Team members say

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.

Waking in our bunk beds with the 40cm headroom has never seemed so luxurious as this morning –it feels like the upgrade that never came as we lie and imagine what our camping colleagues have been through over night. The shower and heater in the cabin suddenly seem so decadent.

A quick word about our landing last night – we went to Port Lockroy – a rocky outcrop with a couple of buildings and lots of penguins. This is an Antarctic historic site and provides a Royal Mail postal service during the Antarctic summer months (not now). The rules of the Antarctic are that you cannot approach any closer to a penguin than 5 metres – they don´t know this and soon wander all around you – something to note about penguins - you bring more than the memory of the penguins back with you as the smell is so pungent that it stays in your nostrils long after you have left the island.

Back to this morning - When the first campers came back on board we were looking for evidence of frostbite or at least shivering campers but everyone was far too cheerful (were they briefed to look this way?). The Norwegians apparently didn´t bother with the inconvenience of putting up a tent and slept outside – showing their true mountain men stamina (or did they miscalculate the number of tents???). The biggest issue reported was the snoring in the neighbouring tents. Earplugs in the Antarctic are mandatory as it seems. Isn`t this meant to be the quietest place on earth??? After breakfast the campers caught up on their sleep and Nicola and I went outside to view this beautiful channel as we glided through. Ines tried hard to capture the penguins in the water when suddenly a humpback whale breached completely out of the water. An announcement was made and everyone dashed out on deck to see a tremendous display of breaching and feeding with fin flapping and the photographers dream – the ´tail shot´. We all had to be dragged back in for the next instalment of the Leadership on the Edge programme and left the two whales quietly feeding.

The afternoon was spent cruising in the Zodiacs around the glacial icebergs in the channel and keeping eyes peeled for more whales. We saw Crabeater seals and Gentoo penguins but sadly there were no close encounters with whales. After spending more than hour in the Zodiacs in sub zero temperatures we returned to the ship to prepare for our camping expedition tonight. First job is to warm up and pack just about all the clothes you have with you to take out tonight. The special sleeping bags are reported to be very efficient at keeping you warm as long as you actually get in them properly (as demonstrated yesterday as apparently people have been reported to use them upside down in the past!!??). Looks as if Ines and I are on the same camping team so it will be just like our normal evening of banter and chaos – just in an even more confined space and without the three blankets each and the supplies of chocolate (no food allowed onshore). And knowing us, we would never ever break rules, right?

Blog from Cabin 208 Ines Rupprecht My roommate Nicola jumped out of bed this morning even before Peters soothing wakeup call touched my ears. She had a vision of breakfast she said. Expeditions always start early (6 – 7 am) and in the dark. Or is it just because I blocked the window with another blanket because it got so cold? First challenge of today was which color thermal base layer shall we put on and does that match our mid and top layer??? (not that there is much of a choice though…) Greetings to all Merino sheep around the world – I love you! Especially when we had minus 30 degrees on deck. I made my decent from the upper bunk bed – I am getting quite artistic after all these days and went to breakfast with my loved Nutella. After that - ready to land. Image me sitting on the zodiac just holding the rope with one hand!! I feel like a mixture of superwoman and Michelin man. I got so many clothes on, (layers layers layers) I feel and look like a seal. If an Orka will eat me it’s just because of the tons of clothes. The landing was great – a huge iceberg crashing in front of us was amazing. No words for that. Whales and penguins followed us during the day. Thank god I brought that sunscreen factor 50 and put in my backpack. Putting some on my face would have been an even better idea. Hanging out on the bridge in the afternoon, Nicola spotted a group of 6 Orka whales. Those have not been seen since January. Even the crew got excited. As Nicola saw them first, the captain Jorge gave her a bottle of red wine. I expect we will be upgraded to a first class cabin tonight with whirlpool and room service. Yesterday we have passed the place where the cruise ship Explorer just sank – hit by a growler. When I went up the bride the other night (quite spooky place at night as only the radar is on and it is pitch black). The staff was looking outside with some sort of special-night-vision-growler-detectors I thought. Actually those were only ordinary binoculars. Teamwork is trust I have learned in these days and they look like they have done that before. Went to bed and slept well. Today and tomorrow is camping night and I am happy I will go tomorrow together with Nicola. Oh yes, what a hell of a camper I am and always have been. At least no ants or mosquitoes and I might skip the morning shower.

Water in any direction, bloody cold and deep. (who ever thought I would go so far!?) On day three on the MS Ushuaia we finally arrived in Bellingshausen. We have seen the first Wales and penguins and the very first iceberg! It is such a breathtaking experience when an iceberg smoothly passes by. Can not wait to see more of them. The Drake passage was surprisingly calm they say. Still the ship rolls a lot and makes a drawer fly across the room and lot of people got seasick. I just got sick from the seasickness patches – does that make sense? One of my biggest challenges so far is getting in, staying in and get out again of my upper bunk bed. 40cm between me and the ceiling is not much room to move. Working with the waves seems to be the only way. You still roll back and forward in the bed – either facing “the edge” down or bumping against the ice cold ship wall. Antarctic is a rough place and mother nature makes no prisoners we were told. Any mistakes cause real trouble and you can tell, Peter and Jumper know what they are talking about. Lucky with weather yesterday the night was not pleasant at all. It was too windy to stay in the bay; we could have been pressed against some rocks. So we went a bit further outside which means bigger waves and more rolling all night. Some icebergs crossed our way. Sometimes it is better not to know what happens outside… Plan is to cross the water and get on the shore this morning. Looking at the weather now this seems impossible but Hey – we are on expedition mode. I am pretty scared of that 45 minutes Zodiac drive to be honest. Minus 18 degrees and if we were a cruise ship we would no go they say… (Am I on the right ship???) It is really rough outside…