The voyage has been going well so far. Fortunately I handle the rough seas pretty well even when it gets up to 6-8 metres as we’ve had the past few days.
To help pass the time, I’ve volunteered to be part of the onboard social club, organising nightly talks from the science projects so we can all hear about what they’ll be doing this summer, and picking a movie to watch in the cinema, etc. It keeps me busy but there is a lot of opinion on wither my movie choices are good or bad. All in good fun of course.
Ship life revolves around food a lot down here. We’re still fortunate to be enjoying fresh bananas, milk, and salads, so I’m making the most of those. It’s always tempting to have a Tim Tam with your cuppa as the biscuits seem to come from a bottomless tin in the galley.
In order to keep the waistline at bay, I’ve taken to running on the treadmill each morning, and doing several stair climbs from E deck to A deck at the front of the ship. You have to be careful doing both when the ship is rocking and rolling about though! I’m avoiding gym weights till the sea calms down a little.
I’m a bit of a night owl and the last two nights I’ve been up to the ship’s bridge when it’s late. The almost full moon really lights up the ocean and you can see all around as we continue to push through 6 metre swells. The late shift Met and ship people enjoy the company so it’s good to hear about what they’re doing and what all the instruments mean.
Training has commenced and has so far covered sea ice travel and map/compass orienteering for my group. It’s good we’re making use of the time on the ship so when we get to station we’ll be prepared for our field training.
Time to head off now. I’m running a boardgame session and will be showing some fellow expeditioners how to play Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride.
