Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 23 – Silver Wind can be found here.
After a busy day of mandatory briefings and biosecurity inspections, sleep claimed us deep within its darkened grasp. We didn’t wake until after 8 am this morning – just in time to head to the Restaurant for another leisurely breakfast.
My wife had the eggs and avocado toast again (not pictured), as well as yoghurt and berries:
The kids had the pancakes:
And I had the french toast:
Afterward we headed up to panorama for a bit where we finally got the chance to record the new way in which hot chocolate is being served. It’s quite spectacular:
I ducked out for the mandatory kayak briefing while my wife and kids went for a walk around the outer deck.
As was the case with previous briefings, passengers were informed that they would need to have previous sea kayaking experience and that they will need to be able to lower and raise themselves into the kayak. Conversational English is also required, and passengers were reminded to never pass their phone to a fellow kayaker for a photo.
Sign up sheets will be posted each evening after the briefing, and passengers must tell the expedition staff if they change their mind about attending – or they will be moved to the bottom of the queue.
Then time for trivia. We intially thought we’d tied for second, but we actually tied for first – turns out that boysenberries are also a cross between the blackberry and the raspberry, in addition to the official answer of logan berry.
There was only a narrow window between trivia and golf putting, so we opted to head to the La Terrazza buffet for lunch today:
I had the sushi, some pork loin, pizza, and some sliced green apple (ordered specially). I’m not usually a buffet fan, but it was surpringly tasty – a good option for those pressed for time.
We returned to the room, and discovered that our suite attendant had left some adorable towel animals for the kids:
The kids then went off to golf putting. It was challenging, with them introducing a bridge in addition to the other obstacles. My daughter was thrilled when she got a hole-in-one on this final, most challenging course and I somehow managed to place second overall.
Then off to table tennis again, where the kids played each other for a bit before going off for another walk. One of the expedition guides, Jessica, is a travel writer and ecologist and ran a travel writing seminar, so I dropped in for that. She had everyone go through a list of what they could see, touch, hear, smell, and taste – first in the conference room, and then in Panorama.
We were then asked to draft a paragraph based on our journey between the two rooms. Here’s what I wrote:
We left the sterile, tired conference room, our senses re-awaked from the writing exercise. I trod up the staircase for perhaps the dozenth time that day, the steps leaping to my feet or dodging – depending on the sway of the swells.
I’d like to say that I thought of Shackleton travelling alongside – headed to South Georgia in search of salvation – but my mind instead turned to commitments that lay ahead. Photo lab at 4 pm, briefing at 5:45 pm, another post to publish after dinner.
But I caught myself before I sat down. Reminded myself to gaze out the window, and scan the horizon. Savour the salt on my nose and the spirit on my lips.
(I imagined the very last part – or did I?)
I had to duck out before I could hear everyone else’s paragraphs – though I did stick around for one of them, which was excellent. I’m very much looking forward to Jessica’s next session, which should be on a forthcoming sea day.
I headed off for my mid-afternoon photography session with Bogdan, in which we discussed composition. We discussed the ‘rule of thirds’ in which the subject is typically placed in the left or right third (or top or bottom third) of the image, leaving the other two-thirds more open. Many cameras have a grid that helps photographers to put this into practice.
We also discussed best practices in terms of subject photography – for example, not trying to cut off limbs or photograph a subject right at the beltline. Bogdan also recommended having the subject face into the open space, rather than making it appear as though they were running out of the shot.
Much as I wish the recap videos were still the photographer’s top priority, this masterclass has been very helpful. Silversea, how about we have two photographers? That’s one way to solve this problem…
In any case, it was time to head to the evening briefing.
I’d like to tell you it’s good news, but I’d be lying:
Purple and blue are bad colours for expedition cruising
By about 11 am tomorrow, Marieka is expecting us to have winds gusting close to 60 knots. That is a complete no-go zone as far as zodiac landings are concerned. Not only would they have real trouble launching and loading the zodiacs, but the surf at the landing site would also be unmanageable.
But – there’s a small chance of a favourable weather window before 11 am tomorrow, so Marieka is going to wake before dawn and scout the landing site as soon as possible. We are one of the earliest landing groups, so we will wake at 5:45 am tomorrow to see how everything shakes out.
Expedition guide Martin had a New Zealand poem about the rain that seems appropriate:
It rained and it rained and rained and rained
The average fall was well maintained
And when the tracks were simply bogs
It started raining cats and dogs.
After a drought of half an hour
We had a most refreshing shower
And then the most curious thing of all
A gentle rain began to fall.
Next day was also fairly dry
Save for a deluge from the sky
Which wetted the party to the skin
And after that the rain set in.
Off to dinner:
My wife and I had the lobster bisque:
And for the main, we had lamb rogan josh:
I had a dessert too, which I forgot to photograph becaues I was too busy running up to the deck to take some initial photos of our arrival of South Georgia:
Every single white dot is a king penguin – and they are loud
It was frankly incredible. You could hear the colony from the shore, with constant calls of “Where are you?” and “I’m over here!” as spoken by king penguins. It all felt so ancient and so remote, that I was fixed with a sudden desire to hijack a zodiac and make my way over on my own.
But they take away your dessert for that sort of thing (and much more besides), so there was nothing to do but head back to the Restaurant, order a cognac, and hope against hope for tomorrow’s landing.
Continue reading Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 25 – Silver Wind, South Georgia.