On the afternoon of Thursday, January 17th we boarded the Orion. It is a lovely vessel, considerably smaller than the cruise ship we were on last Summer when we to the Norway Coast. There are 90 or so passengers on the Orion versus 1300+ passengers on the Holland America cruise ship in Norway.
We had a bit of confusion when we first boarded because we were shifted to a different cabin but it was sorted out before we left.
It is 1400+ nautical miles to Commonwealth Bay on the Antarctic coast. The Orion travels between 11 and 13 knots depending on sea conditions. With 900 miles to go we should be there in 3+ days.
As I write this, 10 AM Saturday, January 19th , we're nearing 51 degrees South latitude. We are driving pretty much straight south so our current longitude of 147 degrees East will remain the same.
The seas aren't too bad. There isn't a lot of wind chop but the swells are in the 3-5 meter range. Hopefully it won't get a whole lot worse.
Kurt:
ReplyDeleteI guess you can read our comments. I hope the seas stay relatively calm for you. I do not think my stomach would like swells of 3 to 5 meters.
There was an article this week in the Wash Post about a new study that said the ice melting in Anartica was more severe than previously forecast. I will look forward to your observations.
Steve
Hope you're having fun and have arrived in
ReplyDeleteAntartica. We remember Hobart fondly from 1969! Fun to read your blog.