This morning I was already awake at 06:00, even though I had been really tired yesterday. First a look out of the window.
The sea wasn’t as choppy as I expected and so I made an appointment with Tommy. We are both friends on Instagram and we thought it was funny that we were both doing the same trip. Tommy is a professional photographer and showed me a lot and it was great fun. We first set up LrC (Photoshop Lightroom Classic) on my Macbook together and he gave me some tricks and tips for my camera. There was hardly anyone on the boat that early. We set it up until my Macbook’s battery was empty and it was time for breakfast. After breakfast, we met up and wanted to go birdwatching and take photos together, but unfortunately there wasn’t a single bird in sight and when one did appear, it was gone again very quickly.
Before lunch, there was a safety briefing and rules for going ashore. This was mandatory for all shore excursions.
The important rules for going ashore:
- 5m distance to the animals
- Penguins always have right of way
- Do not cross the penguin highway and walk towards them
- no backpacks on the ground or kneeling down
- no tripods allowed
- No snowball fights
When boarding the Zodiac (rubber boat with motor), the following Safety grip always apply:
The programme for the shore excursions was then presented. Everyone was divided into different boat groups. Each boat group had a name. My group was called “Humpack Whales”. You had to check the Hurtigruten app to find out when each group was due to go on the Zodiac cruise or shore excursions.
The app contained all the important information about when and where which event was taking place, what was available to eat where and also when which boat group was leaving.
The optional excursions were then presented.
Every single optional activity was presented and questions could be asked. For the camping activity there was of course the question about the toilets. There were 2 toilets, but only for liquids, i.e. the small business. However, it was best to go to the toilet on the boat. Laughs were guaranteed when we saw the photo of the toilets. 🙂
Everyone could sign up for the excursions they wanted to do, but whether you got the excursions you wanted was decided by lot. One of the reasons for a lottery is that only a certain number of people are allowed to go to Antarctica each day and the ship simply had too many passengers. But there were also some older passengers who didn’t want to go on any excursions. I had signed up for all the excursions except the kayak tour. My reasoning was as follows: I had already done a kayak tour in winter in Trondheim and that’s why I didn’t sign up for this one. Of course, Antarctica is not Trondheim, but what I wanted most was camping, then a photo tour and snowshoeing and then the science boat.
In the middle of the lecture, I suddenly felt sick. I could only feel the swell from time to time. I managed to finish the lecture and then went straight to my cabin. After I had vomited and slept a bit, I felt fine again. I took a seasickness tablet to be on the safe side. But I was very tired all day. It was a small consolation that half the passengers felt the same as me. I had skipped lunch.
In the afternoon, we had to hoover all the clothes that we would wear out in Antarctica. The simple reason for this was to prevent bacteria from being dragged out.
We were given rubber boots that we had to clean after every trip ashore and go through a disinfectant bath so that none of them were dragged back in. The rubber boot issue was planned for tomorrow. This was all for safety reasons and there were also rules for behaviour on land.
Shortly before dinner, the crew and the expedition team introduced themselves.
The captain introduced his crew. The first officer always hid behind the pillar. But at some point I managed to take a photo of him.
The captain said: “I’m not the most important man on board. The most important man on board is the chef Felix.” Everyone laughed, but somehow he was right. 🙂
The head of the expedition team then introduced his team, including the scientists on board.
Afterwards we had dinner. It was very tasty.
- Starters (top left): Shrimps salad, cucumber, mayonnaise relish, fried capers and cocktail sauce
- Main (top right): Beef tenderloin, baked root vegetables, carrot purée and red wine sauce
- Desserts (bottom in the middle): caramelized apples, sour-cream, crumble and hazelnut ice cream
The day ended with the presentation of the programme for the next day. There was a preview of the weather forecast, if possible. The weather in Antarctica can change within minutes.
After the show, I went to bed. I wanted to upload my WhatsApp status before going to sleep, but I was so tired that I only put my mobile phone on to charge it and then fell asleep straight away. So my friends and acquaintances had to wait until tomorrow. I slept so soundly that I didn’t even notice the boat rocking.