We are now slowly making our way up the Beagle Channel back to Ushuaia. The last couple of days have been pretty much non-events for me. I was completely horizontal in my bunk for all of yesterday and most of this morning. Not completely seasick but knowing full well that if I tried to get up and move around I would be. About noon today I was able to get up and around.
But, lets go back a couple of days to Sunday December 7th. We spent that morning counting Gentoo Penguin nests at an island called Cuverville. The walking was much better on this island and I wasn’t all the way up to my knees in snow with every step. There were lots of Gentoos on the portion of the island that we counted but there were also lots of abandoned nests, apparently due to the amount of snow that had been falling this spring. The nests were inundated with snow and melt water and then abandoned. We counted lots of nests though. The afternoon found us at Neko Harbor where we again counted Gentoo nests. This colony appeared to be much better off for some reason and there were fewer nests at the periphery that had been abandoned.
On Monday we counted Gentoos again at Paradise Bay. We also counted a small colony of Blue-eyed Shags on cliffs near the Argentine Station Admirante Brown. We then headed to the nearby British Antarctic Trust base at Port Lockroy. This was a British Antarctic Survey station for many years but was then abandoned. It has been restored and is run as a museum with a very popular gift shop where you can go shopping for Antarctic souvenirs. We counted all the Gentoo nests and Blue-eyed Shag nests at nearby Jougla Point and then headed over to see what was new at the shop.
After we were done at Port Lockroy we headed north in Dahlman Bay were we had a rendezvous with our sister ship the Endeavour. It was a lot of fun with passengers from the Endeavour coming over to have a look at the new ship (I even ran into someone I knew from many years ago in Bozeman) and the crew having a big party with fellow crew members from the Endeavour. We also got to visit a bit with our Oceanites counterparts too.
After that we headed into the Drake passage and that was it for me. We are in Ushuaia for less that 24 hours and we head back into the Drake tomorrow night. Hopefully it will be better for me this time around. Keep your fingers crossed.
1 comment:
I feel for you. My cabin mate on the trip was in his bunk both ways across the Drake. I swear I never believed anyone actually turned green until I saw him. I kept bringing him bites to eat during the crossing, and ginger pills but nothing helped.
I was fine, but I spend all of my waking hours on the bridge. As long as I could see the horizon, no problem. When I wasn't there I was either eating or sleeping.
I miss Antarctica. Cuverville was our first stop, first Penguin colony. And my favourite t-shirt ever came from Port Lockroy. Just a white t-shirt with the station on the upper chest. Comfortable and wore like the dickens.
You are making me very envious sir.
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