The Far Side of Antarctica Continued
At sea: January 4, 2008
The night sea rolled, but by 8 AM we were in a calm sea under a cloudless sky. The scenery around was beautiful. The sea was a gorgeous deep blue with white froth. The big swells rolled in from behind us, crashing against the ship, sending spray high into the air. The Albatross around the ship were in their element. This is the world they love. They soared high and swooped low, seeming to enjoy the boiling ocean and the ship dancing on the surface. They were a calming influence.
From seals to whales, Bob continued his blood and guts theme in the auditorium. This presentation was illustrated with black and white slides from the era, as well contemporary colored images.
After Daisy’s PowerPoint presentation lesson, we sat down for a special Austrian Lunch, accompanied by a good German beer. A bout of shopping followed lunch, then a talk by Akos about the process of extinction. Just before dinner the silent auction i support of the Ross Sea project closed.
At sea: January 5, 2008
During the night we had entered the third ocean of this voyage – the Indian Ocean. We sailed through a calm sea and another day of brilliant sunshine..
Norm drew our attention to the characteristics of the Southern Ocean, before Mike explained the phenomenon of the Southern Lights or Aurora Australis.
The art class exhibition began after lunch. It was amazing to see some of the artwork the class members had produced, especially as some of them had never painted before. The results were fantastic. David had carefully mounted many of the pieces to show them to their best advantage. Afternoon Tea in the lounge was the perfect opportunity to view the artwork created by our fellow travelers. We were staggered by the quality of the work produced.
Kara’s presentation Monsters of the Sea was entertaining as well as educational. Through pictures we were introduced to creatures that lived long ago that could have been mistaken for monsters.
Recap was a weighty session, with Akos asserting that we had seen more birds than anything else. However Kara claimed her seals and whales outweighed his birds. Norm trumped them when he recounted the density of the rocks we had seen. Bob failed to weigh in. Just how much does a historical memory weigh?
Jonas moved a small image of the icebreaker around a projected map, showing a slide of each location we visited. It was an excellent summary of our adventure. We came to realize just how much we had seen in 37 days.