Friday, December 29, 2023
Today, we continued our journey across Drake Passage. I woke up rested but with a headache and nasal congestion. The ship was gently rocking enough to make passengers sway while walking. I took another meclazine in the morning and mid-day. After breakfast, we attended a mandatory kayak briefing and in the hangar, practiced transferring from a Zodiac to a kayak. Later, we also attended a mandatory IAATO briefing required of all visitors to Antartica. We also had a mandatory bio-security check. For this check, we took articles of outside clothing (that were not newly purchased) such as hats, gloves, etc. to midship Deck 2 where they were thoroughly vacuumed and cleaned of any potential biological contaminants. Late afternoon, Jane attended a session in the Science Lab. Not feeling well, I took a long gently rocking nap enhanced by the meclazine.
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| Tracking our Progress via the Stateroom Television |
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| View from our Stateroom Window |
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| Kayak Briefing in the Aula |
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| Polaris’ Toy Box, The Hangar |
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| Practicing the Zodiac – Kayak Transfer |
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| Polaris’ Science Lab |
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| Our First Iceberg! |
Tonight, we had one of our two reservations to eat in a special ship restaurant. This time it was an Italian one named Manfredi’s. I had pasta e faglioli soup, a shrimp and scallops with lobster sauce entree, and tiramisu for dessert. Mine looked delicious but due to my cold, I couldn’t smell well and so, still had a meager appetite. Jane had pumpkin soup with smoked haddock and hazelnuts, filet mignon with polenta, and tiramisu for dessert. And, of course we ordered wine with the meal. After dinner, we headed back to our stateroom where Polaris gently rocked us to sleep on full stomaches.
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| Enjoying Dinner at Manfredi’s Restaurant |
Did you take mescaline or something else? I don’t think it is legal in US except for some Native American religious ceremonies. Of course you were out of country so anything goes.
Ha ha. No, we took meclazine. Must have been an incorrect autocorrect. I’ll correct it in the blog entry. – John