Wednesday, November 12, 2008
10am
Early this morning two whale blows were spotted only 100 m off the port
side of the ship. And yesterday, the students spotted 4 distinct whale
blows, and after discerning the shape through binoculars, determined the
whales to be fin whales, or another similar rogue whale.
Conditions on the ship changed after dinner yesterday, with quite a lot
of rolling through the night. Many of us had difficulty sleeping in
these conditions. The weather, however, was stunning. George, the ship
captain, said last night was the nicest yet this season. The moon was
bright, reflected on the water, and all the stars were out. There was
very little wind, as the ship is currently travelling at the same speed
as the wind (13 knots).
This morning weve seen a lot of cabinet doors flying open and breaking,
heard glasses slamming and breaking, and have experienced a continuation
of all the rolling and surging. Our ship team seems to arrive within
minutes of every incident, fixing whatever may have been damaged. When
some of our Irish expedition members inquired about the conditions with
our ship team today over breakfast, we were told that what we were
experiencing was nothing to them not even worth noticing, especially
compared to what well be experiencing tomorrow. Thursday the 13th has
been pegged as a very bad weather day, and as a result we will have no
lectures or activities. It is expected well all be in our bunks!
Pat Falvey,
Expedition Leader
PHOTO: Traverse teams practicing crevasse rescue
