(Today’s Chronicle can be found here.)
Fun Fact – Did you know that when swells come in from multiple directions, they can combine to form even larger swells? So that if you have, say, a 4 metre swell and a 2 metre swell they can – on occasion – make a 6 metre swell?
I did not know this before this cruise. But I know it now.
Not a great sleep last night, due largely to the aforementioned combined swells – which feel like a sort of slow-motion verson of being double-bounced on a trampoline, complete with a heavy crash at the end. They didn’t happen often, at least. There’s enough of a lull so you can fall asleep, only to be woken up again with another crash.
Nor has the noise situation in our suite improved – the knocking sounds continue, though I have become adept at sleeping with a pillow over my head. Inquiries to our butler have been met with the apologetic reply that this is simply how the Wind is, particularly in the forward categories.
We have tried mitigating strategies…
… With mixed success.
(You may note that there’s already a shim wedged into the corner – clearly not a new problem.)
But that’s enough complaining for one morning. My compulsive checking of Windy indicates that the swells should be easing within the next 24 hours. The expedition team has further noted that 5 metre swells are not uncommon during this stretch, so we will count ourselves lucky with what we’ve had thus far.
Off to breakfast at La Terrazza, and then I take the kids off for a bit of homework and to play some Dungeons & Dragons. They are in the process of recovering the sacred bones that will allow them to reconsecrate St. Andral’s church in Vallaki – and protet Iryna from Strahd – but their plan goes awry when they stumble upon a nest of six vampire spawn. It’s going to be a tough fight, and there’s no knowing how it will turn out – we had only just started the battle before we have to break for lunch.
Then to La Terrazza, where the kids just have some bread, ham, cheese and fruit. It’s the German buffet on today so my meal is heavier than the kids’ but still lighter than some of what we’ve been having for lunch.
In my defence, I only ate one of the two sausages
Time for a walk – the weather has definitely gotten warmer since we went back across the polar convergence line – most walkers are now clad in light jackets. But it’s not long before my wife and kids need to depart for the second part of Jess’s workshop in which they will be working on haikus that capture their feelings about a particular moment from this voyage.
A call soon comes over the intercom – southern right whale dolphins have been spotted on the port side. I am unfortunately elbow-deep in laundry at this stage, but my wife, son and daughter are able to see various splashes and shapes moving through the water next to us.
This is a very rare find indeed – one of the expedition guides on our previous legs had even gone so far as to offer a $100 bounty for anyone who spotted one. Sadly, this guide has already gone home to Alaska. No guarantees on any wildlife, even for the guides.
Off to wine-themed trivia – this one was challenging for us, but we still did fairly well. The winning group received a nice bottle of wine!
Midway through trivia, a lost iceberg goes past. You can tell that we’re in a bit of a quiet zone wildlife-wise as many of us go out to admire it.
I do enjoy seeing icebergs in more temperate weather as the warmer water seems to flow around them in interesting ways – we noticed that in Greenland as well.
We then dropped in on Martin’s lecture on albatrosses of the Southern Ocean:
I was surprised to learn about the risk that long line fishing poses to albatrosses (and petrels). The birds will take the bait as it’s being reeled out and then end up drowning.
Scientists and the fishing industry have been using flags and streamers on the lines for the past few years to prevent them from swooping down to grab the bait, but some of the birds have figured out the timing of the reels and are again being drowned.
Off to dress for dinner, and then it was time for recaps and briefings. Jamie let us know that the swells should be declining by around midnight tonight:
Too early to say how the weather will be for our arrival at Tristan da Cunha – Windy is only reliable about 48 hours out, at most.
That said, the administrator of Tristan da Cunha plans to join us for the trip to Cape Town so the Wind’s crew has plenty of incentive to make a landing. The expedition team is also working on several different tours including a walking trip to the recent 1961 volcanic eruption site, a walk through town, and a moderately difficult trip through the potato fields.
We are hoping to visit the volcano and then spend some time in town. The kids would love to see the school if possible, but we’re trying not to get ahead of ourselves. The population of Tristan da Cunha is only around 230 people so it would be interesting to see what the school is like, and how many students there are. Jamie finished by noting that we will need to bring cash, as credit cards are not accepted on the island.
On to the recaps. Martin provided a mathematical estimate of the number of feathers at Saint Andrew’s Bay.
With an estimated 27,000 feathers per king penguin and over a million penguins, that work out to roughly 27 billion feathers!
Sara did a recap on the marine and wildlife we’d seen over the past day, including both the southern right whale dolphin and the long finned pilot whale.
The female long finned pilot whales undergo menopause, which is quite unusual for whales. They continue to stick around as ‘super grannies’, raising the young and passing along vital ecological information. This is especially important in years where their prey are not abundant, as the older whales are more likely to know alternative feeding grounds.
George then provided quite a funny recap on bird identification and how anyone, absolutely anyone, can learn to recognize different species. He demonstrated this by having our children describe the habits (movements) and appearance (plumage) of the expedition staff (not pictured). The kids did a great job and were not unflattering in their descriptions – a big relief to us adults!
Lastly, Yvonne showed us some of her paintings and sketches from our landings, and the special concertina book and paint case she uses to paint in the field.
Her kit includes everything she needs – even water for the watercolours.
Then off to dinner at La Dame:
We lucked out with the swells being lower this evening – expedition days were never really an option due to the frenetic pace, but sea days can bring their own challenges.
Tonight’s menu:
The kids started by trying the caviar:
Neither particularly cared for it, but that simply meant there was more for the adults.
My wife and I had the foie gras, which was delicious:
Then on to the soup course. The kids had the mushroom soup:
While my wife and I had the lobster bisque:
Then on to the sorbet course to cleanse the pallette:
Followed by our main course – we each had the beef tenderloin with cafe butter:
Truly spectacular.
For dessert, the kids had the strawberries and chocolate mousse:
While the adults had the pistachio souffle. I drifted off to sleep thinking that I had forgotten to take a picture of said souffle – and I was correct. But it was delicious.
As a consolation prize, here is a picture of our cheese course:
And the petite fours:
All in all, it was a fantastic meal and well worth the $60 per person surcharge. The included wine pairings were very good as well, particularly the red Bordeaux that was paired with the steak.
We could scarcely move after that meal, so we waddled off to bed looking like penguins – and feeling like kings.