As we rapidly approach the end of our trip and our arrival back in Ushuaia and Buenos Aires and soon the Chicago winter, I thought it was high time that I spent a bit of time describing what life has been like aboard the ship and take you on a bit of a tour. Yesterday, we got to see some hidden areas like the laundry room and the zodiac garage, but I thought you might enjoy seeing all the other areas that we’ve been getting to enjoy over the past week. Honestly, our day to day itinerary has been so packed from morning to night, that there’s actually been very little downtime, so I would have loved to have spent more time lounging around in some of the fun public areas but that’s the trade-off for continually going on fun outings (or as they are called on board “operations”)
So our days always started with the Expedition trip leader, a very charismatic Brit called Jamie, waking us up with a slow, deliberate “Good Morning…… Good Morning” delivered over the PA system. While I can’t say enough good things about the entire expedition team, staff and pretty much everyone on this whole boat (they really are one big, genuinely happy family), its been particularly heartwarming to see how Jamie interacts with his team and the Captain. You know how some people are just natural leaders who inspire those around them? Yep, that’s what you see with Jamie, how he treats his crew and then the huge respect that they have for him. Its just really nice to see such a well-functioning team in action. Every single member of the crew is following their passion and LOVES what they do. Its impossible not to be inspired (and just a teeny weeny bit envious).
Anyway, the day starts with Jamie waking us all up (usually pretty early – the earliest having been at 6am, the latest at 8am) where he will give a brief overview of the day’s itinerary, the weather and any other useful information our non-caffeinated brains might be capable of retaining at that time in the morning. Each evening, the daily program for the following day is posted up on our in-room information/entertainment system so that details what the day’s activities are going to be as well as meal times and educational lectures. After Jamie’s announcement, I’ll get up and make a first cup of espresso from the coffee maker we have in room and open the curtains of our balcony, so we can get the first look at whatever landscape we will be enjoying for the morning.
There are two restaurants on board, offering a slightly different menu of choices – the main restaurant, Two Seven Zero offers a full suite of breakfast options including cooked to order omelets or whatever you’d like. The other restaurant, C Greens (named after the original cook on Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance) offers lighter fare – think yogurt compotes and oatmeal. Both offer coffee, in copious quantities, which has been a key ingredient in getting us up and moving! There are also a few very nice coffee machines sprinkled about the boat – including different freshly-baked cookies that are VERY difficult to resist!
After breakfast, we usually have an operation in the morning – this can be a landing with a hike, an ice-walk, a kayak or zodiac trip. Regardless of what it is, we listen out for further details over the PA system and usually we get called down to Base Camp from our cabin according to our zodiac boarding groups. On our first day on the ship, we had to sign our names onto 1 of 4 sign-up sheets which assigned us to 1 of 4 zodiac groups – the Skuas, the Weddell Seals, the Adelies and the Humpback Whales (all wildlife we have now seen during our expedition here in the Antarctic peninsula!). We signed ourselves up to the Humpbacks (no particular reason other than Lisa really wanted to see whales while we were here, I think) so the routine would be that you would sit and wait in your cabin until it announced who would be boarding the zodiacs (or whatever) first, second, third etc. Sometimes we knew in advance whether we’d be the first or last boarding group – other times it felt a bit more random and that suddenly you were being called down to Base Camp for boarding in 10mins, but you were nowhere near ready! You were pretty much always running round the cabin like an idiot, throwing extra clothes on, trying to decide your layering strategy for the excursion so that you would be juuuuust right, neither too hot nor too cold. Where you going to be active, like hiking up a big hill, or simply sitting in a zodiac for 2hrs? Is the sun out? Is it windy or snowing? Is there the potential for warmth from any random Viking boats doling out hot chocolate? 
All these were decisions that had to be made in the time from announcement to when you left the cabin and headed down to Base Camp (usually about 15 mins). Regardless of the layers you packed, you always had to bring your key card so you could swipe yourself out of the boat at the start of the activity and then swipe yourself back in after you returned to the boat at the end of the activity. This was VERY important so they know clearly who is onsite vs offsite and so they don’t leave anyone behind! If you forgot to do this, they would make an announcement over the PA requesting that XX cabin please sign back in – to our collective credits, this only happened once during the whole expedition. In addition to your key card, you also always had to have your lifejacket and make sure these were fitted correctly before boarding the zodiac. The last step was to don your waterproof pants and then the big black rubber boots that we’d rented. This would ensure your feet would stay nice and dry in case the landing involved stepping into the ocean shore but also would keep them dry on the ice and snow.
