The seas turned a bit rougher during the night, it’s hard to guess but they’re perhaps 7-10′ rolling swells, but confused and the frequency of which is what pitches the ship’s nose into the bottom of a wave every now and again and green water crashes over the bow and the shudder is felt throughout the boat. In the calm seas from the Falklands to South Georgia we were able to make 14 knots but in these seas our speed is only about 8-9 knots so we won’t arrive in Elephant Island until late afternoon tomorrow. In one of our lectures we learned that making a landing at Elephant Island only happens very infrequently due to rough conditions so if we only get to do a zodiac cruise that’d still be fine.
By lunchtime the wind had abated some and the seas a little less rough so the captain was able to push up our speed to 11 knots so perhaps we can reclaim some lost time. This morning’s lectures didn’t appeal to me so I spent a lazy day reading either on my bunk or in the lounge. After lunch we had another mandatory bio-security meeting, this time for Antarctica and another vacuuming party in the Mud Room to rid our outer gear of any seeds or grasses that might try to hop a ride to a new locale.
Last night at dinner we spent a lot of time chatting to Franco, the guide who hails from Sudbury, about his trips to the Arctic with OneOcean so today at Afternoon Tea he was kind enough to show us one of the presentations he does on polar bears and how climate change is altering their habitat. Shortly after Nate gave a sail plan update and with the calmer seas we’re now ahead of schedule and due at Elephant at noon tomorrow! We’ll have a chance to see the island, if not actually go ashore. Then we’ll head over to Bluff Hill on the tip of the peninsula and be able to actually step foot on the “last” continent! I hadn’t really thought about it but it will be my 7th one!
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