The Ross Sea Antarctica, part four
Three days at sea.
By morning we’ve reached 54°35.48'S, south of Cambpell Island and almost in line with Macquarie Island (though far to the east of it).
I take breakfast in the formal dining room and fall into conversation with Ricky. He asks if I’m Chinese; I tell him my parents were born in China but grew up in Taiwan. I was born in the States. He asks if I speak Chinese. I do. He does as well and we switch to Mandarin.
I ask him where he learned his Chinese. He tells me he lived nine years in Taiwan: three contracts working as a technician in a battery factory building RAM. It’s hard work; he did it in his younger years. He tells me cruise ship work is better. It’s still hard work, but it pays more and you get to see the world.
After breakfast I head to the first lecture of the day. Lachie and Sabrina co-host a talk on identtifying birds. There have been a lot swarming around the ship, and they do a great job breaking down the different types we’re likely to see. Their personalities and the banter between them make it all the more enjoyable.
Before lunch I head to the aft of the ship and the outdoor observation on deck three. The ocean churns with the strength of our propellers. An albatross soars behind us.
Lachie and some of the other passengers are out with binoculars searching for birds.
After lunch I text pictures of the food to Natalie. She’s had a lie in and is working on her presentations. She asks how I’m doing. I tell her I’m thinking of heading to the bridge and she asks to join. 15h? I tell her I’ll take a nap.
We meet at 15h and Natalie tells me the lecture she thought started at 1530 starts now. We head to the theater in time to catch Oscar’s talk on how animals adapt to cold weather. It’s fascinating how the blood vessels in their legs have adapted to regulate the temperature of their blood. As part of his introduction, he tells us about his past and shows us a slide of him taking care of dolphins at the private Carribean zoo of a South-American drug lord.
After the talk we run into Manuel on the bridge and he identifies birds for us as they swoop over the waves around the bow. Natalie asks if we’re confirmed for dinner with Oscar. She thinks there’s a sign up sheet and we walk down to the front desk to check.
The naturalist dinner sign up sheet is full and we ask Leonie if we can invite people to dinner directly. She says it’s fine and pages Manuel to ask if he’s free. There’s a mixup with the names. Until now I’ve mistaken Oscar for Manuel and Leonie pages Oscar after asking Manuel a question she needn’t ask him in person. She tries to pass off my mistake, but Manuel remains suspect.
Oscar arrives and tells us he’s free for dinner. We arrange to meet at 19h on deck six.
At dinner we’re joined by Alice, a representative of the New Zealand government on board as an observer, and Allie and Debbie who leave after drinks; they have dinner plans in the formal dining room. It’s a fun time, leaning about Oscar and his past lives before having kids and moving to Australia. We all talk about the things we did in our 20s and 30s and the things we put up with because we were too young to know better. No regrets and never again Oscar says. Cheers to that.
After dinner I head to the bridge to look out over the leaden sea. It’s beautiful and serene. The Safety Officer is on watch and we check out the floor show on a video screen without sound.
I ask about her family and share details about mine. I’m not sure how we get on the subject but she tells me that Belgians are very reserved. I ask if her parents ever say I love you. No but they show it in other ways. I tell her about the first time my mother said she loved me, a few years back. I froze and mumbled a response and hung up the phone.
—29 January 2025
I linger in bed. The swelling seas woke me at 0300, rolling me around my bed. It wasn’t until I flopped on my belly, legs splayed, that I could keep my position.
We’ve reached 59°49.37' S.
An engine tour is scheduled for 0900. I haven’t booked it but head down at 0830 to see if I can join. Camille tells me it’s fully booked. But not to worry. They’ll run it throughout the trip.
I miss breakfast and take some fruit and cakes from the third deck lounge. I duck into the deck six observation lounge. It’s full of people reading. The couple from Singapore are standing by the bar and we chat briefly before they head back to their room.
Back in mine I text Natalie to ask if she has a sofa in her room. I had seen one through an open door on her deck. She’s not so lucky. But she’s talked with guests who have bathtubs!
She asks if I’m going to Leonie’s talk on phytoplankton and krill at 1100. I am. We make plans to meet before. It’s a fantastic look into the small species upon which so much life depends. It’s incredible how such tiny organisms sustain so much.
We take lunch in the restaurant on deck six. Jana and Jeff, both from Texas, join us and Patricia, and American ex-pat living in New Zealand. She works for the Antarctic Heritage Trust. They are responsible for six historic huts on Antarctica, working to restore and preserve the . Their mission? To conserve, share and encourage the spirit of exploration. She’s on board as a respresentative of the Trust, to help and to guide a fundraising auction towards the end of the voyage.
She’s been working with the org for five years but this is her first time down to Antarctica. They have people go down yearly for maintenance but she’s not a specialist and is therefore not deemed essential. Her back ground is in fundraising for non profits. She’s from North Carolina but married a New Zealander and has been living outside Christchurch for six years.