boat. They put on the most spectacular display for us, swimming around the boat, surfacing frequently and creating vast jets of spray with their blow holes. As if that weren’t enough, once they had got bored of swimming around the boat, they gave a diving display: jumping entirely out of the water and landing back in it again with the most almighty splash. They even waved their flippers at us as if waving goodbye.

Lunch was served shortly after the whales left us, consisting of tomato soup and Mexican burritos. I was starting to get a bit of a headache by this time, possibly as a result of my spare glasses having ever such a slightly different prescription from my normal pair, so I went to bed with a couple of paracetamol tablets.

The Post Office at Port Lockroy

Carolyn woke me at about 2.30 pm, in time to get ready for the Zodiac trip to Port Lockroy on Wiencke Island, a former British research station dating from the 1940s and now preserved as a historic monument and museum. We were able to buy T-shirts and postcards there, and even buy stamps and send the postcards. The T-shirts and cards were quite pricey, but since the profits from their shop went towards funding the restoration and upkeep of the buildings, this seemed like no bad thing. There’s no guarantee that the cards will get home with any great speed, however.

After looking round the hut, we stopped outside to admire the colony of gentoo penguins, which were up to their usual cute antics, before getting back to the ship for a hot drink. Carolyn had told Charlotte (a German who lives in Buenos Aires) about my terrible glasses crisis, and by a happy coincidence Charlotte had a set of optician’s screwdrivers with her. And I thought we had done a good job of packing everything we needed. Anyway, the screwdrivers did the trick and much to my relief I was able to mend my glasses. At 6.30 pm we were asked to assemble in the bar for a traditional Finnish Christmas. Apparently the Finns celebrate Christmas on 24 December. We were treated to mulled wine (complete with raisins to put in it) and some Finnish Christmas songs. Something about elves I think.

Gentoo penguins walking down their tracks

Dinner was served at 7.30 pm. The staff from Port Lockroy had been invited onto the boat to join us for dinner, although unfortunately there wasn’t room in the dining room for everyone, so they ate their dinner separately from us together with our expedition staff. Dinner was a wonderful starter with slices of duck in a tomato, followed by a flat fish (plaice I think) and some rather disappointing chips. After dinner we had a drink in the bar with one of the Port Lockroy staff called Pete, who enthused about how wonderful it was spending time in Antarctica and how he was very keen to get a new contract to go each season. He was an outdoor safety expert, and when he wasn’t at Port Lockroy spent his time teaching scientists how not to get lost in the snow and such like.

Went up on deck at 10.00 pm to catch up on the latest from the BBC World Service. The reception was still very good. Then watched the Zodiac taking the Port Lockroy staff back to shore. This was quite a challenge, as a great deal of ice had appeared around us since they got here. The Zodiac had to move quite slowly and take a rather roundabout route, but got there in the end. On the way back, it wasn’t able to come alongside the boat on the same side from which it had left, so the crane had to move over and pick it up from the other side.

Navigating through the ice

Once the Zodiac was safely on board, we set off again. Watching the navigation was quite fun, as there was a great deal of ice to get through, although this seemed to pose little problem to our expert crew. In bed at about 11.00 pm.

Woke up at about 6.00 am and had time for a little walk up on deck before breakfast. We had certainly succeeded in our aim of having a white Christmas.

After breakfast, at about 8.30, we went ashore to a small place called Hydrurga Rocks. There were some Weddell seals and a large colony of chinstrap penguins, looking very cute. There was also a single Adélie penguin, which apparently was stuck there as it was in the middle of moulting. Until it had finished moulting, it couldn’t swim away. It looked very bored.

Trekking through the snow

Walking through the snow was quite a challenge, as it was quite deep, and a couple of times one of my legs disappeared up to my knee. It would be hard to imagine a more beautiful place to spend Christmas morning. Back to the ship after an hour or two for a hot drink.

Lunch was served at 12.00 pm, and consisted of goulash soup followed by red mullet. Having read all about Shackleton’s expedition living on ‘hot hoosh’ I was rather hoping to have some at some stage during the holiday, so I deemed the goulash soup to be honorary ‘hot hoosh’.

Chinstrap penguins on an iceberg

There was time for a brief snooze after lunch, and then at 2.00 pm we got into the Zodiacs for a Zodiac cruise around Oslo Island. We had the captain driving our Zodiac. The scenery was stunning. There were some amazing icebergs and glaciers coming off the island, and some of the glaciers had caves underneath them. And of course, no Zodiac cruise would have been complete without penguins: this time we saw chinstraps. Irene (the only American passenger on the boat) kept trying to talk the captain into squeezing the Zodiac into small and exciting spaces, while Monika was begging not to go near them. No doubt the Captain took no notice of either of them and went where he thought suitable anyway, but we did manage to go through one or two exciting spaces. Monika and I also managed to retrieve some lumps of ice from the water to take back to the ship for our whiskies.

