#gexpedition

Day 5:  Odoriferous blubber slugs - smells better dead than alive. Jan 16, 2024

Well they told us we are still rock and rolling at only a 1.5/10.  We sure don’t want to see anything faster than that.  We stumble with our breakfast plates crashing into other guests, tables, etc while the servers carry trays of 10 meals around with no issues.  We spent all day at sea with no land in sight.  Had lots of lectures and learned about seals, penguins, seabirds, etc.  We were warned that when we come to see the Southern Elephant seal to be prepared - they are nicknamed “Odoriferous blubber slugs” because they smell better dead than alive, and it is best to stay far away as the smell will elicit a gag reflex...

Day 6:  Our first iceberg! Jan 17, 2024

Today we spent the morning going through biosecurity on board again - this is where we bring all of our outer layers for inspection and it all gets vacuumed and all the Velcro get picked through to ensure we are not taking any accidental vectors onto our next destination.  In the afternoon we sailed past Shag Rock - the only visible part of the Scotia Arc which is a line of volcanic activity under the ocean.  We were lucky enough to have great conditions as we sailed by and the captain even did a full 360degree turn around the rock, which we were told is very rare!  Shag rock is appropriately named after the shag birds that hang out on the rock.  Along with Shag Rock, we also saw our first icebergs cruising by!  

Tomorrow we are expected to make land in South Georgia and we are hoping to go out in the zodiacs and cruise around to see the wildlife from sea - the area we are going to be in is too dense for us to be able to get out and walk around as it would be impossible to keep 5m distance due to the large population there.  We are hoping for calm seas and less rocking!

6:15 am wake up call got us out of bed headed to the buffet breakfast.  The options there are endless.  Fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, waffles, ice cream - absolutely amazing food.  It is all open seating so I decided on day 1 to never sit in the same chair twice.  I think so far I am doing ok but I also don’t really remember which ones I have sat in.  Hahahaha.   But usually every meal you meet new people which is a lot of fun.  

After breakfast we all went to our rooms awaiting our call signal to get dressed to go on the zodiac.  It was our first zodiac ride so we were all anxious and excited.  We were the last group to go, so I looked out the porthole and watched some of the other zodiac rides take off.  Finally it was my turn!  I headed down to the mud room and there you put on your waterproof pants, jacket, boots and life jacket.  Then you line up in the que to swipe out with your card to signal that you are now ashore and step through some vircon disinfectant foot bath.  Then you wait at the end of the steps that lead to the ocean.  The zodiacs pull up and the staff hold on to ropes so that the sway along with the ocean.  Then you step on the zodiac and quickly sit down.  Once it is full we zoom off getting splashed with salty sea water along the way.  

Luckily for us this morning the water was pretty calm and it was a pleasant ride to cement platform where we got off.  

Then it was a 35min uphill hike to get to the Rockhopper penguin and albatross colony.  The problem with the hike was that 1) I am carrying two cameras which are damn heavy 2) I am wearing heavy boots that are hard to walk in, waterproof pants that feel awkward and a life jacket and 3) holy shit it was windy!!!  

Every once in a while we would lift our heads and brace against the wind to look up and see that there are still red jackets ahead so best to keep going.  Finally after what seemed like forever we finally made it.  You could smell them first actually!  Penguin poop is not pleasant.  Then you can hear them - squawking away as if someone is getting murdered.  Finally we made it through the tall grasses to catch our first glimpse of hundreds of penguins and albatrosses just hanging out together.  We stood there in the blowing wind for over an hour before we got hustled along to get back to the ship.  The sight was amazing.  So worth the hike.  Lucky for us we stayed so long that we got a ride back to the boat.  

We were all on a high as we get to lunch and everyone was excitedly chatting about this mornings adventure - we all gave it a 10 out of 10.  How could it get better than this?  As we were having lunch, the boat was cruising along to our next destination for our afternoon at Saunders Island.  The conditions were perfect!  In 8 years they have not been able to pull right up on the beach due to bad waves and usually have to go around to the other side and have us hike in.  But today, the sun was shining, the weather was (apparently) calm, and we got to beach our zodiacs right at Saunders island.  

The ride to the island was great - penguins swimming in the water on either side of the zodiac.  When we pull in, there are exhibition leaders in the water waist deep and they grab the zodiac, spin it around and pull it in.  We then swing our legs over the edge and jump down into knee high water and quickly waddle onto the beach - and a waddle it is with all of our gear and wet weather outer layer.  But the sight walking onto the beach was unremarkable.  Penguins everywhere you looked!  The Gentoo Penguins would come jumping out of the water onto the beach, waddle up the beach in a row, usually giving us some sketchy looks -they must wonder what specific of humans we are - clearly the red gadventure species…. The the left of the beach there were some cliffs and the Rockhopper Penguins did what they were named for - they hopped out of the water, onto the cliffs and then hopped along the rocks to get up to the colony.  Watching them jump in the water it just looked like they were having the best time.  Further down the beach on the right, there was a small group of King penguins.  They look so official - like they are wearing formal outerwear and they always look like they are having a very important meeting, but nothing seems to come out of the meetings.  Beside the King penguins was a large group of Gentoo penguins.  While I was standing there a mother penguin was regurgitating food for her two babies and then after she stopped they kept pecking at her for more.  She then took off waddling at high speed through the colony with the babies chasing her down.  It was so amusing to watch!  As I headed back towards the beach and the Rockhopper Penguins, we passed by some Magellanic Penguins hanging out with some sheep!  They didn’t really do much - occasionally would walk past us in groups of 3-4.  

