We have set sail!

Wind Speed (kn):        19.1
Wind Direction (True):  232.8
Air Temperature (C):    4.0
Wind Chill (C): 0.0
Sea Temperature (C):    0.0
Heading (deg T):        14.2
Course Made Good (deg): 7.4
Speed (kn):     10.0
Latitude: -52.7921
Longitude: -70.4737




We have set sail!

The adventure has begun! Today, at 8:30 pm, we left the dock of Punta Arenas and we are now steaming in easterly direction through the Strait of Magellan. The port call was very hectic. Our cruise will end in Hobart and the two cruises after that as well, so all cargo for three cruises had to be loaded on the ship. The combination of delays due to government shut down, two Chilean customs strikes, and 55 kn of breeze did not help to make things go smoothly, but we got it done! Thanks to all the hard work of the techs we have all cargo onboard, two lab-vans on the decks, 50 crab pots to go fishing, a sled system with a camera to look for the crabs on the sea floor in real time, five incubators to grow our phytoplankton and so much more! "The other Antarctic icebreaker", the Laurence M. Gould, was also in town and their techs helped us out a lot and waived us goodbye from the docks. Everyone is exhausted and I am very ready for my bed.

We have another 6 hours of smooth sailing ahead of us before we exit the Strait. Then we will steam down the Argentinian coast where we will be somewhat protected. Tomorrow night we will then enter the famous Drake Passage for the Drake Shake. In this area south of Cape Horn, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet, and create the highest waves on our planet. Our original sailing time of yesterday would have put us in the Drake at the same time of a very deep low pressure system with 30 ft waves. In metric units that is about 10m high, which does not make it sound any better. Even though we have a pretty big ship, that prospect impressed even the captain. Due to all cargo hectic we are now 24 hrs delayed and we hope that the waves have died down a bit. These deep low pressure systems race around the Southern Ocean pretty fast, so that helps! But tomorrow everyone will run around the ship to make sure everything is secured. We have also planned all our meetings and a safety drill for tomorrow, because after tomorrow everyone will likely be seasick for two days :-(

More soon!

Anna