Antarctica - Part 1
Well! Embarkment Day has arrived! Woke up feeling so excited! Erik was too. We marched down the streets chanting “It’s Antarctica Day!”.
Leading up to the actual departure was slow and boring (only b/c I wanted to set sail!!). We finished up a museum walk that we had started on the 14th but this time without Nancy. From there we just wandered around and went to meet Nancy around 3 thinking 45 minutes would be plenty of time to get one drink. So, we hopped next door, we had to wait to get seated and then we had to wait for the server to come around and then we had to wait for the drinks. By the time we got our drinks it was 3:38 and we needed to be down by the port at 4. Whoops. I’m happy to report though that the cocktails were SO yummy, mine had some shrub with rhubarb.
We downed our drinks and then headed down to the port to catch our bus. As we got there, the bus pulled away and Erik goes sprinting after the bus, yelling and waiving his arms to get them to stop. They didn’t. But the kind lady waiting at the stop informed us that the other bus we can take was just 15 feet further. Lol
We hopped on the bus and started the drive out to the ship. By this time I’ve turned the chant into a song and made a interpretive dance about it being Antarctica day.
Once on the boat, we had to pass over our passports and we headed down to our room. Bigger than all of us had thought and a surprisingly lots of storage room. The best feature though is that it has two portholes! We got settled in a little but went up soon after to get celebratory cocktails!
Next, there was an introductory session that also included a life vest preview. We then were excused to our room to wait for a life vest drill. It took a while to get started so we just sat around the room. Once the drill did start, we grabbed our life vests and headed back up to the room we were just in. From there we went out on the deck and lined up as if we were going to be getting into a life raft. After that we could finally go back to our cabin to relax and unpack. Despite there being a lot of storage space, we still have lots of goodies on the floor. We’ll spend some more time on the 16th organizing. But for now, we’re all hungry and ready for bed.
I had no clue of what to expect on a boat buffet, but it wasn’t too bad! I even tried some fish from the buffet (!!!). Truly, I’m becoming a new person.
We enjoyed lots of wine and some yummy food but were all ready for bed. It was an early night but I also think the patches we used for seasickness made us all sleepy (update: it was for sure the patches).
The seas were still nice and calm when we got ready for bed. The room itself though was not nice or calm. Everything made a creaking sound and shaking sounds. In the middle of the night one of our closet door fasteners decided to break and BANG! It was so so loud, we all woke up and Nancy tried to fix it up then BANG! It happened again. So, Nancy grabbed a robe belt and tied the two doors together. It was very obvious when the first bang happened, that we were out in the wide open ocean – starting our trek across the Drake!
We got woken up by an alarm clock, and by alarm clock I mean a person came over the loudspeaker in everyone’s room letting us know breakfast is ready! I took a peek out the portholes and HOLY CATS, those were some big scary waves.
After we woke up from the big scary waves, we headed out for breakfast and filled up on two plates of breakfast. There was programing all day again, learning about rocks and icebergs and how to photograph Antarctica. The day was packed but I was still able to fit in 3 naps!
We had a fun night, playing games and drinking cocktails that second night. It is so great to be here with Nancy, hearing stories about her and Dwain and how much Dwain would have loved this trip.
The next day was more of the same, SO many lectures to get to, a short movie to watch, more naps and way too much food. At the afternoon briefing Shane, the Expedition leader, let us know that we would be woken up early early tomorrow to go through the Lemaire Channel. Shane also mentioned that not long after that we would be making our first stop where we could get off the boat and on land as well as take a zodiac out around some of the glaciers in the lagoon! Needless to say, it was difficult to sleep that night! After a few glasses of wine and one round of the Ted Lasso game (highly recommended by all three of us), we were exhausted.
