Today was all about transit. We are on our way to Antarctica from Ushuaia. So far, it’s been about like the Pacific Ocean was for my NOAA Teacher at Sea experience- not super smooth, but definitely not as bad as I imagined it would be. It’s very nice to have a ship that has stabilizers, and isn’t built like a bathtub (how the NOAA corpsmen said the NOAA ship I was on handled!). Some people onboard have been getting seasick, but it hasn’t been a problem at all for me. I did take my Dramamine beforehand, but I don’t think I actually needed it. Better safe than sorry, though!
The theme for the day was briefings. We got instructed on how to load the zodiac boats for our Antarctic landings, and how to prevent introducing biological material into Antarctica unintentionally. We also learned about the sea birds of the area and how to tell a story of the place that we are visiting through the pictures we will take.
Jacqueline and I did some bird watching off the back deck, and we saw fin whales as well!
The weather today was sometimes sunny, but for the most part it was cloudy. We just had our briefing on tomorrow’s tentative plan, and it sounds like we’re coming in early, thanks to making great time through the seas today. We will see land tomorrow morning, and be on it by 8:15 am! Then there’s a storm coming in, so we’re going to transit to a new spot and have another landing after dinner (taking advantage of the long southern summer sunlight). This means tomorrow I should have pictures from Antarctica in this blog!!!!! We have already made it into what they call Biological Antarctica, which is where the ocean water drops drastically in temperature and the marine life takes on Antarctic qualities (like surviving mostly on krill).
The waves and winds are getting higher again now (30 knots) and we just finished dinner, so we’re going to get our layers ready and get to bed for the early wake-up call! I can’t wait to see Antarctica with my own eyes after 9 months of reading, studying, and watching every documentary I could get my hands on about this continent!!!
Car Full of Harmony 
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