Wednesday January 2: Drake's Passage is past; first landing: South Shetlands (Half Moon Island)

Sleeping better now, only needed one sleeping pill. Seem to have lost my patch somewhere, so will try going au naturale for a bit, and see how my stomach reacts.

Today we hope to send landing parties to the Shetland Islands, specifically Half Moon Island. Dinner may be delayed so we can have as much time on shore as possible. Most of the passengers are below decks now, preparing their wet weather gear for the landing. As I look out my porthole, I see land very close by, off to port. Perhaps it is one of the early Shetlands.

Just before lunch today, the first icebergs were sighted. Pretty amazing. This brings home the concept that we really are in Antarctica.



We are now pulling into one of the Shetland Islands, to let off a passenger who has a family emergency back home. I'm heading topside to test the adequacy of my gear, and to watch the process of exchanging personnel.

Kudos to Shane, our expedition leader. He and my roommie Mariano took the departing passenger to shore at Half Moon Island, and transferred her to an Argentina-bound ship there. By doing it that way, she was able to set foot on an Antarctic island, and see penguins from a few feet away. Very thoughtful way to handle her early departure.

That departure led to a reshuffling of crew quarters. By dumb luck, I now have a single!

At the debriefing talk this evening, they said that we'd reach the Antarctic peninsula by 4am tomorrow. The very long days with little sleep start tomorrow. And tomorrow will be my day to officially reach my personal "Continent Number Six!"

Note the photos: one of my cabin, one of my desk (the to-read pile is already growing unreasonably), and one of the necessary gear for a day trip, laid out on my bunk.

Note #2: Now that we have sailed out of the area, I can point out that today we were almost exactly where the MS Explorer sank a couple of months ago. In the Bransfield Strait, right between the Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. So far, we seem to have done fine. But it is all a bit spooky to think about.