Monday December 31, New Year's Eve on a ship in the Southern Ocean!

NYE Morning report: Doh! I apparently was very sleep deprived still. I set the alarm for 8, and it went off, but I woke up at 11am. No time to shower, just a quick coffee and onto the phones. Damn cool of Javier at the Martin Fierro B&B to let me tie up his phone all morning.

Amazingly the Antarctica tourism office says there is still a berth available on the cozy Sholkalskiy. They give me the contact number for the local agent. I end up emailing and phoning my contacts in the Quark marketing department, back in the USA and in Toronto. My main contact is out of the office, but the rest of the staff gamely figures out the situation, and by 2:30pm I am approved to be on the boat. Problem: Boarding is at 4pm, and I need a doctor's note, a travelers insurance policy, to pack, to buy supplies, and to be at the port in 90 minutes. I shift into "git 'er done" mode, and make it to the gangplank mere minutes before the scheduled departure. Yeah baby!



After dropping my bags, I spend some time on deck watching USH fade away. From the deck, we spot a rainbow over Ushuaia. An auspicious sign, I suspect!

Welcome / safety talk: Wash hands, one hand for the ship, see Doctor at first sign of problem, take sea sickness medicine way early. We depart around 5pm, and should make the scary Drake Passage by midnight, on New Years Eve!

Apparently my late arrival, while not my fault, held up the ship from clearing customs and departing. They almost left without me. How sad would that have been! They were announcing my name over the loud-speaker a lot, so now I have some sort of odd fame on the ship. Must be sure not to be late to anything for the rest of the voyage....

Good dinner, overseen by Austrian hospitality manager Angela, who used to cook at African game lodges. I tried to eat light, since I don't yet know how my stomach will do in the "Drake Shakes."

Fellow passengers are very friendly. Quite a few Americans of all ages, and Aussies, with Italians, South Africans and Brits mixed in. I'm taking a bit of grief for making the boat late, and it is suggested that I could make it up to the ship by buying a round of drinks. Sheesh, that's 100 people, pax and crew included. Will have to find a more creative way to make things right.

Given my weird status here as both passenger and consultant for Quark, I get a lot of questions. Also some benefits. For instance, I am bunking with Mariano from Buenos Aires, the ship historian. He brought a portable sound system on board, and I brought my iPod, full of music. We are clearly the party cabin. Thanks for the music, Katie!

The ship is starting to roll ever so slightly, we must be getting nearer the Drake Passage. The bow-to-stern pitch is supposed to be very obvious once we get there. Forecast calls for moderate, 25 knot winds, with swells from 3-5 meters. That is considered an easy crossing, though I wouldn't yet dare surf waves that big. The expedition leader Shane has seen 20 meter waves here, that is twice as long as the 30 foot boats I grew up sailing. Yikes!

10:30pm -- finishing blogging for the night, shifting to the bar for a little NYE cheer. Yeah baby! Myself and one other adventurer scaled the flying bridge, to toast the Antarctic sunset and the New Year at the same time. Not a bad way to do it, though ships' ladders can be challenging when you have a flute of Champagne in one hand.