Once we were on land (or ice), we had to be very conscious of the potential to inadvertently pick up and distribute bird flu (which is a big problem at the moment – not just for the penguins, but also the seals). This meant that anything you dropped (like a glove or your walking pole) would need to be sanitized upon return to the ship with a bright pink anti-viral solution. There were also strict rules about not crouching or getting down on the ground to take pictures – and the rule that everyone has to follow is a simple one – no bending of the knees. It was a bit of a shame as it did limit your ability to take pictures a little – but the danger of accidentally kneeling in poop or soil or any organic matter that might be contaminated with the bird flu virus was too great to risk it. As an additional safeguard, after each operation, as we come back onto the ship, we had to scrub the bottoms of our boots and waterproof pants in these small baths, lined with bristle brushes, to make sure we’d removed any debris from them. After that, we walked through a shallow tray filled with anti-viral solution to make sure the soles got well treated.
Depending on how long our excursion was for, there was usually time for an educational lecture before lunch. Lunch was then served at 12pm – again, both in the Two Seven Zero and C.Green’s restaurant. After lunch, from 1 – 2pm, there was usually a break in the schedule, giving you time either for a nap (ManpanionTM) or to edit the hundreds of photos you’d taken during the morning’s operation (me). Then there would be another afternoon excursion, usually from around 2.30pm to 4.30pm depending on the type of activity and weather conditions. Ahead of each activity, upon arriving at the site at which the operation was to take place, an expedition scouting team was sent out, in advance of all the guests, to check mainly that the planned activity was going to be safe. Then the crew would do what would be needed to enhance the experience for the guests, whether it was to make snowy walkways for us by tamping down the deep fluffy snow, or checking out the full hiking or skiing route first and marking all the boundaries with bright orange cones so that we would know exactly where it was safe to walk. As the zodiac parking garage was directly under our cabin on deck 3 (we’re on deck 7) we would know exactly when the scouting party would depart! (it took us a couple of times to work out what the alarmingly loud CLANGGGGG noise was!)
After the afternoon activity, there would be yet another lecture from one of the naturalists, as well as afternoon tea served at 4pm in C.Green’s before a little bit of downtime between 5-6pm, before we all then regrouped in the Ice Lounge for cocktail hour and a daily recap (which could involve photos or videos from the day’s activities) and briefing about what was on the plan for tomorrow. Sometimes these plans worked out exactly as initially intended – other days, Plan A became Plan B, C or D due to the weather! This is actually what happened on one of our first days, with the kayaking and Polar plunge. Neither of those were originally on the schedule for that day, but the weather conditions were so perfect, the plans were altered to make the very best of the sunshine and calm seas! Right in the middle of the Ice Lounge, where we all gather, is the area from which the naturalists & crew give their presentations – named “The Circle of Truth”. While most of the presentations are from the naturalists, we have had the opportunity to get to know some of the rest of the crew – Captain Oliver spoke about his experiences one night and Patrik the hotel manager told a fun story about how one cruise almost came a cropper due to a water leak in the toilet paper storage area. This required an elaborate system of categorizing cabins/guests by the amount of their TP consumption (red (heavy), yellow (moderate) and green (light)) to figure out if they had enough TP to last the voyage! We also got to meet the guy who is responsible for all the provisioning and resupply of the ship and saw some photos of the very impressive storage facilities for the kitchen.
After the regroup and briefing, then it was time to go for dinner (yes, more food!) – one day, we dined at the Captains Table, another day we had our tasting menu – every day, it was delicious!! The head chef, Sarah, and her kitchen crew (staffed primarily of Filipenos) REALLY know what they are doing. I shall have to eat nothing but raw vegetables and bone broth for a month when I get home – but WORTH IT!! And so after dinner, if you had the energy, you could go back to the Ice Lounge for a nightcap – or head upstairs to the Library where there was often a card game in progress to join or, occasionally, a third outing!
So that’s been our daily routine for the last week! I think I might need a vacation to get over this one!! (As soon as I get back to land, I will also post up some videos that I took this morning which will take you on a tour around the ship – don’t quite have enough wi-fi bandwidth at the moment….)