Had a hot drink when we got back to the boat, and then back to the cabin for showers. At 5.00 pm we were invited back down to the bar for a story telling session. Before the stories started, I had a Laphroaig with glacier ice. As the ice melted, many small bubbles formed, apparently as a result of air trapped in the ice at high pressure. The whisky certainly tasted good.

Monika told the first story: a Patagonian Indian legend about how penguins became flightless (something to do with sea gods). Then Martin told a story about a grumpy old man on his Island. Both stories were also given in Finnish translation, which certainly added something to the experience. After that, a general invitation was given to anyone else who wanted to tell a story. Carolyn had written an Antarctic version of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, which we sang. This seemed to go down well, despite the fact that this had rather defeated Terhi, our Finnish interpreter. We had another story from Martin and another couple of contributions from the floor, and then the session finished about 6.30 pm.

Dinner was served at 7.00 pm. This was our special Christmas dinner, although there was no roast penguin. We had smoked salmon and crayfish to start, followed by oxtail soup, both of which were lovely. We then had something called ‘spoom’ which consisted of a lump of ice cream submerged in fizzy wine. The main course was venison, which was actually a little disappointing.

After dinner we returned to the bar, for another whisky with glacier ice. I had a brief trip up on deck to listen to the news at 10.00 pm, and then back to the bar. To bed at about 11.30 pm.

Woke at 6.00 am to a rather dull and wet day. We soon anchored off Livingstone Island, and then after breakfast, at about 8.30 am, we got into the Zodiacs and headed for Hannah Point. The wind was blowing a bit, and the Zodiac ride was quite exciting, with much splashing. Our Zodiac was driven by Oleg, the Chief Mate, who seemed to enjoy riding into the waves.

We were unable to land at the intended landing place, owing to ice on the beach. We took the Zodiacs round to another bit of the island, where Oleg managed to run over an elephant seal with the Zodiac as we were landing. Fortunately we were going very slowly at the time and neither Zodiac nor seal seemed to come to any harm. It soon became apparent that there wasn’t really anywhere to go from where we had landed, so after a few minutes we got back into the Zodiacs and went a bit further round the Island.

Elephant seals on Livingstone Island

We landed on another beach among a great many elephant seals. According to Martin, they were only immature ones, but they still seemed pretty big. Apparently the adults can weigh up to 4 tons. There were also some gentoo and chinstrap penguins.

This landing also gave us a chance to see some of Antarctica’s plant life. There were some mosses and some small tufts of grass. The grass was really very small indeed, and Martin explained that that is the reason why Antarctic sheep are so small. We also saw some whale bones. The vertebrae were enormous.

Got back in the Zodiac for a rather lengthy trip back to the boat. This time, Valery (third mate) was our driver, and he took it much more slowly and carefully than Oleg, so despite the rough weather we weren’t splashed too much.

Once back on the boat, at about 10.30, there was time for a hot drink and a little rest before lunch at 12.00. We had Argentine beef soup followed by Dutch ‘Madiwodo’, which was a mixture of a rather good sausage, potatoes, carrots, and other veggies. I went back to the cabin after lunch for a little sleep.

Our last penguins waving goodbye

Got up in time for our last Zodiac landing at about 3.00 pm. This was at Greenwich Island, although not the same part we had stopped at on the way south. There was a huge colony of gentoos on the island, and we also saw a few chinstraps and a single elephant seal. It felt very sad to say goodbye to Antarctica as we got back in the Zodiac for the last time at 4.30 pm. We waved goodbye to the penguins.

The first job on returning to the boat was to take a seasickness pill in preparation for the imminent crossing of the Drake Passage. After that, there was time for a hot drink and a trip on deck to listen to the World Service. Heard the rather distressing news of an enormous earthquake in Indonesia that had killed about 11,000 so far.

Carolyn saying goodbye to the penguins

Dinner was served at 7.00 pm, and consisted of brie en croute followed by chicken cordon bleu. Both pretty good. I even had a pudding this time, as it was mostly fresh cherries, in addition to some lovely light cinnamon cakey thing. The captain had rather considerately not yet entered the Drake Passage so that we could eat our dinner in relative calm before we had to hit the rough waters.

We certainly noticed the difference when we finally entered the Drake Passage. The winds were somewhere around force 8, and the ship was once again tossed about like a cork. I went up on deck to get some fresh air and watch the exciting waves, and then went to bed about 9.30 pm.

