Friday, March 11, 2011

crossing the Drake one last time

11:50 GMT, 11 March, 45�50.8 S 064�05.4 W

Once again we're crossing the Drake Passage. The conditions are what I
would guess are on the nice side of typical--sunny, 20 to 35 knot winds,
and 5 meters swell. In the last 5 days we completed our sampling and
closed down the field camps on King George and Livingston Islands. I was
fortunate and got two last opportunities to go on land as I was sent
ashore to help load equipment into the zodiacs at both camps--alas, I
did not achieve my goal of capturing penguins pooping on video. Most of
the 10 people we picked up at the field camps have been suffering from
seasickness and have been mostly keeping to themselves.

We are scheduled to arrive Punta Arenas sometime on the 13th of March.
If I only need to stay with the boat one additional day, I could have 8
days to travel before flying back to LAX on the 23rd. In that case I may
try to visit Ushuaia in Argentinian Tierra del Fuego as well as Torres
del Paine National Park in Chile.

PS I was a little off in my estimate of Paradis Harbor's latitude. We
were actually anchored at 64�51.9 S 062�49.4 W.

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