We will continue today with our 'Life aboard the Palmer' series. We have talked about cutting edge science being done in one of the most remote areas of the world, we have seen amazing animals that are very hard to see in the wild, and we have enjoyed of the most amazing views around here. But there are less glamourous mundane activities that we need to do as well. We will have been nine weeks on the ship by the time we arrive to Punta Arenas, almost eleven since I left home. You can imagine I did not bring an enormous luggage full of clean clothes. In fact, you do not need to imagine that since you can see me wearing the same clothes over and over in the pictures. I wanted to travel light and purposely packed very few clothes.
It is time to talk about the laundry and other important activities aboard. The key to surviving with few clothes on the Palmer is to never wait until the very last day to do the laundry because if there is a storm that day, or just heavy seas, the laundry room is 'secured'. Here is Hugo in a day of insecured laundry.
Hugo folding his clothes in the laundry room
I am not sure how many laundry room there are on the ship. I am a regular at the 01 level room with four stacked washing machine and dryer, and have heard of at least another one. The soap is provided aboard the ship, as well as other condiments that I never use. It does get busy the day before we hit an announced storm, and it is good etiquette to keep track of time and not leave the clothes in either machine for hours so others can use. I wash clothes once a week, usually Friday or Saturday, depending on the weather.
I also promised I would describe the gym, where some attempt and succeed on keeping in shape and others, like me, just attempt at irregular spasms. Here is Ming on the stationary bike and Buzz getting ready to go at it on the rowing machine.
MIng on the stationary bicycle and Buzz getting ready to row in the Palmer's gym
There is a stair machine at the gym that turned out to be harder to use than I thought. There is a jogging machine that breaks every other day, and an universal weight machine to which I am allergic. I do not like going to the gym; I prefer being active outdoors while jogging, cross country skiing, biking and my all time favorite, playing soccer. But if I want to be able to run after the ball for more than three minutes when I get back, I need to do some aerobic exercises. The weight lifting will not help me on that, so I am skipping it.
The gym is like the laundry; I need to find the right time to go. I have a floating watch, so I avoid being there two hours before and two hours after the change of watch so people with less flexible schedules can exercise. I also need to time my food intake, so I do not exercise with a full belly. I am usually there at 16:00 or 20:00 (4:00 pm and 8:00 pm). Heavy seas discourage my body from exercising, so I end up with an unfrequent gym attendance.
Let us look at what else is going on on the Palmer when people are not working, since I have received a lot of questions about this. I have shown pictures of people playing music, cards, ping pong, and chess. Let us see what else is happening. Alex Quintero built a nice homemade hammock and set it on a lab where space is not an issue. I find it to be an interesting use of the hammock concept. In tropical areas hammocks are used to provide a more airy bed as well as being away from bugs. You can swing gently on the hammock if you want more ventilation. On the Palmer, the hammock is used in the opposite way; as a swing suppressor to isolate the sleeper form the constant tossing by the ship. Stuart took a picture of Alex enjoying the hammock
Alex sleeps on the hammock he made to isolate himself from the ship's motions. Picture by Stuart Pierce
There was an origami workshop on the 03 conference room, where the science talks take place on Saturday and where we 'muster' during the fire drills. Some interesting and cool creatures were born from the paper by skilled and novice hands.
An origami workshop in the Palmer while we were in a long transit
I found some of the night watch all cuddled up after lunch watching a movie, another of the ships pastimes. I have to admit I have seen my fair share of TV and will be able to speak with my students in the same language. I do not have a TV at home, something some of my students do not believe because, after all, how could humans survive without a TV. Even when we are way in to the semester they would say 'Hey Mr. Botella, did you see such and such on the TV last night?' I do not have a TV because I like it too much and kills the time I should be spending on more important and interesting things, like playing with my kids. Here in the boat, the TV helps me cal the brain after long and exciting working hours. I was having hard time sleeping since my brain kept churning ideas of what to do the following day or processing the day's event. Sounds like a pretty good excuse to me.
Movies in the Palmer, another favorite pastime.
I hope you have a good idea of how we live on the ship. Send me questions if there is a topic that I have not covered that you would like me to write about.