We had lots of discussion beforehand about how to protect ourselves from sea sickness. Joan, who is always very susceptible to motion sickness, chose to use the patch behind her ear (Scopolamine patches), plus the bands that go around the wrists and put pressure on the acupuncture point that is supposed to prevent motion sickness. Mike (who has never experienced motion sickness) decided to just try the sea bands on the wrists, and avoid any sort of drug altogether. Neither of us wanted to use the pills that induce drowsiness, since we wanted to be awake for this great experience! And we wanted to avoid anything that might have side effects and potentially affect us for the race. So…. That was the plan.
After getting sick, Joan did better as long as she lay in bed. And I was ok lying in bed, too. Then I made my big mistake…. Waking up at about 6 am, I decided to do my leg lifting exercises for my knee while lying in bed. After about 30 seconds of that, the nausea started to hit. I got up and left the room. I went first to sit on the couch in the middle of the boat on the 5th deck, to try to minimize the motions. No good. Then I went to a lower floor, where the ship is supposed to be more stable. No good. Then I came back to the room and threw up. THAT was good. I felt much better after that. And then, admitting that the Drake won, and that I am not immune to seasickness after all, I put on a patch.
A few minutes later, the nausea started to return. I went back outside, out onto the decks, thinking the fresh air will help. Nope. I came flying back into the room to get sick again. Then I laid down in the bunk, on my back… this was the only position on this boat that seemed to work.
Out into the open ocean of the Drake Passage, the seas seemed to turn angry, and the boat was really tossed about.
Things left unsecured were tossed about the cabin. Rocky, who we were keeping on a shelf in his mascot pose, went flying a number of times until we figured out how to secure him with a rubber band.
For significant portions of this day, we would find that the most comfortable position was this.
At 7:00 am, there is a cheery “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen….” on the loudspeaker which blared very loudly from the ceiling of every cabin. “We are now making good progress through the Drake Passage……. In 30 minutes, we will open the dining room for breakfast.” At 7:30 am, another cheery blast: “Good morning ladies and gentlemen, the dining room is now open for breakfast….” I decide to skip breakfast this morning, but Joan is feeling better, and goes downstairs. Ten minutes later, she comes flying back into the room, heads straight for the bathroom, and gets rid of the 3 bites she’d just taken downstairs. Hmmm. This is going to be a long 2 days. We both fall asleep for a while, and by that time, the patch seems to be kicking in for me. I am feeling much better. Joan on the other hand, stays in bed, concluding that she has another day and a half of bedtime ahead of her.
Midmorning, there starts the series of presentations. There are 2 presentations in the morning, and 2 in the afternoon. The 3rd and 5th decks go to one, the 4th and 6th decks to the other, and then the presentations are done again, with the attendees switching. The presentations today were:
-The History of the Antarctic Marathon (done by Bill and Jane, the Marathon Tours leaders)
-Sports Medicine / Advice for the Run (by Doctor Ivy Cheng, the onboard MD)
-Polar photography (by one of the Peregrine staff)
-Whales (by Phil Rouget, one of the onboard Peregrine naturalists, and whale specialist)
Mike tried to make these, Joan made the ones she could.
There was also a Kayak Organizational meeting for those who wanted to do this activity. We planned to, but as we listened, we decided against it for 2 reasons. They really encouraged only those people who had some kayaking experience before. We had none. AND, the kayaking events would be done instead of some of the planned zodiac excursions, and we really did not want to miss any of those. So we listened, and then declined the opportunity.
As the day wore on, the weather and the seas looked beautiful. The staff informed us that we were lucky -- we were experiencing a very calm Drake, what they call the "Drake Lake". Great, but why is the ship is still moving incredibly under our feet?
Although we are way out into the open seas now, we still routinely see birds flying alongside the ship. Petrels and Albatross, these birds cover tremendous distances of open water, and often follow ships for whatever food they stir up. I think the bird pictured here is a petrel.
Dinner time. Joan stays in bed. Mike goes to eat, and is fine. He talks to one of the nice Russian waitresses, Tanya, explains that Joan is sick and in the room, and she prepares a dinner with a soup bowl as a cover over the plate for him to take back to her. (I got the impression she’d seen this happen once or twice before!) Joan was able to eat a bit of that, and then started to do much better.
After dinner, another set of presentations. Mike attended the stretching class, done by Dr. Ivy. Joan attended the Eskimo storytelling session. (Ok, there are no Eskimos in Antarctica, but it still made for good stories.) Afterwards, we went to the bar/lounge for a while and talked with a few of the others there. Then to bed by 11 pm.
This photo of Rocky symoblizes what today was like. No further explantion needed.
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