Somewhat Rough Seas In The Drake Passage
We slept great last night, even though it was a bit of a bumpy ride. Once we got out of some of the protected areas leaving Ushuaia, it had gotten a little rougher. Not bad, but it was noticeable even though we were sleeping. I woke up about 6:00 AM and it was already pretty bright outside. We do not know what time the sunrise was, but only a layer of low clouds on the horizon kept the full sun from shining through our window at that early hour.
I got up and took a shower. Stephanie slept in longer because she was not feeling that well, it was not from the seas, it was more like a stomach virus. It was not that bad, so at about 8:15 AM we headed up to get some breakfast. I had a full breakfast but Stephanie only had a banana, trying to utilize the BART acronym for things easy to digest, the Banana being the B.
The Hide – We Found It
We walked around a bit hoping that our cabin steward would get to our room and clean it while we were at breakfast. We went to try and find The Hide, which is a room at the bow of the ship that is also a bar at night. It has large windows, and is fairly close to the waterline in comparison to any other windows on the ship. It is sort of a puzzle to find The Hide, hence the name, there are no directions on how to get there, and it takes a little bit of investigating to figure out how to get there.
Stephanie needed to make a stop at the room before we headed to the mandatory briefing for anyone wanting to go ashore in Antarctica. Our room was not yet cleaned, and we hoped it would be by the time the briefing was over close to 10:00 AM.
Attending The Mandatory Briefing
The briefing was good and it was followed by a Kayak briefing where they showed a couple of presentations about the special dry suits and other gear you wear and how to get in and out of the Kayak. The entry and exit look a little tricky. We are scheduled for a demonstration on the entry and exit on the Hanger at 3:20 PM. Everyone that wants to Kayak will have to demonstrate they can get in and out of the Kayak from a Zodiac Boat.
After the mandatory briefing, we headed back to the cabin. We could see that the ground swell had increased some from earlier this morning. The swells were coming from almost straight abeam earlier but were now coming more from the stern quarter. It was not a rough ride, just a little rolling from front to back on the large swells.
Stephanie rested while I put together some of the camera gear for our first expedition, scheduled for the day after tomorrow, on Saturday. We also got out any of the gear we will be wearing on any landings that was not new. It has to be taken to be vacuumed to remove any potential contaminates. We will also get our expedition boots at the same time as the decontamination. We only had a few items to take since most of what we brought was new.
At 11:00 AM, we headed down to Deck A to go through the decontamination, and get our special expedition rubber boots. We both took two pairs of wool socks to put on to make sure the boots fit correctly. There was quite a lot of people in the small space on Deck A, and it was pretty hot. We were talking about our gear and realized I had needed to bring one small bag down that I had left it in the room. I went back upstairs to the room and got the bag while Stephanie kept our place in line. Stephanie now needed to go back to the room, the heat was not helping her stomach issue. I waited in line and got our items vacuumed. I had to tell the lady that Stephanie had to go back to the room but would return shortly, she almost did not want to check off her name, but I told her that I had both hers and my items to be vacuumed.
After the vacuuming was complete, I headed over to the large benches to get fit for my boots. Based on my normal shoe size, I was given a size 12 boots to try on. I went to put on my two pairs of socks, and noticed one sock was missing. I looked around the bench where I had set everything, but it was not there either. I had to try on one boot at a time since I was short one sock, and had to use the remaining sock for both feet separately.
In the meantime, Stephanie had returned and she was fitted for her boots as well. We looked around and still did not see the sock, maybe I had dropped it in the cabin when I had gone back. We went back to the cabin and I could still not find the missing sock. We then realized that we had missed a couple of other items that we should have taken to Deck A for decontamination, so I headed back down the the Deck A to get that done. I went to the same lady who had vacuumed our items the first time, and there was my sock, sitting off to the side of her station. I had obviously left it there during the original decontamination visit.
With that task finally done, we could relax until the next mandatory activity, the Kayak Testing at 3:20 PM this afternoon. We decided to go through our excursions and found that the only Kayak tour we had originally been able to book was moved from the early morning to 2:30 PM in the afternoon. We did not know why, so I headed down to Guest Service to ask about it. It had been moved because the entire schedule was moved, our tour at 2:30 PM was actually the first for that day and stop. We asked about getting on an earlier Kayak tour on another day, so the representative said she would ask and let us know.
