Thursday, March 2-Scenic Sailing: Cape Horn , Chile

Last night we sailed thru the “Drake Shake”! The boat continued rocking all thru the past 48 hours! We have finally entered the “Beagle Channel” again mid-morning. The shaking rattled items in our room- but nothing was knocked down or fell on the floor! We take this as a win!

This morning the ship staff offered the “Arctic Plunge” for all those who wanted to take part. This age old tradition of jumping into the Antarctic water, offers a right of passage to travelers. We went up to watch those who dared- a hot shower, followed by jumping from one pool of Antarctic water to the next. This was all on ship as they pumped sea water into the pools.

We attended a session providing a re-cap of our voyage. Information about the Beagle Channel, Basic Glacier Dynamics, tabular glacier monitoring explanation, demonstration of the attire of the first Antarctic voyagers.

The most surprising thing happened at lunch today. I overheard a man and his wife talking about their upcoming Marco Polo Cruise. So we joined in the conversation!! How surprised we were to learn that they live 3 miles from us in Alamaden. Not only that-the woman used to be a teacher at the schools where my father was principal for many years. She worked for Dad at both Gardner and Greyson elementary schools. And not only that, they will be going on the Marco Polo cruise with us from Bangkok to Athens April 16!!!! They will be joining the cruise in Mumbai and have a pre- extension that will have them going to the Taj Mahal! We enjoyed our lunch with them, exchanged contact info and will see them in a couple of months!!

This morning we traveled around Cape Horn. Rising above the point where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans converge, Cape Horn, named for the Dutch city of Hoorn in The Netherlands, is part of the Hermite Islands archipelago. We traveled around Cape Horn in 2014 while on a princess cruise with our friends: Rich, Marsha, Sara and Bruce. This remote, stark and treeless place is often considered the continent’s southernmost point. Soaring from Hornos Island is an enormous prehistoric-looking massif of Jurassic volcanic rock. Atop, stands its historic lighthouse near the water’s edge. A beacon of assurance and safety for countless sailors since 1991, it is the world’s southernmost traditional-style lighthouse.

Sir Francis Drake: A True Rebel Of The Seas

Sir Francis Drake was an explorer who became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world. Over the course of his lifetime, Drake led with a rebellious spirit and was often criticized, praised and even feared. At one point during his career, several mariners believed he practiced witchcraft due to his acute ability to locate various ships at sea.

Born in 1540 in Tavistock, Devon, and brought up among the Hawkins family a group of pirates and merchants he became an apprentice on a trade ship at an early age. When he was 18, he enlisted in a fleet manned by the Hawkins family, which aimed to seize ships off the French coast. By the 1560s, he had commanded his own ship, the Judith. During this time, England and Spain were constantly at war, and in 1577,

Queen Elizabeth.

I gave Drake command of an expedition to set up English trading posts in the Pacific. Drake had an agenda of his own and planned on using this mission to raid Spanish fleets. It took him about three years, from 1577 to 1580 to circummoran.

Interesting statistics for this Cruise, consumption totals:

12 Thousand eggs

1100 L of milk

600 L of oil

6000 pounds of vegetables and fruits 2090 bottles of wine

368 bottles of liquor

1450 bottles of beer

2900 rolls of toilet paper

600 kg of chocolate

Crew statistics:

Our truly international crew comes from 40 different countries and speak a total of 142 different languages.

Tomorrow we leave the beautiful Octantis in Ushuaia, we will fly to Buenos Aires then off to Dallas with our final stop in SFO. But never fear, this blog will continue as mentioned above when we cruise The Marco Polo route on April 16th. We will be leaving from Bangkok and traveling thru to Athens! I’m so excited that we will be spending time in Mumbai and visiting with my co-worker who currently resides in India. Not only that, this cruise has many fascinating stops on our bucket list!!! Till April…….

Antarctic plunge preparations

Cape Horn and rainbow

Our room amenities

Fellow submarine passengers sharing photos via air drop with on-board scientific staff.

Giant phantom jellyfish photo taken by a fellow passenger!

Wednesday, March 1-Sail the Drake Passage

One day during our passage two of the workers Mary and Natalie from the UK Heritage Trust in Port Lockroy came on board to provide a talk on their work with the Trust. Port Lockroy is Britains first permanent Antarctic station. Built in a sheltered and safe harbor. Built in an attempt of Britain’s claim to Antarctica. Built in 1904 Port Lockroy base was used as a whaling station – then a scientific research base in 1944-1962.

The Port Still has no running water or electricity- they opened a post office lol due to lack of communication to the outside world.

In 1996 the British Antarctic Survey, with the assistance of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and UK Antarctic Heritage Trust (UKAHT) restored the base to its original condition. UKAHT now opens Port Lockroy each summer as a living museum. Proceeds from the gift shop and post office pay for the operation of Port Lockroy and help to safeguard other British historic sites on the continent. It is now considered a historical monument so it is allowed to remain standing.

This year there were over 4,000 applications for the 4 current positions on the point. The two women from the port came on board to open their “shop” – of the four positions, Mary is the “retail shop manager”, Natalie is the conservational biologist- who studies penguins. Two other women on 1- geologist works as postmaster and 1- base leader- runs the base.

They use solar power for all their needs with small amount of propane. They send letters back and forth to mainland

When they arrived in November- the snow was roof high and it took them 4 days of digging to find the front doors! The teams stay on base 4.5 months.

They also perform a yearly penguin survey. The review the breeding success of the gentoo penguins on the island- usually about 1,000 chicks on the island. They monitor breeding cycles and production of penguins.

We mailed a postcard with the women at Port Lockroy to Tom’s sister and brother-in-law in Chico to see how long it takes to get to the US!

Their newest responsibility is monitor the Endurance wreck from Schakleton that was recently discovered. They work with the British government to protect the wreck site.

Interesting Antartica Facts:

• The number of scientific personnel present in summer in Antarctica is around 4,682; in the winter this number drops to about 1,121.

• Antarctica has no indigenous people, no permanent inhabitants, and is not the sovereign territory of any nation, which makes it unique among the world’s land masses. There is said to be 16-17 born in Antartica about 60 years ago.

• Sailors tend to be superstitious, and whistling anywhere on a ship is considered bad luck. Tradition says that a person whistling is calling up the wind, which means that a storm will result.

• Antarctica is the world’s best place to look for meteorites for two principal reasons. First, the whiteness of the snow and ice makes it easier to see meteorites, and almost any rock you find on the East Antarctic ice sheet had to fall there.

• Antarctica’s largest industry, by far, is tourism. Tourist visitors and crew greatly outnumber scientists and support personnel.

Mimosas crossing The Drake Passage

Information from Port Lockroy

Synopsis of all the wildlife sightings during our voyage

Soooooo much crab

Crème brûlée station at lunch!

Interesting science lecture this afternoon!