Drakes Passage
A sea day rolling gently northwards to Cape Horn with about 30 knots of ESE wind from the Weddell Sea. The ship rides these seas remarkably well with our stabilisers keeping us on an even keel.
Stephan gave a beautifully illustrated lecture on his 9 years with the Indian Antarctic program as arcane operator and expeditioner in Queen Maud Land. He told of the difficulties of unloading ships on crumbling ice shelves with heavy pack and blizzards to add to the equation.
He was followed by Chris Rainer who has worked as a photographer in most of the world’s trouble spots for Time Magazine and has also been on assignment for National Geographic in many remote parts of the world. We saw images of Papua tribes with no previous contact with the western world, war in Sarajevo, Butan, Africa and Indo china.
In the afternoon, when we were across the convergence with moderating wind and waves, Steve gave a thought provoking talk on climate change. Can we sit and wait? Do we do something now? Do we take advantage of the opportunities and start production and export of eco friendly equipment like Denmark is doing now? This was followed by an open discussion.
Everyone is looking forward to seeing Cape Horn tomorrow and to the calm of the Beagle Channel.