Stephanie was not feeling up to lunch, so I headed up to the World Cafe and had a nice, but solitary lunch. I had a glass of wine with lunch, and got one to go. I also stopped by the food station and got Stephanie a hot bowl of plain rice.
We just spent time in the cabin until the drill at 3:20 PM for the Kayaking. I worked on the blog and Stephanie rested, trying to not do too much to upset her stomach. She was now taking some anti-diarrhea medicine we had brought from home that is always part of our travel medicines, just in case…..
Kayak Fit Test In The Hanger
At 3:15 PM, we headed down to the Hanger area to do the Kayak Test. They have a mock up using a real Zodiac and real Kayak to simulate getting into the Kayak from the Zodiac. We were waiting in a stairwell, and were not moving for some time. We could not see what was happening at the bottom of the stairs, and had no idea why we were not moving. Then, all at once, our entire group went into the Hanger area to the test area. This was being done by groups, and we had been waiting in the group before us to be fully done before we could go into the room.
The instructor showed our group how to enter and exit the kayak, and we all had to actually go and get into the Zodiac and then get into and out of the Kayak. Since we were last in, and no one could pass by, we ended up being in the first few people to do the test, which was good, Stephanie did not need to be standing a long time. The first two people to go were not very agile, and a little older and overweight. The instructor told them they were borderline to go, and they kept asking why and if they passed. It seemed he was trying to convince them they were not really capable of going and lead them in the direction to make that call themselves. I don’t think they ever thought that, they just wanted to know if they passed, and he said yes. I think in the end, they will be told no later on, but who knows. It is understandable they would be disappointed, but if they can’t do it out in the water, then the entire group may be compromised and not get to go, not to mention their own safety.
We were in the third set of people to try, and I have to say, it was difficult. My knees just can’t get up to my chin and this is about what needs to happen to get into the Kayak form the higher Zodiac. We did it, but both of us could feel some muscles stretching in our upper body when we got done.
Special Ops Boat & Zodiacs in The Hanger
We left after we finished, and headed back to the cabin. Our cabin steward came by, he was finally getting to our room to clean it even though we had put out the electronic sign earlier in the morning. He was finally able to change out my jacket to an XL, and bring Stephanie a Medium jacket to try on with the small jacket for comparison. He also brought Stephanie a medium set of pants. We `tried everything on and opted for the medium jacket for Stephanie. The inner jacket fit well. Although the outer jacket was a little large, overall, that is about how mine fit also. I was never going to be able to use the large size, it was too tight, so I had to go with a little oversized outer jacket, and it was the same for Stephanie.
We now had all of our expedition gear, and we stowed it into the drying closet in the room. There had been an announcement earlier that we were getting across the Drake Passage quicker, and we were now going to add a stop at Fournier Bay tomorrow afternoon. They were planning to offer Zodiac Cruises and Special Ops Boat cruises there. There was no landings offered for this stop. The notification said to reserve your excursion through your TV, but it did not work when we tried, so I went down to Guest Services to make us a reservation for the Zodiac Cruise. We had already added several Special Ops boat tours on other days so we opted for the Zodiac.
We also found out that we had been rescheduled for an earlier Kayak tour as I had requested earlier, but it was a day earlier than originally scheduled. That messed up a couple of other things, so we got it sorted out while I was at Guest Services.
Stephanie just wanted to rest, so I head to the Explorer’s Lounge for a glass of wine and to get a couple of bottles of ginger ale for Stephanie. I stayed for a couple of glasses of wine, chatting with another couple there about cruising.
I headed back to the cabin and we relaxed a bit before heading to the World Cafe for some dinner. Stephanie tired some bland items, but did not feel like eating much. I had some sushi, crab legs and boiled shrimp, which were all good. We went to the Explorer’s Lounge and I got a drink, but Stephanie just visited. Stephanie headed back to the room after a bit and I stayed for another drink and met some interesting people who had all booked this cruise last minute for the same special rate we had gotten.
It was about 9:30 PM, and I headed back to the room for the night.