Tuesday 6th February to Friday 9th February 2018
Third Sector San Francisco to Aukland
5th Feb - San Francisco, USA
10th Feb - Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
15th Feb - Bora Bora, French Polynesia
16th Feb - Papeete, French Polynesia
17th Feb - Moorea, French Polynesia
23rd Feb - Aukland, New Zealand
Tuesday 6th
Day at sea heading for the Hawaiian Islands. Day mostly out on deck as not much on today, just catching up, a chance to do some laundry and enjoy a passing pod of dolphins.
Wednesday 7th
Nice sunny day again, pleasantly warm and just light cloud.
Invitation for dinner tonight from the Fleet Training Officer, Steve Lamph for seats at the Senior Officers Table. Formal dress for dinner, and it’s at 8:30, normal late dinner seating time. All in all felt just a bit like goldfish in a bowl though very pleasant, Steve, the host with us and 3 other couples, plenty of wine, conversation and dinner from the standard menu. Must say late dining would not suit us, all much too late.
Thursday 8th
Weather gone off again, more windy and overcast today. Even less achieved than usual.
This evenings entertainment Ilia and Olesja, a couple giving a gymnastic show of balance, strength and circus type act, very impressive.
Friday 9th
Still overcast, and raining this morning.
This morning the ship’s senior doctor, Dr Petra Potten gave a talk on her experiences as the overwintering doctor at the British Antarctic Survey at Halley base on the Antarctic ice sheet.
She went through extensive training before going to Antarctica to prepare for all the additional requirements over and above her existing skills as a doctor. Her talk was illustrated with many photos of the expedition, the base, it’s personnel (just 16 overwintering) and the weather. Base only accessible by ship when ice at it’s minimum, some additional access by aircraft for a while, mainly to share resources with other bases, the nearest about 800k away. Temperatures down to minus 50 centigrade and no sun for months. Other highlights were visiting the ‘nearby’ Emperor Penguin colony and a perfect opportunity to view the Aurora Australis light show.
Incidentally one of her responsibilities was to be ground crew and refueller for the aircraft when it visited the base, a perk which came with this was to be invited to occasionally accompany the pilot on flights, giving opportunities for some great photos. Interestingly Dr Potten later married the pilot!, he is still the pilot in Antarctica and Dr Potten rather than being alone at home spends her time performing her duties as doctor on cruise ships.
No comments:
Post a Comment