The Dreaded Drake & Gear Maintenance

January 11. We left South Georgia Island last night to head southwest to Antarctica. Seas were a little rough at times with swells up to 16 feet and winds at 40 knots. As forecasted, winds and seas have subsided and should remain that way until we reach our next destination, Elephant Island. Our over the counter sea sickness medication is working well.

At this afternoon’s briefing, we were told our exterior gear has to be inspected again, because we are entering a different environment. Tomorrow morning we will be lugging our coats, rain pants, gloves, poles, and hats to the mud room for inspection. Boots will also be inspected, and the staff has helpfully left sophisticated tools (paper clips) in the boot room to clean treads of boots and velcro on pants, really!

Procedures on return from landings. Enter the ship and step through a pan filled with disinfectant; step up onto the automated boot scrubber, like a boot car wash; go into mud room where brushes, handheld showers, and spray bottles of more disinfectant are used to clean any speck of guano, seeds, pebbles, etc. from boots snd pants. Wrestle boots off and put away on assigned shelf in the boot room. Finally, go to your cabin and take off all other gear.

As we write this, 2 albatrosses are flying back and forth by our balcony. Here, hundreds of miles from any land are these beautiful birds with the largest wing span of any bird, reaching up to 12 feet.