December 25th:
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
We got up early and headed outside to view the beautiful Beagle Channel in the Chilean Fjords.
We got up early and headed outside to view the beautiful Beagle Channel in the Chilean Fjords.
It was cold and rainy, but that didn't stop us. The Zaandam cruised through the Beagle Channel until we reached the Avenue of the Glaciers (aka Glacier Alley). This area consists of five huge glaciers, which were named after five European countries by the 19th century explorers who documented the region. They named them Holanda (Holland), Italia (Italy), Francia (France), Alemania (Germany) and España (Spain).
As I mentioned before, it was raining and visibility wasn't the greatest, but we were able to see all five glaciers, even though I was only able to get a picture of three of them.
[España Glacier]
[Italia Glacier]
[Holanda Glacier]
After cruising Glacier Alley, we went to the MainStage to sing Christmas carols and wait for Santa to arrive!
We were told that Santa was bringing a present for each of the children on board the Zaandam (there were only 25 of them). After Santa arrived, the kids lined up and got their presents. Theo was sleeping so we didn't get his. Oh well!
[My parents gave him this cute penguin!]
After Santa gave out the presents he (and Mrs. Claus) went to the Atrium so we could get pictures with them.
After pictures we headed back to the MainStage to listen to a "Talk" called the "Heroic Age of Exploration," which was given by our EXC Expedition Team Member, Tamara. We learned all about exploration that took place from the end of the 19th Century to the end of WWI. During this Heroic Age there were 17 major Antarctic Expeditions that were launched from ten countries.
Tamara told us stories about the quest to be the first to reach the South Pole or the first to cross the continent or the first to see a certain mountain or glacier OR the first to do this or that! These men were brave and often had to winter in the Antarctic and many of them didn't make it back.
She focused a lot on Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and Robert Scott.
During this Heroic time Ernest Shackleton made three expeditions to the South Pole. Each more heroic then the one before! One involved him sailing to South Georgia Island and sliding down a glacier on a "sled" made from rope! On December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole. He beat Robert Scott by 33 days. Sadly, Scott and his team perished on their way back from the Pole.
After the lecture we headed to the Dinning Room to get some fish-n-chips while we waited for the Zaandam to dock as Ushuaia, Argentina, the “Most Southern City in the World!”
After an hour, or so, of listening to the thrusters, it was pretty clear that we would not be able to dock in Ushuaia. We were pretty bummed because we were supposed to all go on an EXC Tour called "Train to the End of the World."
The Captain got on the loud speaker and told us it was too dangerous to dock and he would be canceling this port. Ushuaia was too windy and there were no tug boats available to help us dock. No matter how much they pushed the thrusters, we just couldn't win over Mother Nature.
Josh went up on deck and took some pictures of Ushuaia before we continued our journey south.
The Captain said that because we were skipping Ushuaia, we would be rounding Cape Horn at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning and then heading straight down to Antarctica. There was a storm coming and the Captain wanted to beat it. He said if we beat the storm, and crossed the Drake with no issues, then we would be arriving in Antarctica 12 hours early!
That night was Gala Night so we got dressed up, went to dinner, and saw Reuel (a piano entertainer) perform! He was so talented! He loves to turn modern Rock songs into piano pieces and give them a Classical twist. He is currently performing in Vegas and I would LOVE to see him again!
December 26th:
The next morning we awoke to the sound of the thrusters and some pretty rough seas. We had arrived at Cape Horn!
As we rounded the Horn the Captain blew the Zaandam's horn as a sign of respect to all those who died trying to cross the area.
We spent all day crossing The Drake, but we kept busy on board the ship. I went to FOUR "Talks" (Antarctic Treaty, Penguin Power, Seals, and Geology of the Frozen Continent) and each of them was so interesting! Scott (the Expedition Team Leader) is the "bird guy." He knows everything there is to know about penguins. Scott, along with his wife, Corey, have been all over the world studying penguins. He also gave the talk on seals and showed us some pretty scary pictures of the leopard seals! Bryan, a retired British Geology Professor, gave a "Talk" on the geology of Antarctica.
During the rest of the day we played two rounds of team trivia, and that night we went and listened to comedian, Mark Palmer.
[In the middle of The Drake]
The seas remained calm all day and the Captain was happy to report that we had beaten the storm! Yay! We would be arriving in Antarctica TOMORROW!
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