Sunday 14 February 2010

We Paid The Price

We paid the price on the way down. We had a storm. It was rough. Lots of people were ill. But you know what? It made the next ten days all the sweeter. I bet that there isn't one person on board that would say it wasn't worth it.
We had a nearly perfect trip. Read back through the blog. We do our best to describe our adventures but words fail us. I think words would fail even the best of writers. Photographs cannot capture the reality. Words can't describe the experience. Besides, what I feel does not describe what the person standing next to me is feeling.

These Drake days are a chance to reflect on all we have seen and done. A chance to catch our breath after a whirl wind of unceasing exciting activity. Today our time was taken up with lots of interesting lectures, bridge tours and relaxation.

All day long the Drake has been dead calm with a gently rolling swell. It is very soothing. The motion lulls one to sleep. We deserve these calm seas after our bumpy ride down.

Tonight we enjoyed a sumptuous Captain's dinner. The Captain gave a very nice speech before dinner and thanked all of the departments on board for doing such an excellent job.

At 22:00 there was a spirited auction to raise money for various environmental charities. The prized item for auction is always the ship's chart showing our entire trip. In fact it was the very chart pictured here. The red arrows and labels were added in Photoshop.