Sat 21 Jan 2017: at sea

Oh bother. Email timed out and lost today's blog post. Oh dear. Start again...

Spot tracker is now working... Follow the link from earlier. The problem: It has to be watched for up to *ten minutes*. Any red flash in that time -- failure :-(

Today... we are at sea. A full day -- plus some -- to get to Macquarie island.

Morning: Deb goes to a bird lecture. She learns that there are a lot of bird species. And they are hard to remember or to distinguish.

I sort out the tracker. Read a book. Wander round a bit. Feel good, but restless.

We buy a couple of postcards, to be posted from Macquarie Island. Typical post office queue, I'm behind the woman who wants to buy a dozen or more cards and can't decide which ones.

Mid afternoon. Deb is at a talk on Hooker (snigger:-) seals. I am interested but not ready to sit in a room with 40 other people.

Time to describe the ship. All descriptions are from memory. They may be correct. Or not. This is the brief version, search the web for more:

Akademik Shokalskiy is small. Smaller than I imagined. Not exactly tiny but, well, small.

There's a bar / social area. Tea, coffee, biscuits 24x7. Two dining rooms with kitchen in between. An auditorium. (A square room with whiteboard and projector.) Sauna. I've not tried the sauna.

We're allowed to visit the bridge whenever we want. Five zodiaks (zodiacs?). Stairs and steps to go up and down. Plus vertical metal ladders -- real sailor stuff -- but chained off.

Cabins are on decks 3, 4 and 5. Crew are somewhere else. Our cabin is port side, forward, the largest passenger cabin. We're next door to Captain Igor. (Really.)

In our cabin...

There's an enclosed bedroom with double bed. (Most cabins have bunks.) The bedroom is a quarter of our area.

The rest is entry, sitting and meeting areas. The meeting space can fit eight people in crowded comfort. Sitting room has a couch / folding bed. (I discover the folding bit when I lean on it and it starts to unfold.) Plus a desk & chair.

Three portholes forward, two to the side. Plenty of storage cupboards. Which reminds me: I packed all on the clothing checklist, all the cold-weather gear that we would need. It didn't mention things like shirts... I packed two identical  shirts and a t-shirt. I'm prepared for shore excursions. A bit under-prepared for looking neat around the ship.

Bathroom is compact. Toilet, handbasin, shower. The toilet does have water but does not so much flush, as suck... Like a toilet in a plane. And the pipes are narrow. Nothing but "human waste" to be flushed. Used toilet paper goes in a bin next to the toilet.

In most cabins you would need the bar area to get some space to sit and enjoy. Our cabin is spacious. Very nice. Very private. We are very comfortable.