Vet at Sea!

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Yes, 4am did come mighty early!  The boat was rocking and rolling all night.  I did not feel bad at all, just didn’t sleep well.  Emma and I were on first watch.  It was dawnish light, overcast, some rain, pretty cold.  We kept ourselves entertained by singing Christmas songs and dancing the penguin dances!  Our watches are now 30 minutes long.  Still passes pretty quickly.

On our second watch we learned how to man the helm.  That is steering the boat into the heading that the captain dictates.  We use a compass, the rudder angle and dead reckoning to maintain the course.  There are many things contributing to trying to push the boat off course: wind, water currents, the way the sails or yards are positioned.  The boat responds slowly to the rudder changes, so it is easy to correct too far and then have to recover, over and over again!  Not very easy to do!

Garibaldi Glacier.

After breakfast I took a short nap while the Europa sailed up a fjord to see a glacier.  My cabin mate woke me up in time to marvel at the Garibaldi Glacier!  Spectacular!  Lots of photos.  Being in a small vessel, we were able to motor up quite close to the glacier.  Still raining but gorgeous nonetheless!

The blues are incredible!

We all gathered in the lounge for a presentation by Gordie about Darwin and the ship the Beagle. 

Then I believe everyone in our cabin took a much needed nap! 

The dense ice of the glacier absorbs every other color of the spectrum except blue - so blue is what we see!

  We got up in time for lunch, then we were to be back on watch.  But first we had an information meeting about our stop at Puerto William tomorrow.  We will go ashore on the Zodiacs and go hiking or shopping or just site seeing.   This is not really a tourist town, and tomorrow is Christmas Day (?!?!?!?!) so there may not be anything open.  The hiking should be beautiful.  We shall see about the rest!

Waterfall from glacier melt.

Then it was time to learn how to climb!!  We were instructed in the use of the harness and clips and rules about climbing.  It was cold and rainy, but not too blowy.  We were due to be on watch, but were giving the opportunity to climb instead. 

Looking up to where we are going to climb.

  I made it!!  It was tough, a few people could not get over the last bit.  You climb the ropes, pretty easy until you get near the top, then the toe holes get smaller than your toes!  Then you are under a small platform and need to climb outward the get on top.

Up on the platform.

  We clip our safety harness to lines up there, but that part is difficult.  I MADE IT!!!  Whew, really tough with very frozen fingers!  Not sure that I will do it again, but at least I did it!!  Woo  Hoo!

Happiness!  

Took a while to get my fingers warmed back up.  Got some hot tea and fresh fruit, very helpful!

We passed by more gorgeous glaciers.  Very pleasant sailing.

Italian Glacier

After dinner we chatted a bit then headed off to bed.  We are due to be on watch starting at midnight.  We are expected to arrive at the port of Puerto Williams about that time or soon after.  If so, we don’t have to watch.  But best to be ready.

Good night for now!

Stacy, Vet at Sea