|
|
|||||||
|
January 25, 2000 |
|
rounding the horn |
|||||
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
Position at noon: 56-58 S Today's Bird Sightings: Today's Reading: The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin
Copyright © 2000, Janet I. Egan |
|
 The part of the trip I've been dreading, the crossing of the Drake Passage, is at hand. I'm told we're having a much smoother ride through the Drake Passage than the past two trips the Explorer has gone through but it's still rolling so much that it's hard to write - and I wouldn't dare try to read. The Captain's Dinner tonight has been rescheduled 'til tomorrow because of "the motion of the ocean." Kim, our expedition leader, wakes us up in the morning with an announcement on the PA system beginning "And so, ladies and gentlemen here we are..." followed by the latitude and longitude, the weather, and any planned landings for the day. She also announces whale sightings and scenery - all of which is invariably "fantastic". It's way too easy to imitate Kim. There goes another fantastic albatross... We rounded Cape Horn early this morning. Kim had kept a list of those who wanted to be awakened at 4:00 AM so they could see Cape Horn as we passed, but the ship slowed down so as to pass the cape at the more civilized hour of 6:30. I still missed it. But somehow the experience of rounding the horn seems to have more to do with the turbulence of the sea than actually seeing some piece of rock. As far as I'm concerned, if it ain't a bird, I ain't getting up for it. The ship just rolled with a lurch that sent the diary flying off the table and me flying off the couch. It took me a few seconds to get it together to get up again, it happened so fast. It's way hard to keep a diary with people and objects flying around! Sometimes the swells are so big I feel like I'm on a carnival ride and just burst out laughing. It's really something to be walking down stairs and feel a powerful force pushing you back up, and kind of scary to feel it pitching you down the stairs. It's funny to have that boost when you want to get up the stairs though. Like you're defying gravity. It was cloudy this morning but we started to see patches of blue sky during lunch. It's about 6:00 PM now and the sky is clear but hazy and the light off the water is fantastic. Got some really good views of royal albatross and wandering albatross. I'm even getting decent at telling them apart, especially since this morning's lecture on southern seabird identification. To keep us from going mental while we cross the Drake Passage, we have a full schedule of lectures on various Antarctica-related topics between the five scheduled daily meals (or is it 6? is bouillon at 10:30 AM a meal?), and, of course, pelagic birding on the deck. Entering the lecture hall there's nothing to hold onto except the seats, which makes for some quick introductions. The lecture hall kind of rocks you to sleep too, if you're not careful. All that motion with the lights out... Pete Dunne's lecture on binoculars, Optics 101, gave me insight into adjusting the binocs, what to look for when shopping for new ones, care and feeding of binocs, and most memorable from my point of view - it's OK to use saliva to clean the lens when you're out in the field - Pete Dunne licks his binoculars, so it must be OK. Those readers who are glasses wearers or swimmers will recognize the arcane lore of spitting on lenses. Anyway, despite using this trick on glasses, snorkel masks, swim goggles and the like, I've always been afraid to do it to binoculars. Thanks for the permission, Pete. And I always use the side of my T-shirt not touching my body... already more than readers here want to know about this... Kevin Clement's lecture on Darwin - inevitable since we're crossing paths with the Beagle - sparked some good discussion. Natural selection as the means for how species develop over time helps explain so much about our world. Too bad it's still so controversial (at least in the USA). Apparently Darwin got seasick the whole Beagle voyage, so that provides some comfort to those seasick people listening in to the lecture from their cabins , of which I am not one - knock wood. And so, ladies and gentlemen, here we are in the Drake Passage riding out the motion of the ocean. |
|||||
