Some of us woke at 1am-ish, after a wave rocked the boat… the result of an iceberg flipping over nearby. How fantastic is that?! As usual we all fell asleep again quickly, and rose at our Cuverville Island anchorage with penguins swimming around the boat, in between the icebergs – almost an Antarctic theme park.
We motored slowly to a bay at Gonzales Videla, the Chilean base – a bay replete with many chirruping Gentoo penguins, and their smell. The Chilean navy personnel at the base welcomed us for a tour of the many penguin colonies surrounding the base where we could again witness their main activity – half of the penguins nurturing mottled eggs, and the others stealing small stones from those nests and depositing them on other nests, to a chorus of pecks and penguin-calling.
The visit included a visit to their museum, where some of us were thrilled to get a stamp in our passport from the base (not an official country stamp, but cool nonetheless). They then gave us tea and biscuits, and a question-time that wove between English and Spanish. The visit was followed by extensive muck-boot cleaning – that penguin poo gets everywhere and had to be washed and brushed off, then the boots sprayed with biocide, a spray that has to be used every time we go ashore (to prevent cross-contamination between sites).
We thought we’d tell you some of our favourite features of the boat. The first is that it’s an aluminium boat, not fibre-glass – this has meant that Fede can crunch the boat through (thin) ice; a fibre-glass boat would not be able to do that, and they sometimes have to mount watch all night in case the boat is hit but ice (we don’t!).
We also love our beds. We have all become mammoth-sleepers here, 9 hours no problem, often with a nap in the afternoon. Only Meryl has fallen off her top bunk, and that was in the Drake. (2 weeks later her bruise has morphed to mottled yellow.)
Some of us stocked up on wet wipes, but hot showers are every few days are possible – but we must keep them short. (The Ocean Tramp has a water maker, but power needs to be conserved.) There are separate girl’s and boy’s bathrooms – the girls blocked theirs in the first week so now we use a bin for the paper.
Another favourite on the boat is the diesel heater that keeps the interior at about 20o Celsius and allows us to dry small amounts of laundry. It also allows Laura to make yoghurt, which made a great accompaniment to butter chicken the other night.
A snap poll has revealed that the best feature of the boat is Miguel, the gentle giant (all 1.95m of him), who cooks for us. We love his food. Fridays are pizza night and he can cook 4 at a time in the oven. If he stretches out his arms he can touch the far walls of the galley – testament more to its tininess than his size. Other favourites have been apple pancakes for breakfast, tuna sandwiches for lunch, and shepherd’s pie for dinner. None of us will be returning any thinner! If you ever meet Miguel, get him to talk about his sled dogs – his eyes light up and he emits a sparkling enthusiasm. We all look forward to seeing where he goes with them.
