Breakfast at the Dreams hotel was a great start to an exciting day. I focused on the smoked salmon and fresh cheeses, and hydrated with four varieties of fresh juice - melon, strawberry, mango, and orange. They say hydration is key for preventing sea sickness. We checked out of the hotel, sadly, and went to pick up our ECW (extreme cold weather) gear, joyfully. I have been looking forward to this gear for a long time. The warehouse is at the pier, just down the street from the hotel. I might have been skipping down the sidewalk on the way there.
We were each given a pre-packed bag of gear in the appropriate sizes. We had to try everything on for size and to check that everything was in working order, swap out what didn't work, and then ask for the extra things we wanted. Again I was so obviously the new kid on the block. The more experienced people knew exactly what they needed, often very little because they have a lot of their own stuff, while I had to keep asking 'what's this for?', 'when would you wear these pants instead of those?', and other similar questions. I went on previous advice to just Get It All, and in the end had two full ECW bags of sweet gear, including the big red puffy jacket I have been dreaming about for years. It is finally mine! At least for a few months. Fortunately we just left the bags there to be loaded onto the ship, and then were on our own for a couple hours until we could board the ship.
A few of us ate a small lunch and then walked around town looking for the yarn store, that when we finally found it, had just closed for lunch. The walking around was nice itself though: pretty city, beautiful weather, and especially pleasing with several days on a ship coming up.
At 2pm it was time to board the Laurence M Gould, home for the next several days, and my ticket to Antarctica! I would actually get on and off the ship several more times over the next 21 hours before departure, checking in and out at the guard shack for the boat and the pier each time, but it was still exciting to cross over onto the deck for the first time. We had an orientation meeting and some computer training, and then we moved our bags to our rooms. Most people are sharing tiny 2-person rooms, but since there is currently not a Chief Scientist on board (this vessel is mostly used for science and research), I get the Chief Scientist roomS to myself. I have the usual 2 bunks and a bathroom, but also my own sitting room, with a couch, table, desk, computer, and monitors showing the ships direction, speed, etc. I feel like such a diva, but maybe previous doctors were snobs and now I get the benefit. The top bunk seems dangerous but the bottom doesn't have room to sit up, and the porthole window is on the top, so that's where I naturally chose to take up residence.
Across the pier from us is docked a Spanish Navy training ship, Juan Sebastian de Elcano, named after the first circumnavigator of the globe. What about Magellan? Apparently he died before they finished and Elcano led the surviving 17 to complete the course. It's a beautiful ship, a four-masted sailboat, white outside and dark wood on the decks. One of my teammates also found the sailors to be visually appealing and I thought for a moment we might lose her, but more than a Spanish sailor she wanted an alpaca sweater. *Comment from Brett - I believe Sarah has started speaking of herself as "teammates" and "friends" for my benefit. Doesn't it make the story better for everyone else if she's the one that almost got on the Spanish boat anyway? I'm laughing anyway*
Our cook Mike has been wearing the alpaca sweater that he bought in Punta Arenas on a
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| (This is clearly not Sarah and this is not a purple Alpaca sweater. But it does look somewhat how I pictured it from her description and since she has yet to send me pictures I could not resist looking for one to post) |
After the alpaca store we went by the grocery store for last minute boat necessities, of which I have few: Chocolate and Coke Zero.
We checked in at the pier guard shack and at the boat guard shack, met up with some others on board, checked back out at the boat guard shack and at the pier guard shack, and went back into town for dinner. I think the pier check is for security and the boat check is in case the ship sinks they'll know who to come looking for, but still it seems a little silly.
We went to dinner at the restaurant we tried for last night at El Remezon (click here for the trip advisor review and so you can plan your own trip down here). They eat so late here, the restaurant doesn't even open until 8pm. It was worth the wait, the wait for tonight, for 8pm, and for the very laid-back service. We didn't finish until 11pm. But good company, good food, fun atmosphere, why rush. I ate a sampler platter called Earth, which included rhea (similar to an ostrich; probably my favorite, tasted a lot like cooked tuna), beaver (most people's favorite, I liked it as well though I can't describe it at all), llama (a pate maybe, I did not like it at all), wild goose (pretty good, similar to raw tuna but hopefully just chilled and not actually raw, who knows), and hare (also good). I also had Chilean Sea Bass, which an environmentalist at the table gave me a hard time about, but it was called The Best Chilean Sea Bass Antarctican. I'm in Chile, how could I resist? It was the best I've ever had for sure. I had a local beverage as well, with berries, that I liked a lot more before someone pointed out that it had eggs in it. I guess I should have just ordered juice because there's something weird to me about drinking eggs.
Back to the ship, checking in twice of course. I made a couple phone calls from the ships Iridium phone (satelite phone of sone sort) that sometimes works well and sometimes sounds really far away, which I guess I am. I'm somewhere around 4.7 thousand miles from home, but only about 800 away from Palmer Station, Antarctica! We are sleeping on the ship tonight though we won't set off until tomorrow afternoon. We get one more morning in Punta Arenas and then we set sail (or motor really, no sails on the LMG) for Antarctica!
*Brett comment - Sarah has safely reached Antarctica at this point but for obvious reasons has not written posts about each leg of her journey yet. I did want everyone to know, however, no need to worry about the treacherous crossing of Drake Passage as it has already been made. MORE POSTS TO FOLLOW!! Feel free to add your e-mail on the right so that the posts will shoot directly to your inbox. It will prompt you to put in a code to ensure you actually want to join that it will send to your e-mail address. I've also been asking for more photos. We will see if she can send them from Palmer Station.*
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