1-15-20 - Back into the Drake Passage
/Even though there are no expeditions today, we are still awoken to Michael’s super energetic, Austrian accented voice announcing a “beautiful good morning,” telling us what time breakfast is and of course, not to forget our hand sanitizer. Today we return through the Drake Passage with fingers crossed that the rocking and rolling of the boat will be as favorable as it was on the way down. The clan is armed with the anti-sea sickness patches behind our ears just in case.
Thus morning’s lecture is on Orcas given expedition guide Symon from Poland. All the lectures have been well attended with at least 80 percent of passengers there. We learn pods are matriarchal in that male orcas stay with mother until she dies. Pods usually consist of 8 to 10 Orca whales. Symon shows us how to identify males and females, based on size markings and dorsal fins. Second biggest brain on Earth resulting in intelligence capable of language skills and social structures. There are ten different eco types of Orcas with 10 in the North Hemisphere and 5 in the Southern Hemisphere. On this trip we saw pack Ice hunters. There are an estimated 65,000 Orcas in the world. The Orca is the APEX predator, top of the food chain, higher than even the feared Great White Shark. Although Kyle notes that he’d rather run into an Orca in the ocean than a Great White Shark.
Everyone in the family has diligently gone through the thousands of photos taken during the Antarctica trip and come up with their three best photos and short videos and submitted them to Neil and George in the morning. Neil has assembled all the entered pictures and is running them as a looping slideshow in the theatre. We pile in to watch the photos and decide which one to vote for. There are 53 passengers who have entered photos of which we account for seven. We actually thought a lot more people would enter of the 170 passengers. Kyle notes that he had spent $5,000 on one of those camera lens, he damn well would have entered something.
While the rules say you can’t vote for your own picture, having seven people does provide the opportunity for some clandestine collusion. In theory, we could pick the best picture in the family and have six people vote for that one. After some discussion, Kyle stands up and declares that he’s going out and going to pay passengers $5 each to vote for his pictures. Chaos ensures as the rest of the family cries foul play. Ashley, the voice of reason, says, “Dad, the winner gets a free drink worth $5, why on Earth would you pay hundreds of dollars to win $5?” In the end, the topic is put to rest with the decision that everyone should just vote on the pictures they actually think are best in each category.
After lunch, we return our boots and rental gear. As a result, for the next day and half, we will be deprived of Michael telling us with each announcement, “and remember, no rubber boots in the dining room.”
The afternoon lecture is by assistant expedition guide Jerry on the Race to the Pole. The setting is the early 1900’s and three explorers are in a race to be the first one to the South Pole. Earnest Shackleton who spent years exploring the Antarctica area, came within 150 kilometers of the South Pole in 1909 but their supplies had dwindled to dangerous levels and he recognized that if they kept going, they might make the South Pole but they would not make it back. So he wisely decided to turn around and abandon his quest.
Meanwhile, a Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, was sailing north from Norway in an attempt to become the first person to reach the North Pole. While still sailing, he learned that someone had reached the North Pole via airplane thus becoming the first one and beating him out. Not one to accept defeat graciously, the Norwegian turned the ship around a furiously made for Antarctica to try to be the first one to reach the South Pole. Amundsen choose a more strategic point than Shackleton to dock his boat and make way on land to the South Pole. The captain and crew eat seals and penguins to save food weight and get fresh nutrients. The Norwegian used his skills from exploring the Artic to successfully become the first one to reach the South Pole on Dec 14, 1911.
Since the Norwegian did not publicize his journey, the third party led by British captain Robert Scott was unaware of his accomplishment. Scott followed the same route as Shackleton and came to the same decision. Seeking the glory of the British crown, he pressed on knowing that once he made the South Pole, he and his men may not make it back. So you can imagine his complete shock and utter dismay when he arrives at the South Pole on January 17, 1912 and sees the Amundsen’s Norwegian flag proudly flying high. The Norwegian had beat him out by about a month after years of exploration and planning.
On the way back, Scott and his men discovered fossils in rocks. Seeking to salvage something out of the epic failure, Scott makes his men load up fossil rocks to drag back with them. At this point, it is becoming more apparent that a captain with this little common sense probably isn’t on-track for a happy feel-good ending. Sure enough, a storm blows in and Scott and his men perish. Race to the poles was a cool story but we leave feeling a little bummed with the Debbie downer ending.
After dinner, we assemble for the photo contest winner. Neil has selected two finalist photos from each category and the audience has to yell, cheer and clap for the one they like best. None of our photos made the finals but that’s ok as we think we held our own with our iPhone pictures against the mega lens, super mirrorless, mortgage your house cameras of the winners. Leanne also notes that she is suspicious of collusion on the Dutch contingent’s part as their group of 35 people seemed to unanimously support the same pictures.
