At Sea in the Drake Passage

Early progress out of the Antarctic Circle was relatively calm. I could see from Marine Traffic that we passed our sister ship, Viking Polaris, in the early hours of the morning as she was heading down to Antarctica.

The next few days will be easy going onboard with hopefully friendly seas.

We went to a lecture at 11 am by the Chief Staff Officer which provided us with some very interesting information about the construction of Viking Octantis, and showed us a time lapsed video of the process.

Some considerable detail was also given about some of the features of the ship and the advanced technology used on board. The stabilising systems were of particular interest.

Vikings two expedition ships were built specifically to cruise the Arctic, Antarctic and the US Great Lakes. The beam of the vessels was designed to allow it to pass through the lock systems there, with minimum clearance. The photo he showed highlights this


Entering the Great Lakes

 The chefs put in a big effort today for lunch, with a wine tasting complete with table of local South American wines. 


The pastry chef provides a chocolate barwith a table full of chocolate based deserts. It was probably the busiest.


Then there was a a cheese and bread selection.


All of this was in addition to the normal lunch offering at the buffet, where a whole suckling pig was the feature, of you could have a burger or steak at the grill, or pizza.

This afternoon there is a tour of the bridge between 2 and 4 pm and a galley tour from 4 pm.

 

The captain watches on as one of the bridge crew explains the controls


The chart table is the size of a paper chart, but the display and electronic chart with touchscreen. It is used for their route planning and display of progress which the officer in charge told us now only takes about 30 mins. There are several smaller versions at the helm.


The bridge is full of electronic gadgets and whilst there is a steering wheel, most steering is done with a toggle switch. The ship is driven by two azipods and has bow thrusters to move the bow. It is also fitted with dynamic positioning which will hold the ship at a desired location without the need to anchor, using the azipods and bow thrusters. This was used all through our cruise instead of anchoring.

Next was the galley tour (or one of the galleys - the main one). It was equally impressive.






Throughout most of the day we have been sailing in 4 to 6m seas with 20 to 30 knot winds. The ship is incredibly stable but did make some unwelcome noises through the roughest patch. By nightfall everything had settled back down.

Last, but not least, today is our 50th Wedding Anniversary, which we celebrated with a nice dinner at Manfredi's restaurant.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sailing the Drake Passage

Image
 The good weather continued overnight and our trip across the Drake Passage is a dream run. By midday the sea is almost glassy with little swell and a light breeze.  Our first task this morning is to attend a compulsory briefing at 8am about the rules of engagement for going ashore in Antarctica, mainly focused on leaving nothing behind, staying well clear of wildlife (at least 5 m), and staying within areas marked out by the crew at the various locations. It was followed by videos on getting in and out of Zodiacs, dressing appropriately for the weather and safety issues. The presenter commented on today's conditions crossing the Drake Passage referring to it as the "Drake Lake", an expression the Captain reiterated later in the day. Drake Lake Following the rules of going ashore, for those who would like to go kayaking, there was another presentation on what this entails covering issues like what conditions to expect, how strenuous it is, donning the dry suits they provi...
Read more

Brown Base and the Yellow Submarine

Image
 This morning we arrive at Brown Base, not Stony Point as previously planned. Apparently this is a better spot and they have managed to secure a time slot for us here instead of Stony Point. It also seems popular with yachties. As we were having breakfast we witnessed the arrival of an 80 ft Oyster Yacht, "Firebird". I checked their website and it appears to offer private charters allover the World. It has previously been to the Arctic Circle and am not sure if this is their first trip to Antarctica as their website says they normally spend summer in the Caribbean. Whilst I was photographing the yacht, a bird landed on the railing and commenced preening itself. There is an impressive glacier just off our starboard side, it is bit more defined than the many others we see. Anyway it is time to get prepared for our dive on the yellow submarine. A zodiac takes us out to the location where the submarine is located and 6 of us are loaded on board. We tied up alongside and received ...
Read more

Fly to Ushuaia and board Viking Octantis

Image
 Fortunately we weren't the first of 3 charter flights that Viking had organised to take us to Ushuaia to meet the Viking Octantis. We were second in line which allowed us another 30 minutes sleep. We had to be checked out, devour a light takeaway breakfast and  be ready to board a bus to the airport at 6.20am. All of which we and our fellow group members achieved easily. Of course we realised that the real challenge would be at the airport, and we were not disappointed. Memories of flying through Argentina some 30 years ago were still active in my memory. On arriving at the airport we experienced the usual delays of getting through security (Viking had completed the check in procedure for us). It soon became clear that the flight may be delayed, even though it was a Charter. Boarding was completed an hour before we left, the reason for the takeoff delay was unclear. It is a 3 hour and 10 minute flight to Ushuaia, so we now expect to arrive at around 12.30 pm, which is actuall...
Read more