Got a bit of sleep last night, but was still pretty woozy getting up and going to breakfast. I found my travel sickness bands and wore them religiously. I ordered an omelette but I only managed to eat about half.
This morning was super busy. Unlike other cruises, many of the sessions onboard are mandatory briefings so people are prepared when alighting onto Antartica, the boats of kayaks. As we had signed up for kayaking, we had to attend the 9:30 briefing to learn how to put on the insulated dry suit and learn how to get in and out of the zodiac and kayak so we could be properly informed before signing up. The lecture room is on deck 6 at the front of the ship and we sat near a door incase I needed a speedy exit. I didn’t feel super well.
We left this a few minutes early - Dan had been to the one the day before anyway - as our group, the Humpback Whales were called to deck 3 to pick up our boots. We joined the queue which snaked around the corridor. Dan jumped out of the queue to pick up our humpback whale badges (it’s how we are divided across the ship into smaller groups. There’s 3 whales, 3 birds, 3 penguins etc). I tried on a size 38 to begin with and I swam in them, so went down to the size 37 with two pairs of socks. Dan went down to the size 44. We Carried our boots back to the room and quick turned to the 10:45 mandatory IAATO induction. So many necessary activities and I was still very weak and pretty Ill feeling. We were back at Deck 6 and the front of the boat, So I continued to work on not throwing up.
The waves were still about 2-3m, so we were definitely rolling around a bit.
Unlike cruise ships, this is an expedition journey, so it was never meant to be entirely relaxing. Instead of comedians or dancing activities, we had briefings about how to act while on the continent (ie, penguins always have right of way! And do not walk on the penguin highways.). We also learnt about how to get in and out of the zodiacs, as Tousten wonderfully performed “the skootch”. We also learnt about the different groups and landing times, and they they are cycled around (ie one group who lands first one day will land last another etc).
After the briefing we wanted to watch Laura’s lecture on the Antarctic Ice Shelf but after sitting in there for another few minutes I was just too uncomfortable so we returned to our room and watched it on the livestream. Dan and I really enjoy attending her sessions! She’s a great and interesting speaker.
By now it was lunch and I was not hungry. Dan grabbed a burger from the takeaway joint and got extra chips for me..
We Still needed to vacuum our belongings to remove any kind of contaminant so after lunch we joined the queue. The wrong queue. We were stuck behind a particular family who seemed to want to suck out all of the stuffing from each item of clothing - they took forever. At the other vacuum station 3 lots of people moved through while they were still going.
I lay down and had a nap while Dan went to ask some more questions of reception because we couldn’t find life jackets or slippers. Turns out they are in a rather hidden cupboard. He also investigated postcards as we won’t be able to land to post them - so the ship will post them on the first available opportunity in the new year.
We wandered out the back and realised the jacuzzi spas were back on, so we raced another couple to get changed and into one of the spas. we won, by the way, thanks to Dan taking the stairs. There are two jacuzzis on the ship and one heated pool which had been drained and not refilled yet - so it was exciting to see the spas refilled after the rocky Drake passage.
The spa was stupid hot and we had to spend most of our time sitting out of it. The bubbles would come on periodically and make it difficult to see. However, it was divine. I think I got mildly sunburnt so that’s a lesson for later. While sitting there Dan and I spotted a fin (not in our hot tub!) but in the stream the behind the ship. No one else spotted this but we asked a wildlife expert later and he thinks it was a minke whale. Very exciting!
After our excellent broiling in the spa, we stood out the front bow to cool down, and it was nice and fresh.
On the way to the front we passed the captain who quietly asked us how we were, so I swung around and said “good thank you, and you?” We chatted with the captain briefly. I was still feeling less than 100% but pulled Myself together for the NASA citizen Science cloud observation session. Run by Laura, this was pretty cool, where we use an app to determine what’s happening cloud wise from The ground while nasa takes pictures and observations from satellites above. They then marry this information together. It got rather cold out there. Todays observation? Cloud. 100%. Cloud.
We stood around afterwards and spoke with two lecturers on board, Kiwi Dr Hanne and Aussie A/Prof Anne who both work for the University of Tasmania. We had watched their lecture earlier on the replay about the pros and cons of tourism to Antarctica.
Had been eyeing off a pretty beanie so hit the bullet and bought it. Merino wool, possum wool and silk. Designed in Svalbard - made in New Zealand 🤣. Returned to the room and watched next day briefing via livestream - learnt that we would be landing at Deception Island and that there would be the polar plunge at Whalers Bay.
Got ready for New Years Eve dinner and I felt a bit silly getting dressed up. But once out and about I saw many people all dressed up, so many sparkles! To accompany dinner we had mimosa as I wanted some sparkly wine but I couldn’t stomach a whole glass. For the meal I chose the Spicy tuna starter, delicious beef tenderloin with mash and dessert was a caramel tart with berries and sorbet.
We made our way to deck 10 to secure seats for a live production of Dinner for One with an
Antarctica twist. Instead of the polar bear rug, as there are no polar bears in Antarctica, the Aussie expedition leader emerged wearing a head to toe penguin suit - she lay down on the floor to pretend to be the rug!
For context, Dinner for One is a bizarre New Years tradition in Germany (and apparently a few Scandinavia countries too). It’s a British skit that just seems to really tickle the German sense of humour - it’s almost always presented in English, in the original.
Tousten was Miss Sophie in a yellow dress and wig and his landing boots, and one of the officers played Butler James wearing a ridiculous white wig.
It was hysterical. We love Dinner for One anyway, but the food courses were things like humpback whale (using a stuffed toy from the shop) and each of Miss Sophie’s friends were famous Antarctic explorers.
“Same procedure this year?” Butler James slurs.
“Same procedure as Every year,” Miss Tousten Sophie replies.
Such a hoot! A couple of British people we have made friends with came over to us after and asked “did that make any sense to you?!” And we explained we had lived in Germany and we were familiar with it. It’s so silly! Here’s a link to watch the original. https://youtu.be/5n7VI0rC8ZA
We returned to our room to watch the sky darken just slightly as we are a week out of polar day, and and popped a bottle of bubbles - mixed it with some sparkling juice as I still couldn’t handle a full glass. At about 11:30 we returned to deck 10. We sadly missed the end of the band but Tousten was on the dj desk, and after a lap not really finding anyone to sit with we sat near the entrance and the champagne table that was being poured ready for midnight.
At 11:45 we gathered on all levels of the atrium - Dan and I went up and down a few times looking for a good view. The crew were going to put on a little show before midnight and the screen was to show fireworks! While we held our champagne glasses, the crew sand Auld Lang Syne and did a dance routine to Celebration. Even the captain made an appearance and sang! He was to count down to midnight but the screen didn’t quite work, so we all kind of fumbled our way over to the new year! It was rather funny. We all cheersed and had a sip, and then at 12:03 the screen suddenly worked and it counted down from 60 seconds. So we did it again! And this one 1 the screen lit up with fireworks, a techno version of Auld Lang syne and we cheersed and sipped and danced again! Hilariously, about five minutes later - the screen reset itself and did ANOTHER countdown, so three countdowns to New Years has got to be good luck? I was absolutely stuffed but the crew looked like they were having a ball, and some of the passengers had joined them. We took the glass lift down to the atrium floor and stood at the outskirts, dancing and singing.
The ship is VERY hot most of the time, so it wasn’t long before I was completely stuffed (thanks, seasickness!) so we said our final Happy New Years, even got a hug from Tousten, and returned to our room, having welcomed in 2023.
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