Day 30 - 11/05/23 - At Sea to Antarctica - Day 1

 After being up way past midnight photographing the Southern Cross, it was difficult to get out of bed this morning.  The scenic commentary had already started before we were out of the shower.  We knew that the plan was to circumnavigate the island that marks Cape Horn which was named for an early Dutch explorer's home town "Hoorn".


I did some initial photography, but we wanted to attend the interdenominational Sunday service and we did this after a quick breakfast.  When we came back around I was able to photograph the lightkeeper's house and the memorial to the lost sailors.  In this area there are some 800 ships lying deep beneath these waters which drop from some 300 feet to thousands of feet in just a short distance.  In 1905, about 130 ships attempted the transition from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and some 50 went unaccounted for.  It was the record year for such tragedies.

Cape Horn
Lightkeepers cottage with Church on right
Seafarers Monument

During the morning we had 3 very interesting lectures.  The first was by Iain Miller who presented on Amazing, Astounding, Astonishing Antarctica.  It was a superb lecture.  Next, Captain Smit came on stage and presented his Plan A to visit Antarctica, He reviewed the weather and other conditions and joked that they were already on Plan D and that the conditions will require flexibility in what we are able to see and do.  The current projections are for 15 foot seats, sub-freezing snowy weather, and likely icey seas.  While the Zaandam was projected to do a slow cruise of 11 knots to Antarctica, Captain Smit announced that he was speeding up so that the stabilizers would be more effective and we'll reach the continent early tomorrow and be able to more accurately assess the weather conditions.  Jeremy then announced that starting tomorrow, the scenic commentary will be broadcast on the regular PA system as the weather conditions will likely not permit most if not all to be on outside decks where the scenic commentary would normally be broadcast.  There was a round of applause thanking him for this decisions.  Iain then presented a mandatory briefing about responsibilities of visiting Antarctica.  This was repeated again at 1pm.

Stage penguins

The other Antarctic expert, Neil Gilbert, gave a good presentation about Living and Working in Antarctica.  Afterwards I tried to nap while the Seahawks got pummeled by the Ravens on TV.


Note the available services at the bottom of the sign

Marc Yaffee, a comedian, was our evening entertainment.  He delivered a rapid succession of jokes and made special points to jab at his Native American heritage.  We've seen him before and he's pretty funny.  Back at the room I continued to write and got this blog caught up.  Now I need to select the pictures and publish the blog posts for the past 4 days.


We have one more day at sea tomorrow and should reach Antarctica by early evening at the latest.  


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