Subject: Day 20, March 10 – Another Day at Sea

Greetings,

     Well the storm last night was quite sporting, and it was definitely a two hands on the ship day. For a short while, we were back to “One hand for yourself, and one hand for the ship. Plus don’t put your hand in the door jam as you pass through them.” Then the seas got rougher and tonight the Captain said we are in 19 foot seas surging to 32 foot seas and it is really, really difficult trying to walk around the ship.  Even the Captain is having a hard time walking, but we both feel great and watching these seas is an amazing sight. We opened our window on the third deck and the waves were splashing in, so we shut it and decided not to walk outside on the deck tonight. So, the only other option we have is to go to the bar so that is what we are going to do.

      We had an opportunity to talk with the Captain and he told us that this ship is excellent at dodging ice bergs because it turns and stops very quickly. However, she is very slow and the head winds last night slowed us up. Top speed is only eleven knots.  When asked about the roughest seas in the world, our Captain told us the North Atlantic in winter and always the Drake Passage. He added that, of course, the typhoons in the Indian Ocean are horrific, but most ships just simply out run them. That is when he added that he didn’t want to be on this ship in the Indian Ocean because this ship couldn’t out run anything.

      Sabrina, I hope you continue your environmental studies with the students. I hope krill is on your list to study because ALL of the animals in the Southern Ocean depend on krill. One of the studies in Antarctica shows that if the green house gases continue to rise at the current rate, all of the krill will die by the year 2100. No krill, then no birds or animals can survive.  Now, I won’t be alive then, but our students may and certainly their children.  How about this as a science experiment? Fertilizing the ocean with iron to increase phytoplankton which in turn decreases Carbon Dioxide which in turn lowers the temperature of the ocean? Where this has been tried it has been extremely effective. However, no one knows the long term effect.  A little trivia, according to plate tectonics, the Falklands are part of Africa not Antarctica or South America, but I guess you already knew that one. 

More to follow,

Tom & Holly