Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Sunrise 6:08am             Sunset 9:24pm 

We were up before the alarm again this morning. We were up by 4:30am, downstairs by 5:15am and on the bus by 6:10am. The airport was a zoo, reminiscent of Saigon! Crazy.  We were denied group boarding and it took all the way past boarding time to get to the gate and immediately board buses for the jet. It was an MD80 and we lucked into 2 seats on one side right over the wing. We had about 5 inches more leg room than we had on the international overnight flight if you can believe it, so that was good. The flight is to last 3.5 hours and I am typing this after they served a lemon cake, a cereal bar and a dulce de leche candy with a beverage.  Oh, the snack pack that we picked up this morning at the hotel had 2 long baguette sandwiches of white cheese slices and tomato slices, 2 muffins, 1 chocolate and 1 chocolate chip, 1 apple, 1 orange juice and 1 napkin. So we have been having little nibbles for hours now. We should arrive in Ushuaia in about an hour and a half. I am ready to get to Antarctica already!!

Our flight arrived on time and our luggage came right off.  It seems that about 10 pieces of luggage did not arrive though. Rather than sailing at 6pm as scheduled we sailed at 10pm after the arrival of the bags on the last, 9pm flight from BA. That was OK because it meant we did not have to eat dinner while sailing. The Captain thought we were in for smooth sailing after a front finished passing. It blew up while we were killing time in Ushuaia.  I don't remember all the artisanal chocolatiers before!

We boarded Le Boreal about 4:30pm in about gale force winds. They would come and get us about 10 at a time and help us get aboard. The wind was actually being blocked by an enormous Celebrity ship, so imagine how hard it would have been blowing with it it docked there.

We had a full mandatory life boat drill at 6pm. We all had to put on vests and report to the port or starboard side of the theater depending on which side our cabin is. After the briefing, we had to go out to the lifeboats and hear another set of instructions, and then we were sent back to our cabins to put the vests up.

Tonight is the Captain's Gala welcome reception and Gala Dinner. It is a fixed menu. This is the only night that Clay took his camera to a meal and took pictures of a meal. He didn't even photograph any buffets, or desserts that I recall. I know at least one breakfast he took his camera. You'll have to wait to see what he photographed, but it wasn't food! Dinner was at 7:45.

Parka distribution was from 9 to 10pm.  Then it was bedtime for us! They showed the film March of the Penguins with only music and no narration in the theater that night. I should just say up front that we never made it to any entertainment so I won't make any more notes about it.

Listed below are the Officers and staff of Le Boreal, as posted in the daily newsletter.

Captain Etienne Garcia
Chief Engineer Daniel Berthon
Staff Captain Olivier Marien
Ship's Physician Daniel Roure
Hotel Manager Philippe Touati
Executive Chef Eric Torralba
Cruise Director Beatrice Von Engelmann
Guest Relations Astrid Coppex
Chief Housekeeper Katia Pineau
Maitre D' Ludovic Andre
Bar Manager Mounir Sbihi

The deck 2 restaurant is called La Licorne. The deck 6 buffet restaurant is called La Boussole. I know that one, it means Compass Rose. I had to look up La Licorne and it is Unicorn. Weird!

La Boussole was closed for special group dinners most of the nights of our cruise. Plus because of the extra motion of the higher deck, we only ate up there for I think 1 breakfast and 2 lunches. I prefered the quieter atmosphere of La Licorne anyway and it was also buffet at breakfast and lunch.

Clay did sign up for an Internet wifi access plan onboard. It was almost useless. There was no signal in our cabin. In the lounges and it the atrium area, he could get a signal but it was still weak and very slow. Several people did tell us they were emailing out a picture a day along with some daily descriptions, but I have no idea how they were doing it. Clay was lucky to get to check and send out very brief email messages from time to time and that took all his minutes. Internet rates were 1H40=30€, 4H=60€, 16H=180€.

Listed below is the Expedition Team and our Lecturers from material they mailed to our home beforehand. I did not find a list after boarding... I do know that at least one of the Expedition Team is missing, and possibly more. There was a British woman named Helene something and she was not on our list. Otherwise, it seems correct, so here it goes.

Nicolas Dubreuil (Nico) Expedition Leader
Alain Bidart
Simon Cook
Didier Drouet
Patricia and Tim Hostiuck
Marcel Lichtenstein
Rick Price
Raphael Sane

Lecturers:
Professor Ben Orlove, Columbia
Dr. David Johnston, Duke
Dr. Ari Friedlaender, Duke
Professor Mark Moldwin, UCLA/UM
Professor Roberto Delgado, USC
Dr. Brian Luckman, UWO

Photos