Today we are at sea all day cruising away from the Peninsula toward South Georgia Island eventually. But we learn this morning that we will be stopping at the South Orkney Islands, about halfway between the tip of the Peninsula and South Georgia, and still considered part of Antarctica. On the way we passed Elephant Island, where Shackleton left most of his men while he and a few others sailed to South Georgia to get help.
I got up early and did the morning stretch in the yoga studio, whihc was packed. I was not a flexible as I normally am, and definitely having trouble with poses requiring kneeling, but it was good to stretch out. I ordered breakfast for Barney and went to eat a quick meal, then back to shower. Today there will be four lectures, which fortunately we can listen to on the screen in the room. Barney is still feverish, sore, coughing, and feeling wiped out. We watched a presentation on the Antarctica Treaty which was very informative, and one on Antarctica seals, of which we’ve seen several species so far. Brought him more of the nice ginger lemongrass tea which seems to be soothing for him. For some reason I still have a bit of a cough and some wheezing, not sure why. We will both take it easy today.
At lunch I met the couple across the hall, she is fro Boston, he from England, and we had a nice chat about skiing, as they are both downhill and cross-country, told us about skiing in Switzerland from when they lived in England. They now live not far from Wellesley, and ski at the nearby Mt. Washington, where the ski area of Massachusetts and Vermont start up through Maine. They are staying in the igloo tonight, I hope they have clear skies to see the stars.
After lunch I decided to do some walking while Barney slept. On deck 8 there is a 1/8 mile circuit, and it was about 38 degrees or so, not too cold, so I did eight laps around which was really nice. Several other women were doing the same, at different paces. Afterwards, I sat in the sun at one of the outdoor tables on a blanket and read my book about Alexander von Humboldt, which seems so appropriate here in Antarctica. It was really lovely, hardly any wind even though we were sailing along. At one point, a British fellow came over and asked if he could take a photo of me, as the sky was very dramatic behind me, and of course I said yes and he airdropped me the photo afterwards. It will be a nice memory. I was now about 1/3 of the way through the book, so went back to check n Barney and bring more tea. He was fast asleep and I woke him up to take his meds. He is still a bit feverish. We watched the lecture on the final Shackleton expedition, which was really great with some photos we had not seen before. We ordered his dinner, and I went up to the recap. At dinner we sat with one of the naturalists, Anna from Sweden who is a diver, and heard some interesting tales of her work below the ship. There was quite a conversation about bungee jumping, and she had done one which went 250 meters, almost unimaginable. Bungee jumping is something I have zero desire to do ever, but everyone else at the table had done it. Back to the room with more tea for Barney, a bit more reading and email, and then to bed as we sailed along.
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