Location: Drake Passage, Straits of Magellan, Punta Arenas
Latitude: 53° 10 S
Longitude: 70° 53 W
Air temperature: 7.1 °C (44.8 °F)
Barometric pressure: 1020.8 mBar
Relative humidity: 72%
Breaking news…if we get clearance to continue the cruise we will depart no earlier than next Tuesday or Wednesday. It is Friday morning now, so many days of unproductive activity lay ahead. Morale is declining rapidly…at least the weather is cooperating - a warm and sunny day late winter day in Punta Arenas, Chile.
Antarctic trivia (answer at end of this journal entry): Antarctica is a large continent (as big as the U.S. and Mexico combined) covered with ice. How thick is the ice?
We made it back to Punta Arenas at 1:00 PM Wednesday. We’re returning to PA to have the fire-damaged areas of the ship cleaned and have the computer equipment repaired or replaced. In addition the air quality aboard the ship is being assessed to determine if it is safe to continue the expedition. There was not a place for our ship at the Punta Arenas dock, so we anchored offshore until Thursday morning when we pulled up at the dock. We all enjoyed the afternoon in Punta Arenas and the chance to check email again. We have not had access to email on board the ship, so this opportunity was eagerly awaited by all. Messages sent to our Palmer email addresses are not able to be accessed by most of us, so we’re using our "home” email accounts until the IT systems can be repaired on the ship.
Our crossing of the Drake was a little rougher this time, but still not too bad. We had a four-day trip here from Palmer Station. We’re taking advantage of the ship’s amenities – marathon sessions of DVD watching in the television lounge and foosball playing in the helicopter hanger abound. The ship also has a well-stocked library of reference books and quite a collection of paperback novels, mysteries, etc. (Even a few Harry Potter books!)
Glenn, Gauthier, Florance, Bobby, and Victor enjoy a fast-paced foosball game to pass the time during the trip back to Punta Arenas.
Creature Feature Among the numerous seabirds we have seen on the trip is the Kerguelen petrel. Several of these birds have ended up on the ship’s deck – our presence in their environment no doubt confuses them. We have been able to return most of these "visitors” to flight by releasing them off the side of the ship.
Brent releases a wayward Kerguelen petrel from the side of the ship.*
Marine mammals and seabirds seen in the last few days by our mammal and bird exert, Brent:
White-chinned petrel
Cape petrel
Sooty shearwater
Giant petrel
Blue petrel
Kelp gull
Kerguelen petrel
Imperial shag
Southern fulmar
Dusky dolphin
Commerson’s dolphin
Southern bottlenose whale
Answer to today’s Antarctic trivia question: The ice that covers the Antarctic continent is about 7000 feet thick in most places, but can be as thick as 15,000 feet thick. Wow…that’s almost three miles of ice!