Woke up in the morning to a gently rocking boat and wondered what happened to the Drake Shake.  Turns out we just went with the flow of the waves and instead of rocking us, they pushed us accelerating us towards Falkland Islands at airplane speeds - ok so maybe not airplane speeds but we arrived 12 hours ahead of schedule!  The morning started with an amazing buffet breakfast and then a lot of safety briefings - how to get in and out of the zodiacs, that we need to be careful because once we are passed Falkland Islands there is no air evacuation.  The boat has to evacuate and it ain't fast.  We learned about previous issues they have had and to never ever put your fingers in a door way as the air pressured doors will chop them right off (hopefully - because crush injuries are worse).  

Around lunch time it started to hit me.  The waves had increased and the boat was rocking side to side quite a bit and I was feeling nauseous.  I took my Gravol and then went for lunch that maybe a bit of food in my stomach would help.  Well I didn’t eat much and ended up going to bed for a brief nap before my kayak training again (gear fitting).  Once the nauseousness subsided, the drowsiness kicked in!  All I wanted to do was sleep but we had two lectures in the afternoon and more kayak training!  Luckily I got a nap in after our kayak training and started to feel a bit better.  

After the lectures we went outside as we could start to see parts of the Falkland Islands.  Beautiful green islands with jagged brown cliffs and rocks - and best yet - even a rainbow!  As we were standing out on the bow of the boat we had an announcement over the speaker that some whales were spotted from the bridge.  We could see the blows off in the distance but they moved so fast it was hard to get a picture of them.  I got a dorsal fin photo - that count?  Hahahaha.  

At 6pm it was time for the captains cocktail and we were introduced to the captain crew that are running the ship - our captain has over 30 years of experience on boats and is one of the most experienced ones in the industry.  The bridge most days has an open door policy so we can pop in and out, visit and ask questions.  

We then had a brief meeting on the coming days - tomorrow we are hoping for 2 landings in Falkland Islands.  The first is from West Point Island where we do the Devil’s Nose Hike and then in the afternoon, the plan is to land at Saunders Island.  Once the briefing was done, we got to go back outside to watch as we came in for landing/docking/anchor dropping??  While out there we saw some seals swim by, some penguins zoom along beside the boat and finally the call everyone was waiting for : Penguin at 2 o’clock!  And there was our first Penguin swimming in the water past our boat.

We went inside for dinner all so super happy.  Wake up call tomorrow at 6:15am so I guess I better go to bed - but first I may just sneak outside and check to see if it got dark enough to see some stars…

Well we have left the port (after the port closed due to high winds but I guess they wanted to go anyway…) and now we are currently sailing straight into the Drake Shake.  

They told us to prepare for Rock and Roll Party tonight starting around midnight.  They are expecting about 4m waves which is moderate waves - they have sailed through 12m before which they said no one wants to do and is terrifying.  The boat has started to gradually sway more over the past 1 hour - I would say we are at about 1m waves so far.  So far no motion sickness yet - it’s kinda fun trying to walk when the boat is rocking.  We will see what happens as it kicks up and we start to lie down and settle into bed.  Currently we are rocking side to side which means as I am sleeping if I slide along the bed we could make impact with the wall - adding a pillow buffer for sure.  We have a wedge to put under our mattress to prevent us from rolling out of the bed.  We were all advised to take motion sickness medication prior to it getting bad because well there is a Rock and Roll Party expected.  As they get past the top of the Drake and start to head towards Falkland Islands they expect the waves to settle out and smooth sailing with only 2m waves which apparently we won’t feel (so late morning it should get better!)  I got some internet so we will see how good it is and I will update again in the morning.  So far having a blast and kinda want to stay here forever (but only if my pooches can come!!!  ;)  Took my gravol and off to bed!

I stalked the boat and saw it was coming in so I went down to the dock and watched it dock. 

Had some other people from the boat join me - we were all giddy with excitement.  Tomorrow at 4pm we board!  Not sure yet when we set off but here we go!  They have decided to do the trip in reverse so we get to go to Falklands and South Georgia first (bc of the bird flu outbreak - they want to get there in case it gets worse and gets closed) and then Antarctica will be at the end.  Which also means the drake will be the last thing we do....(well that sounds a bit ominous..).  But fret not - current weather reports are that the weather was bad between falklands and South Georgia too with 6-8m waves....