Friday 11/15 – The seas have finally smoothed out today, so it should be interesting since everyone will be out of their cabins. Apparently, a lot of people were sick yesterday and just stayed in their cabins.  We are up early – of course – and head to the gym where we manage to get a treadmill – after torturing ourselves on those blasted bikes.  Not doing that again.  Then showered and dressed and in the Lounge around 9am, which is so far deserted. But it is early.  The first lecture is a photography class – based on real cameras. Not our little cell phone cameras!  So many people have regular cameras with huge lenses, and this session is for them – doesn’t really do us any good – we’re not changing our ISO or F-stop or anything like that.  Although while we are listening and messing with our phone cameras I do stumble upon the ability to change the camera menu – so now I have panorama on my one touch menu.  That was a bonus.

Lunch is outside on deck – because when will we get this opportunity again?  Hamburger and an excellent grilled seabream from the grill while enjoying the sunshine and the cool breeze. We barely need jackets – plus there are heaters out here.  Bonus.

The afternoon brings a seabird lecture which is quite interesting.  All about the different birds we will see and how they have adapted to live on the sea – from their wing structure to their plumage to their coloring.  They actually have salt glands that work like kidneys, allowing them to drink the seawater and regulate the salt levels in their bloodstream.  Fascinating.  Next is part 2 of the whale lecture discussing the toothed whales and dolphins.  Again, interesting and something to do while I sneak more photos of interesting attire.

During the evening briefing, we chat with Brandon, the Expedition Leader, and end up going to dinner with him.  He is from Cape Town and we had a blast sitting and chatting – and the dinner was great.  A mushroom carbonara tonight that was perfectly done and just the right size.  After dinner, we hit the lounge, chat with Allan and the Captain, and then make our escape to our cabin before Karaoke begins at 9:30.  You know the drill!

Saturday 11/16 – Not too bad last night, but the swells come and go – so at any time we are rocking or rolling or both.  We slept late this morning (as in 7am) and after coffee in the cabin, there was no way we were going to get a treadmill in the gym, so we just went up on deck 8 and walked from Bridge to Bridge.  It might be a 300 feet one way loop – but at least it is in the fresh air and sunshine.  As we were doing our loops, we added the viewing deck on 9 and Richard, the Expedition Asst. Manager came up and showed us where they spotted whales.  Cool!  We ended up just standing up there, watching their blows off in the distance.  Very fun.  

The rest of our day is same, same, no different.  A very good 10a lecture about cartography, explaining the history of maps and how Tristan da Cunha was named by an explorer who saw the island in the distance, but never even set foot on it, and still named it after himself.  Next up is the 11am Nature Watch on the aft deck which is fine, but really the only thing out there are birds, so we hang around inside and watch the horizon for whale blows – which we don’t find.  Lunch upstairs at the grill again – salad today, the fish is Perch.  Not.  Then at 2 we have our first excursion briefing with Brendan who explains that we will be late getting into Tristan (due to the delayed leaving and the headwinds and swells we are experiencing now) but that they still have 3 excursions planned for us.  One is a Scenic Coastal walk, one is an informal City Stroll and the other a bus ride to the Thatched Roof museum for those with less mobility (seriously – there are people on this ship that just shock us!  We have no idea how some of them will ever get on a zodiac – they can barely walk!).

However, Brandon explains that the weather isn’t looking all that good for zodiac rides to the island.  The winds and swells are forecasted to be high and it would make it hard for boarding the zodiacs.  If that pans out, then Plan B is to go to the little uninhabited island of Nightingale for a zodiac ride to see the Northern Rock Hopper Penguins.  It is the only place they live, and because we can use the ship as a wind block, it will be easier to board the zodiac there.  We shall see what happens in 2 days!  In the meantime, we are signing up for the Coastal Walk and hoping for the best.

Next is the Citizen Science talk – which explains all about the Citizen Science project where we can participate in recording wildlife and submitting sightings to certain organizations.  We’ve already downloaded the wildlife app.  Very cool. 

The rest of our afternoon is free – we manage to get the treadmills in the gym, and then hang out in the cabin watching The King and I until our 6:30 briefing where we get an update on all the birds viewed today (yeah, we’ll never get any of those shots – but hey, we’ll use the ones on the screens – next best thing!) and Brandon tells us they have added an additional walking tour to the Thatched Roof Museum.  We’re still going with the coastal walk.

Dinner is a scrum again – but we manage to get our table and have a great meal with John as our servet.  They have this amazing shrimp cocktail – the shrimp are huge – and a really excellent stuffed onion – baked with a parmesan cream filling.  Excellent. After dinner drinks with Allan, then cabin for Netflix. Day done.

Sunday 11/17 – Another nice, but really windy morning.  We again sleep late – this is weird, the more inactive we are the more we sleep?  Or it could just be that the seas are really rough and it rocks us into deeper sleep?  Who knows, but it is after 7 when we get up and by the time we have our coffee it is past 8!  We walk our little loop for a bit again, but it is super windy, so we give it up for more coffee and fruit and toast in the club lounge. 

Our morning starts early with a mandatory Zodiac Safety briefing, and then a boot party!  We get our boots handed out to us at noon – they are super nice!  Waterproof and insulated with a great warm fuzzy inside.  These will be nice for wet landings – and we didn’t have to buy them ourselves and try to haul them down here.  Bonus!

Lunch is on the aft sundeck again – might as well take advantage of it – and they have tuna on the grill. Oh yeah!  Seared rare. Perfectly done, excellent mid-day meal.  Our afternoon consists of a Symphony of the Seas (not the ship) lecture with Carine.  She talks all about the different species of whale and the different songs they sing.  Did you know that whales of the same species from different areas have different dialects that are hard to understand between each other?  Just like humans! 

Next is the Visual History of Antarctica with Artem, the historian.  A really good overview of the whole evolution from Pangaea to Gondwana to today.  He is a very good lecturer, explaining all the different periods of history and how the dinosaurs evolved, became extinct and humans then evolved.  One fascinating factoid:  Dinosaurs cooed like birds, the didn’t really roar. All that is made up for TV and Movie audiences. The meat of the presentation though is that Antarctica was once a lush forest covered continent.  Rock samples found next to the Robert Scott expedition corpses (they all died trying to find the South Pole) showed fossils of plants and coal, indicating the climate was totally different millions of years ago.  He then moved onto the continent today, talking about how scientists study the climate of the past by drilling down through the ice shelves for samples and looking at satellite images of the terrain.  In this way, scientists have found over 400 subglacial lakes, the largest called Vostok lake, found under the Vostok science outpost towards the middle of the continent.

Taking our afternoon stroll for the fresh air, we snap a picture or two.  Yep – it’s windy, but very refreshing and brisk!  Then, at 6:30, we have our briefing on Tristan da Cunha, where we hope to be able to get to tomorrow. Brandon explains the island, the geography and what we can expect to find there, then he goes over our schedule for the morning and we are off to dinner. 

Tonight – shrimp. The biggest shrimp we have ever seen!  Crazy good – and we actually, for the first time ever, splurge and have dessert. Only because they have this avocado chia pudding which is totally intriguing us.  John, our sweet waiter has had it and says it is good – and it is.  Not overly sweet, nice and creamy – definitely avocado-tasting but not overwhelming. 

Drinks with Allan and then back to the cabin for a nice relaxing evening of Netflix and the fireplace.