Woke at about 7.00 am after a not very good night’s sleep. It was not easy to sleep while being constantly thrown around the bed by the movement of the ship. Went down for a brief breakfast at 8.00 am, and then up on deck to get some fresh air before I started to feel ill. The waves were still very impressive. Even standing on the top deck one or two of them splashed me if they managed to hit the bow of the boat at the right angle.

It was a shame not to see any more of Antarctica, but the expedition staff had put on a few things for our entertainment. At 10.00 am, Monika gave a talk about the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration, in which she talked about a Belgian and a Swedish expedition. It sounded much tougher for them, but at least they got to eat the penguins.

At 11.00 am, Martin gave a demonstration of knot-tying in the bar. Only Carolyn and myself stayed for the whole demonstration. It was quite fun, I we learned how to tie various knots including a clove hitch and a bowline. Whether I’ll remember them is another matter.

Lunch was at 1.00, and consisted of smoked salmon Mexican wraps (fantastic) and penne carbonara (OK). Considering, however, that the chefs had not been able to take on any fresh food for over a week, the standard of the catering was amazingly high.

We had a talk from Frits at 4.00 pm about the history of whaling. Apart from those activities, I spent pretty much the whole day in bed trying to avoid being seasick. I realised that I wasn’t going to have enough seasickness tablets to last until we were back in Ushuaia, but Joe, the ship’s doctor, was able to give me some cyclizine tablets, which he promised me would be effective.

Went up onto deck at about 7.00 pm to listen to the radio. The earthquake now seems to have claimed 23,000 lives, with the death toll expected to rise still further. Although dinner was scheduled for 8.00, it was actually served at 7.00, so we were a bit late for it, but that didn’t really matter as they take a while to serve everyone, so we were still in time for our starter of creamy garlic mushrooms, which were delicious. Main course was a ‘seafood parcel’, which rather surprisingly came wrapped in aluminium foil.

Went up onto the bridge for a bit after dinner to watch the waves, and then to bed at about 9.30.

Got up about 7.30 feeling the effects of the ship’s motion. Had a very brief breakfast at 8.10, and then back to the cabin to lie down to avoid fully fledged seasickness coming on. We had a talk from Frits at 10.00 about the ozone layer, which was very interesting, and I had the seasickness sufficiently under control by this stage to listen to all of it, although I needed to go and lie down again afterwards. Carolyn came to wake me at 12.30 pm with the news that we were now allowed out on deck again (which had been forbidden earlier in the day on the grounds that it was too windy to be safe), so I went up for a breath of fresh air. Saw some albatrosses.

Lunch was at 1.00 pm, and I definitely had my appetite back by this stage. After the starter of mushroom soup, I not only ate all my tuna salad but most of Carolyn’s as well. The sea had calmed noticeably by this stage, and I was feeling a lot better.

The next activity was just after 4.00 pm, when we were given instructions about leaving the ship tomorrow and then shown some photographs of the trip. The photographs looked a bit strange in places, as the red light of the projector wasn’t working. I guess it would have been a lot worse if the blue light had been faulty.

After the slide show, the first half of the movie ‘Shackleton’ was played in the dining room. After that finished, I went up on deck to see some of the albatrosses that were now following the ship, including northern royal albatross and a wandering albatross, which I hadn’t seen before. Also had a chance to catch up on the news from the BBC. The Indonesian earthquake was clearly a disaster of truly terrible proportions: the death toll was now 50,000 and expected to rise still further.

For our last dinner on the boat, at 7.00 pm, we had chorizo for a starter followed by a rather good piece of duck. During dinner we were given a log book of the journey, which included details of our itinerary and a few photographs. It will make a great souvenir of the journey. After dinner there was time for a brief trip on deck to watch the scenery. By this time, land was clearly visible. Shortly after 9.00 pm, we went back to the dining room to seem some pictures of the Arctic trip that the boat does from Spitsbergen. It looked very beautiful, and we decided we would definitely have to do that trip one day.

Once the talk was over, by popular request we did a repeat rendition of our Antarctic version of ‘Twelve days of Christmas’. A Finnish translation was provided in the log book, but Terhi declined my invitation to sing the translated version as we went along. Still, at least we were bought beers for our trouble.

After that, the remainder of the Shackleton film was shown. The film ended just as the Endurance had become stuck in the pack ice of the Weddell sea, so I guess we will have to watch the sequel sometime.

Once the film was over, I went up on deck to admire the view. I was struck with how dark it was, given that it was only about 11.00 pm, and then realised how silly that was as it was still only twilight. It just seemed dark, as this was the first darkness we had seen at all since leaving Ushuaia over a week ago. Off to the bar after that for a last drink with some of our fellow passengers, and then to bed about midnight.