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13.02.2016: Day 1 - Embarkation and Sailing in Beagle Channel.
Our long wait in Ushuaia is finally over and today is the day we set sail. At least we hope so because we couldn't see the Plancius in the port! There were several larger ships and a container ship so maybe they were blocking our view.
I walked to the bakery to fetch breakfast and we did a lot of last minute things. We had already done most of our packing, cleaned out the bags, our boots and our rain gear. Everything has to be clean to prevent any seeds and plant material being transferred to the Antarctic.
We packed up and left at 2pm and drove past the port. The Plancius was there but surrounded by the bigger ships - our ship looks really small!! Then we drove to a petrol station to empty and clean our toilet before heading uphill towards the glacier to park at Hotel Altos. This is where Winnietwo will be staying for the next 23 days.
We took our bags to the reception and they called us a taxi. We got to the port at exactly 4pm and were waved through. We walked along the pier to our small ship and Kirsten took videos and photos whilst I walked backwards in the sleet and blustery wind (!!!) pulling both roller bags along.
We were greeted by staff members who took our bags and we walked up the gangplank and were greeted on board. Our passports had to be handed in at reception for the duration of the trip and then our valet showed us to our cabin on Deck 3.
The MV Plancius was built in 1974 as an oceanographic research vessel for the Royal Dutch Navy and used until 2004 when it was bought by Oceanwide Expeditions for polar cruises to the Arctic and Antarctic.
It is 89m long, has a breadth of 14.5m with a draft of 5m. It is ice class 1D - ice strengthened vessel with a speed of 10 to 12 knots. 116 passenger capacity with 17 nautical crew, 19 hotel staff, 7 expedition staff and 1 doctor.
Our cabin is quite big and everything looks clean. Well, we thought it was until we checked the toilet which showed signs of the previous occupants sea sickness!! Oh dear, are we back in India?
Our first meeting was at 5pm on Deck 5 in the lounge where we were welcomed by the expedition leader Jim Mayer (UK) and the hotel manager Thijs de Lint (Holland) who gave us details of the ship and important safety information. Then we had 5 minutes to return to our cabins to fetch our emergency life jackets (we have two different ones - one for emergency evacuation and one smaller one for the zodiac boats). Then we were shown how to put them on. I had to fix mine because one of the straps had been undone which took me a bit longer to sort out.
After a Roll Call where everyone's names were read out and we had to acknowledge our presence with a loud "yes" we heard the alarm signal, seven short blasts and a longer one, and were marched in two groups out on deck to the Muster station. We were assigned to Lifeboat number two for all even numbered cabins and could take a look inside.
View of Ushuaia from the Plancius - 360° Panorama
(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
The lines were cast off at exactly 6pm and we set sail. Goodbye Ushuaia, hopefully we will return safe and sound in 23 days!
All the passengers were out on board watching our progress through the Beagle Channel. It was very cold out but at least there was no more sleet.
Dinner was served at 7-30pm and we could choose where to sit. The first course was duck breast with salad and a mango dressing followed by either turkey with antipasti or seafood lasagne or vegetarian lasagne. Kirsten had the turkey and I went vegetarian. The dessert was Panna Cotta in a glass with a chocolate stick. I even got a second because Daniela from Switzerland at our table doesn't eat dessert. I will be sitting next to her for the rest of the trip!!!
We had an interesting mix of people at our table from Holland, USA, Canada, Switzerland and England plus Kirsten from Germany of course so 6 countries just at our table. There were also passengers from Denmark, Austria, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and two from South Korea. With a total of 110 passengers there were only 6 beds free.
The largest group was from America - about a third of the passengers. During our time on board we found out that we are on a special trip organised between DUI (Diving unlimited Incorporated) from San Diego, California, Amos Nachoub a well known diving photographer, and Oceanwide. The divers (most from America with two people from Germany) will be the first commercial group to dive in the South Sandwich Islands and the rest of us on board are just there to fill the ship!
Of course, we didn't know any of this when we booked and it wasn't until Amos the photographer gave a small talk on Day 6 that we found out how this cruise came about. We found out DUI is owned by Faith and her husband who are passengers on board, and they make the best custom made dry suits in the world. They were developed for the American navy and used by various security forces around the world including the GSG9 from Germany. All the divers on board have DUI suits and booked the trip 2 years ago.
During our evening meal Kirsten regaled everyone with horror stories of cruise ships battling huge waves and in emergency situations - not exactly what people wanted to hear on our first day!
Day 1: Embarkation, evacuation drill, cast off and dinner.
