Lundi 24 Mars, a été le dernier jour où l’on a marché sur le continent….enfin, plus vraiment le continent, mais plus tôt 2 îles de l’archipel des Shetland. Le matin, nous avons débarqué dans un 1 site très intéressant, pas vraiment exceptionnel par la beauté de son paysage, ni la richesse de sa faune (quoique là encore les phoques à fourrures étaient légion), mais plus tôt pour la richesse de son histoire. Read more
Blog from Cabin 208 Ines Rupprecht Seems like we get the full Antarctic package. After lovely days with so many wildlife and gorgeous weather we are now on our way back in the Drake Passage. As expected very rough sea. In fact: we hit a storm with more than 60 knots wind (more than 100km/h), waves between 6 and 10 meters, wind force eleven (Hurricane strength).. It makes everything flying around the ship inclusive ourselves. The ship gets constantly lifted out of the water and returning back feels like it will break apart. No one allowed outside. I was on the bridge all afternoon yesterday as staying in bed was not very pleasant. The captain Jorge is very relaxed, laughing at our nervous faces and questions “when does the ship sink• etc. I asked him if he isn’t the last to leave the ship so better stop laughing – he said I am watching too many movies! Fact is the crew leaves the bridge once a while and someone said they have a little chapel to pray. UAAAHHH!!! Truth is, they put the Auto pilot on. The outlook is fantastic when waves splash against the windows and float the decks. Seeing the ship nose diving deep in the waves is spectacular. The rolling makes the stomach a bit weak but I am doing well (compared to others who stayed in bed last two days). The night was a nightmare – furniture flew around and I had to put my mattress on the floor where I was sliding on it from one side to another. No one really slept last night. What started as an adventure turned out to be quite scary to everyone. The storm was supposed to slow down today but did not so far. Waves are still up to 6 meters and the wind even increased to 70 knots per hour, we roll to all sides I cross all fingers that will end today. Makes me feel incredible sick and tired. Want to be home, enough expedition mode.
All,
Happy Eastern, after our Eastern dinner we started our way back to through the Drake Passage. The weather forecast wasn’t promising but it would be a classic Drake Passage. Till we hit a storm and boot went up and down, rolling more than 45° ! This started as a fun trip ended in a roller coaster of 48 hours. We all slept very terrible and everybody was down or has a bruise somewhere. The ending of this great trip is nearby and all our check boxes are completed What a great trip this was !!!
Schatties,
Een gelukkige Pasen. We hebben onze terug reis aangevangen en binnen 48 uren ben ik thuis. Maar voor dat we thuis zijn moeten we deze storm (60-70 knoppen) nog overleven. Het is precies ofdat je op een rollercoaster zit maar dan voor 48 uren.Op eens zie je alleen maar zee en een fractie van een seconde later zie alleen maar lucht. Ik ben niet zeeziekte maar ik heb hier en daar wel een blauwe plek. De golven slagen over de boot en een golfslag van 10 meter.Maar de skipper heeft ons verteld dat we op tijd in de haven zullen zijn. Wat is dit een prachtige reis geweest en ik ben al gestart met het opkuisen van de 2000 foto’s. Hebben jullie een goede Pasen gehad ?
Ik mis jullie, kusjes en tot zo.
Geert.
We all said an emotional goodbye to the Antarctic yesterday in glorious sunshine. Like most days we still had a wind chill of minus 30, but the more time we spend here we somehow seem to get used to it. The crew who have been travelling here every Summer season for years kept saying that we had been so lucky experiencing the best of everything that the Antarctic has to offer – smooth crossing over the Drake Passage, perfect weather, sightings of every wildlife we could wish for…..so I guess it was inevitable that we had to experience a true Drakes Passage crossing on our way home, and that is exactly what happened last night. I have now had no sleep for nearly 48 hours so a quick note from me to everybody who´s still checking out what we´re up to.
We tried to have some dinner and all linked hands at the table but still couldn´t stop ourselves falling over. We had spend most of the day hanging onto the most secure parts of the ship but had now resorted to crawling everywhere to prevent more accidents. When a 10m high wave hit the boat side on in the middle of the night I was well prepared as I´d been hanging on to the metal post supporting our bunk beds since 10pm. The winds were gusting at 90mph, this was extraordinary, even for the Drake Passage and George our Captain who would normally be tucked up in bed stayed awake all night to keep us on course. The crew have not been able to serve any food in these rough conditions, but we´re still hopeful for dinner tonight before the Pirates of the Antarctic farewell party. Everything on the boat that is not tied down was thrown across the boat when the huge wave hit us, so now only 40 miles to go before arrive at Cape Horn and have some protection from land. Now I can´t wait to step onto dry land!
