Three Days to Go

12/20/2007
Our bags are packed and our seasickness prescriptions are filled. We have just enjoyed watching a short video about the delightful sail that awaits us Tuesday evening as we cross Drakes Passage. See it yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jld5pIUKhCE . Looks like fun, doesn't it?

I hope you'll check in on us over the next couple of weeks as we explore the bottom of the world. We will try to post photos and share our adventures in Antarctica. Pray for us.

Doing the Research

Many of our friends have asked what we did to prepare for this journey. I personally spent most of the past six months saying to Marc: “You’re taking me WHERE??” He encouraged Allie, Dave and me to do a little research on other voyages to Antarctica. Of course we watched the classic move, “Endurance,” the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s voyage in 1914-16 to the South Pole. (Never made it to the South Pole – did make it back after being stranded in the ice-choked waters for 22 months.) Shackleton had no trouble recruiting a crew after placing the following ad in a London newspaper:

"MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS,CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL. HONOR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS."

We also watched “The March of the Penguins” and “Happy Feet.”

The Last Supper

12/22/07
The family gathered for a bon voyage dinner at our favorite Turkish restaurant - SEVEN'S. We enjoyed some great Chilean wine with yummy Mediterranean delights (probably the last fresh vegetables that we will eat for the next two weeks.) We are anticipating a steady diet of smoked fish and reindeer meat in Antarctica. Right --- there are no reindeer in Antarctica. However, I expect the Norwegian crew brings a ton of it from Norway. It will feel a little uncomfortable eating reindeer over the Christmas holiday, but explorers have to deal with this kind of thing.

Allie, Dave, Ruthellen and Marc are packed and ready to head south. Julia is heading down to Panama with Sequoia to ring in the New Year Latin American style. Becky will keep the home fires buring and remain in New York City with our son-in-law-to-be, Steve.

And so ... we are off on our great adventure. I hope the internet gods are friendly down in the polar region and with a little luck this blog will continue.

On Our Way!!

12/25/07
Tuesday evening: We have set sail on the good ship MS FRAM. It is all very exciting. The internet access is real slow and we are just figuring everything out with pictures, etc. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have more time to download pix, etc.

This morning we flew from Santiago to Ushuaia (pronounced "oo shwai ahh") - it is the southernmost city on the planet earth. Actually it is a bustling town of 70,000. We took a bus tour through Tierra Del Fuego National Park and met up with some motorcyclists who had come on their bikes from Brazil, Canada, Boston -- very rugged guys and gals.

The scenery was beautiful and we'll try to show it to you shortly. We also learned about the indigenous people called the yamama who did not wear clothing - they just ran around buck-naked. They rubbed sea lion blubber on themselves for warmth. The ate mushrooms "shrooms" off of the trees.

The ship is really nice, the other passengers are interesting and varied - all ages and nationalities. The crew is a lot of fun and keep warning us all to take seasickness medication. So far - the waters are calm (I think we're still in the beagle channel tho.)

SHOUT OUT TO MY NEW FRIEND CATHERINE: All of your advice has been right on! Thanks so much - and thanks for your comments.

That's it for now - I'll work on the pictures and keep you all informed.

In the Thick of It

Good morning.  We are in the thick of Drake's Passage- about 200 miles from So America and 300 miles till we arrive at the So Shetland Islands around noon tomorrow.  Captain says "seas are calm" but the ocean is "confused"...hmmm.  We were awakened at 1 am last night when we left the Beagle Channel and entered the Passage.  Our stash of Chilean wine bottled started rolling around and clattering in the closet.  Walking this morning is a challenge - it feels like the floor is dropping out from beneath our feet.  Everyone is bouncing off the walls and looking a bit like penguins or drunken sailors.

Scop Patches are a lifesaver and keep us on our feet and not puking.  Dave and Allie are  bit unsteady and are trying to sleep the day away.  They are not sick -- just trying to adjust to the sea swells.  It seems like more people on the ship are lying down today.  We were instructed by the crew to keep our stomachs full - and eating does make us feel pretty good.  The ship serves salmon twenty ways. Food is interesting (lots of herring) but there is always fresh fruit and lots of bread.

Even tho we are 300 miles from Antarctica, we are seeing lots of sea birds and even albatrosses.  They fly around the ship as if they are escorting us south.  It's really barren out here and we a true sense of being on an "exploration."  No other ships in sight.

The ship is beautiful - brand new and very high tech.  Things are organized and the crew is great.  All day today there are lectures by geologists and historians.  We just sat through a lecture on Cape Horn and the southern ocean and in a few minutes there will be a lecture on Antarctic History.

Interesting fact of the day:  Did you know that at the South Pole, the sun rises and sets only once a year?  It rises on Sept 22 (my birthday) which marks the beginning of summer and sets on March 22 marking the beginning of winter.  Our days are very sunny.  Last night it was bright light out till 11pm.  We sat at dinner with our sunglasses on!

Dave and I are enjoying our cameras very much and enjoying the digital age as it allows us to shoot to our hearts' content.  Easy t delete the marginal shots and save the great ones.  We carry our cameras everywhere because there are so many opportunities to shoot.

I am disappointed that I have not been successful uploading pix to this blog.  Allie and I are working on it and hopefully, they will appear soon.  Stayed tuned.

Thanks again for your wonderful comments - it's easier to read them than to get my email.

Reindeer for Dinner

Ship's Blog: 20:00 Tuesday.
Location: In the middle of nowhere
Weather: 38 F Slight breeze - steady, rolling seas/

Shout out to Becky!!! Thanks for your notes and comments! We miss you and Jules and wish you were here with us.

It was a lazy day; most passengers were in their cabins, sleeping. We all got several hours of day time sleep between the educational programs. There is lots of food and it always seems to be mealtime. Tonight was our first formal sit-down dinner. We enjoyed a filt of reindeer in blueberry-mushroom sauce. It was delicious and tender and if I ever figure out how to upload these pixs, you'll be able to see Allie eating reindeer up close.

We are lounging around, playing cards and awaiting tonight's movie and a briefing on our first landing tomorrow inthe Shetland Islands.

Blogging out....

The Exploration Team at Tierra Del Fuego