Events of Thursday, 24th November
Albatross were never far from the ship.
Having entered the Drake Passage with benign weather conditions on the previous evening, we spent the whole of Thursday continuing the crossing and the weather remained good. The sea state was also moderate, although, as we traversed the Antarctic Convergence (where the warm water from the north meets the cold water from the south) the sea water temperature dropped from 10 degrees Celsius to zero degrees Celsius.
Ship's chart of the Drake Passage. Cape Horn is near the top of the picture, the Antarctic Peninsula at the bottom.
Click for larger view
Sheri gave a most interesting lecture of the Antarctic Treaty and its provisions which makes Antarctica a unique example of co-operation between many countries in the administration of a continent.
One of the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty relates to the preservation of the environment and, to comply with this, there was a Biosecurity Inspection, item by item, of all guests’ outer clothing before going ashore in Antarctica.
After lunch, the ship’s bridge was open to visitors for a time so, of course, I re-acquainted myself with the modern systems which control the ship.
'Silver Explorer' Bridge Visit.
Once the ship’s internet service had been resumed, I managed to sort out problems on my laptop which I think were partly caused by earlier intermittent internet service. By the time I’d checked e-mail and updated the blog, it was time for afternoon tea, which a particularly jolly affair as one of the waiters from the restaurant, Allan, gave a “Barista class with Cappuccino and coffee art demonstrations”.
At 5.00 p.m. Peter Damisch gave one of his invariably stimulating and meticulously-researched lectures titled “Shackleton, By Endurance We Conquer”.
The Recap and Briefing at 6.45 p.m. reviewed recent sightings and outlined the plans for the following day at the South Shetland Islands.
Related Posts
Next post describing this trip: The South Shetland Islands.
All posts describing this trip: Chilean Fjords.
Just posts on the Antarctic segment: Antarctic Peninsula.
My pictures
Where necessary, clicking on an image above will display an 'uncropped' view or, alternately, my pictures from this (and earlier) trips may be selected, viewed or downloaded, in various sizes, from the album listed:-
Silver Explorer.
'Silver Explorer' Bridge Visit.
All my pictures taken in Antarctica on both this visit and my earlier visit in 2008 are in the collection here.
[Links to pictures added, pictures added: 30-Jan-2017]