At around 9-30pm we went back out on deck even though it was already getting dark and just about managed to see a whale and two Commerson dolphins. It's starting out well!
The wind had died down and the ship wasn't rolling - not yet anyway! After one more cup of tea we retired to our cabin to write the diary (me) and work on videos and photos (Kirsten). Then we both sat down and wrote the first report on the computer. All that was left to do was to have a quick shower and go to bed. Sweet dreams.
14.02.2016: Day 2 - Beagle Channel and open sea towards Falkland Islands
Well not so many sweet dreams at all because neither of us could sleep. Too much caffeine, our room was too hot, the ship was rocking and there were a lot of things rattling as we moved. We weren't used to these kind of sounds and Kirsten complained about her pillow which was too hard so we swapped at around 2am! In the end I gave up at 4am and went up to the lounge for a cup of tea.
We managed to get about 2 hours sleep and then our alarm clock woke us up and shortly afterwards, Jim Mayer gave all on board a wake up call at 7-45am. It sounded good - sunny, light winds and 7°C. A quick check on the TV for the on board camera showed us a blue sky outside! We also have a channel showing our GPS position and route - you can check it all out from the comfort of your bed!
Breakfast was a buffet with fresh fruit, porridge, cereal, pastries, ham and cheese platter, freshly baked bread, poached eggs and beef sausages - the latter I won't be eating again because they tasted awful!
We sat next to Jana and Carolin from Germany who are sharing a 4 berth cabin but have only one other passenger from Australia in the cabin with them. When we introduced ourselves they already knew us as the two women with two motor homes even though we've never spoken to them before! News travels fast here on board! They also mentioned that they'd been in their room yesterday and were watching people doing the Titanic "I'm the King of the world" routine at the ships flag - well that was us! We hadn't known about the camera at that point.
The girls are two of the youngest on board at 29 and 33 years old. The youngest is 17 and he really lowered the average age of our group. The eldest was 84!
After getting our Wellington boots which will be used for all the zodiac trips we went to the first of two talks about the Falkland Islands. Ali, the assistant expedition leader, has lived on the islands for 15 years and has been working on these cruises for the last 5 years. She gave a very interesting talk about the history of the islands and the main industries. The second talk was about the flora and fauna plus wildlife there. She also showed us photos of her work as a travelling teacher where she lived with families on remote parts of the islands and taught the children and later got a job in the primary school. She also told us about the conservation organisations she has been involved in and the projects for young people she organised.
There were other talks giving us instructions for using the zodiacs, how to calculate nautical miles, and information on the Beaufort scale which shows how rough the seas are. The highest is 12 and you really don't want to be at sea in that!
Lunch was potato and leek soup, salad with chicken and feta cheese followed by fruit salad with yoghurt and we also had time to get out on deck as it was a beautiful day. We saw two groups of Peale's dolphins swimming behind us but there was only me and a few others standing high enough up on deck 7 to see them and even then, we only got brief flashes of them. They were so quick. We also had a number of albatross and petrels flying around the ship.
Day 2: day at sea with talks about the Falkland Islands.
At 4pm peach cake was served on two trays next to the tea and coffee machines in the lounge. We queued up but the cake ran out before we got there!! About 15 passengers missed out! Kirsten was really annoyed mainly because she was hungry but also because we're paying a ridiculous price for this trip and she told everyone who would listen that they could at least make sure there was enough cake for this kind of price!!
Evening meal was tomato mozzarella with pesto sauce, a duo of beef and pork with green beans and roast potatoes which I had and a pumpkin risotto with Arugula pesto which Kirsten chose. Dessert was white chocolate mousse. Daniela gave me hers and then another passenger, Mogens from Denmark came and gave me his aswell. Then there was a birthday cake for a passenger and another for a couple on their 50th wedding anniversary. Somehow I managed to get a piece of cake aswell! If this carries on the crew will have to take me off the ship using the winch and crane!!!
Most of the waiters and waitresses are from the Philippines and our waitress Melanie already knows our names! Every time she passed me there was another empty dessert plate to remove!!! We talked to her afterwards and Kirsten mentioned Pepito the staff member who bakes our bread but she got his name wrong and called him Pepino which means cucumber! Melanie thought that was very funny. So we asked if could we take a look at the kitchen. She gladly took us behind the scenes but Mr Cucumber had already left!
It had been a long day but we still had enough time for a shower, writing the diary, working on videos and photos and then writing our daily report for the website. Tomorrow we will be in the Falklands with two landings planned and it's almost midnight so we have less than 7 hours to sleep!
