Sunday March 4^th, 2018                                                            Sunrise: 0633/Sunset: 1955

At Sea on route to the Falklands

“I might enjoy being an albatross, being able to glide for days and daydream for hundreds of miles along the thermals.”       – Seamus Heaney

Shockingly, we slept in until 8:30am today.  It was nice not to have the “ding dong death chime” blast overhead to wake us up.  The ship in enshrouded by fog today.  Very creepy.   And, the swells are brutal.  We’re on the 5th level of the ship and we’re getting swells pounding against our cabin windows.  I’m fearful of someone dislocating a shoulder trying to hold onto railings and move about the ship.  There are still lots of passengers down and out with sea sickness.  Thankfully, we just keep eating and drinking like little piggies and are doing fine……so far.  Fingers crossed.  Shawn has filled our day with lectures and onboard activities to keep us occupied.  It’s a little claustrophobic being in the ship for continuous days with no outings in the zodiacs.  I’m having nightmares about Stephen King’s The Shining!  I’m watching for twins standing at the end of the hallway outside our cabin.  Redrum, redrum……

0930  Sketches from Antarctica –Mary Heebner will be in the Lounge to unveil some of her works from our journey south and answer questions you may have about her art and the inspirations from which she drew while in the White Continent. Mary is McDuff’s (our photographer) wife and is such a fun and interesting person.  We’ve really enjoyed interacting with her during the trip.

1100  21^st Century Astronomy: The 2 Big Questions– fellow traveler Sidney Wolff , an astronomer from Tucson,  presented a lecture about the cosmos and what’s going on in the world of Astronomy.   She is still quite active in the field and is working on a new book. We’ve dined many evenings with Sidney and Richard and have really enjoyed getting to know them.  Sadly, Sidney twisted a knee yesterday and that has forced her to slow down and walk with a cane and skip some of the treacherous shore landings.

1330   Whaling: History and the Modern World — Peter Wilson gave a presentation in the Lounge expanding on the history of an industry that dominated these waters in years past.

1515   Cold, no-really, ICE Cold Water Diving—Our Undersea Team, Robert Alexander and Caitlyn Webster, will offer a show and tell of sorts in the Lounge complete with gear and a Q&A about how and why they dive in such frigid waters.  Caitlyn finds the most interesting little tiny critters when she’s diving in the deep frigid waters and brings us lots of video footage to see what she’s been seeing.  She loves her little sea critters!

1600  Special Ice Cream Sundae Dessert on Deck 4 Aft:  We joined the Galley Team for a special post-lunch dessert outside on Deck 4.  It was a little chilly to eat ice cream outside so most people ventured back into the lounge.  This was a challenging endeavor…standing out on the back of the ship getting ice cream with all the toppings while being tossed about like snow in a snow globe!

The sea swells seem to have gotten worse and the ship is tossing about on the ocean.  Unfortunately, we have another full day of this until our arrival in Stanley tomorrow night.  Periodically, it sounds and feels as thought the ship has run over a giant rock…there’s a giant bump and then a huge splash of ocean slams into our port window.

1600                     Galley Tour: Group A .  This was the highlight of the day.  We went down into the galley for a tour and to see how things work in a tiny kitchen with 11 cooks performing their daily tasks.  The Chef did a nice lecture for us and introduced several of his team.

1745  Special Extended Recap and Cocktail Hour – Time for drinks & discussions from our time in South Georgia.

Sadly, the Crew Show that was supposed to be performed for us tonight has to be postponed due to the ocean swells.  We’re crossing our fingers for calmer seas tomorrow so the show can go on.

Chris Croxson gave an entertaining presentation: Nautical Sayings & Humorous Video Clips, compiled from his years of travel on the seas.  It was pretty funny footage.

We’re SO ready to put our feet on terra firma!!

TIME CHANGE – Ship’s clocks will be set backward by 1 hour at 2am early in the morning (between the evening of March 4^th and morning of March 5^th).  Your Cabin Steward will change your clocks for you during evening turn-down service.