November 8th, 2009:
Around midnight, the temperature of the ocean water dropped 3 degrees,
meaning that we crossed the Antarctic convergence. We are making some
good progress today as our engines are going full tilt. Being on a
boat this long sure gets boring, especially when you make the mistake
of forgetting to pack some books to read. Thankfully, I found the
boat's library filled with books about the Arctic and Antarctic. My
days so far at sea have been spent either in bed, juggling a soccer
ball, or looking out over the open seas. Occasionally, a ski movie
gets thrown into the mix to keeps things sane. It will be interesting
to see what these seas will do to us this afternoon as there are some
waves crashing over the bow and its getting ugly again. Earlier today
we had a spectacular sight which unfortunately I missed since I was
taking a nap. About a dozen Fin whales were spotted swimming next to
our ship. I do hope that there will be plenty more of these sights -
maybe some Killer whales, Sperm whales, Minkes, and Humpbacks. Last
year I got to witness a mother Humpback and her calf playing around
ice burgs and it was rad. There are currently hundreds of birds
around our ship gliding slightly above our now stormy seas. There are
Albatross, White Chinned Petrels, Southern Giant Petrels, Cape
Petrels, and many others all entertaining us with spectacular gliding
capabilities. We are also now under iceberg watch and should be
snowboarding and skiing come morning in the South Shetland Islands.
Iceberg dead ahead!
Sean Busby
Around midnight, the temperature of the ocean water dropped 3 degrees,
meaning that we crossed the Antarctic convergence. We are making some
good progress today as our engines are going full tilt. Being on a
boat this long sure gets boring, especially when you make the mistake
of forgetting to pack some books to read. Thankfully, I found the
boat's library filled with books about the Arctic and Antarctic. My
days so far at sea have been spent either in bed, juggling a soccer
ball, or looking out over the open seas. Occasionally, a ski movie
gets thrown into the mix to keeps things sane. It will be interesting
to see what these seas will do to us this afternoon as there are some
waves crashing over the bow and its getting ugly again. Earlier today
we had a spectacular sight which unfortunately I missed since I was
taking a nap. About a dozen Fin whales were spotted swimming next to
our ship. I do hope that there will be plenty more of these sights -
maybe some Killer whales, Sperm whales, Minkes, and Humpbacks. Last
year I got to witness a mother Humpback and her calf playing around
ice burgs and it was rad. There are currently hundreds of birds
around our ship gliding slightly above our now stormy seas. There are
Albatross, White Chinned Petrels, Southern Giant Petrels, Cape
Petrels, and many others all entertaining us with spectacular gliding
capabilities. We are also now under iceberg watch and should be
snowboarding and skiing come morning in the South Shetland Islands.
Iceberg dead ahead!
Sean Busby
No comments:
Post a Comment