4:00 pm - We boarded the ship and spent the next hour or so unpacking and exploring.
I am pleased to say that our room is enormous
(based on our previous boating experiences) - with a queen bed, a couch with
another pull out bed, a small table with two chairs and a small desk with
another chair. Pano of our room:
Given our previous cruise
experience in Alaska, we were expecting a standard “shoilet”. That would be a single small space for your shower and
toilet. The shoilet area is also larger than we expected with a shower that is
separated by a curtain from the rest of the bathroom. All in all – impressed with our cabin. The ship itself is also much larger than we
expected, which was good news for the impending crossing – it holds about 200
passengers.
5:00 pm – Our first briefings were in the lounge where we
were introduced to the roughly 30-40 primary staff members. The staff is a truly impressive bunch with incredible experience - each one having a specialty in whales, penguins, birds, glaciers, etc. but knowing an incredible amount about everything else. We had initial discussions on how to get
around the ship, ship rules, initial weather briefing, how to combat
seasickness, etc. By the end of this session,
we knew we were not going to get the Drake Lake and our expectations were set
for a possible rough ride (sigh). Quote
of the Day “When unpacking, put all of your valuables on the floor because if
it is not on the floor yet, it will be soon.”
Oh, joy.
6:00 pm – Back to the room to put on Scopolamine patches (for
seasickness). These are the time release anti-nausea patches that go behind the ear and last for 3 days.
6:30 pm – Mandatory safety briefing and life boat drill followed by the optional "seasick clinic" AKA, meet the ship doctor who freely hands out seasick prevention meds and is available to answer any questions about what is to come and how to deal with it.
7:00 pm – Snack time in the lounge and more ship exploration. We also picked up the rental muck boots they
provide plus our bright yellow jackets that they give to us so we are easy to
spot against the ever present white background.
7:30 pm – Monster buffet dinner. It seemed that very few people heeded the “to
avoid seasickness, eat small meals and skip the alcohol” warning. But alas, people will be people when there is unlimited free food.
8:50 pm – Dropped lines and off we go.
The first five hours of our journey through the Beagle
Channel were very calm as the channel is protected water. We said goodbye to Ushuaia in our rear-view
and buckled in for what we expect to be an amazing adventure.
Looking back...
Looking forward...
Looking back...
Looking forward...
The expectation was that we would hit open water at some
point between 1-2 am. I was able get to
sleep just fine, but of course I woke up at about 1:30 am in anticipation and couldn’t get back
to sleep as I was waiting for the change to open water and what horrors the
Drake would hold. Admittedly, to start,
it wasn’t too bad. Definite rocking back
and forth and that took some getting used to.
Most of the rocking was side to side so it was just some rolling around back and forth in bed. For the next few hours, I mostly just laid in bed and dozed on and off all night.
The Drake crossing is expected to take 2 full days - tonight, all day tomorrow, tomorrow night, the following day and the following night.
Teaser: the good stuff comes in "The Drake Shake - Part 2"
No comments:
Post a Comment