What an amazing thing... Around 2:15am, I woke up to find the ship rolling massively. Looking outside, it was pitch black beyond the deck of the ship, so I couldn't really see what was going on, but it was clear from the movement of the ship that we'd entered the Drake Passage.
I slept fitfully during the night, waking up often, and most of the time just laying flat on my back in the bed, hoping that I would slide off and that the things in the cabin would stay on whatever they were sitting on, instead of flying around like it seemed they should be doing.
Around 5:30am, things were really rough. During this period, the tray containing the glasses of water and the pitcher and ice container slid off of the table between our beds, drenched Grandma's slippers with icewater, and breaking one of the glasses. I spent some time picking up glass shards and splinters from the carpet and Grandma's stuff under her bed.
Around 7:30am, I decided to get up and get ready for breakfast. So far, I hadn't felt sick at all, and was actually finding it enjoyable and exciting. I figured that taking a shower would be challenging.
After my shower, I began to shave, and while I was shaving, the heaving became even worse. By this time, I was starting to feel a bit queazy, which seemed reasonable given the roughness of the ocean.
Halfway through shaving, the florescent light in the bathroom began to flicker. This made me even more sick. In a couple of minutes, it went out entirely, and I was in pure darkness, with half of my face shaved and the other covered with shaving lotion. I opened the bathroom door, and staggered out. I went to Grandma asking where she kept the Dramamine so that I could take another one, because I was finally feeling really sick. She told me where it was, and I desperately fumbled with the packet to get one pill out, which I swallowed immediately. Then, I turned around and proceeded to retch into the toilet. Other than the pill, my stomach was completely empty. When I was finished, I took another pill and drank lots of warm water.
At this time, the Voice from the Deck (the captain) announced that we had a malfunction in the steering system of the ship, and that we had a total blackout and that the ship would be moving very severely, so everyone should stay put wherever they were. Grandma and I just went back to bed, and stayed there until around 9:00am. During all of that time, the ship was silent except for the creaking of the ship itself. No engines, just the sound of creaking and water sloshing around and objects sliding off of things and sometimes breaking. It was a very eerie situation. At times, the rolling of the ships was just incredible. The ship was simply at the mercy of the wind and waves, with nothing to stop it's tumbling. It seemed that we would go over several times, but the ship always righted itself.
Around 8:45am, we heard the engines go back on, and we were told that things were back online again after a problem with the fuel. Apparently, some seawater had been mixed into the diesel fuel, and they had to switch tanks before continuing.
Around 9:30am, we went to breakfast, and sat at the table with the Batemans. Mr. Bateman is an artist, known for environmental art, I believe. They related to us stories about previous crossings of the Drake Passage, and they also told us that they'd heard that Orient Lines had decided not to take the Marco Polo back to Antarctica again, due to the cost and the fact that the ship doesn't seem well suited for it.
At breakfast, we heard about several minor injuries among the passengers. The worst I heard of was someone gashing their head when a pitcher of water fell off a table onto them. Everyone seemed in good spirits, and we all expressed our excitement that interesting things were happening. Mrs. Bateman reminded us that no one at home would be interested in having us say that everything went perfectly smoothly, and that we had to have some interesting events to talk about.
We just returned from Gilles Allard's first lecture on Ice, Glaciers, Icebergs, and Snow. I taped it all on audio, with his permission. It was fairly interesting, but of course everything was at about a high school level. During the lecture, the ship continued to toll and tumble, and it still is now that I'm back in the cabin, about to get some rest after a long, fitful night.
I went down with Grandma to see the briefing that Lars-Eric and Nigel gave regarding the landings tomorrow, and received some interesting information. They said that the baggage that was lost will be delivered by a Russian tour vessel to Half-moon Island, and that we will then pick it up. There is an Argentinian base there that will temporarily keep the baggage.
So, instead of going to Hope Bay, as we'd expected, we'll be going to Half-moon Island, which both Nigel and Lars-Eric said was a very beautiful place. We should see Chinstrap Penguins, possibly some Fur Seals, and possibly some Sea Lions. We will also be on the lookout for whales in the bay.
Lars-Eric related the story of a trip that he made to Half-moon Island many years ago, before they had Zodiac landing craft. They used an old landing craft of the type used at Normandy Beach to transport the passengers to shore, and a fog had cut off visibility between the ship and the landing party. The landing craft was thrown up on the beach violently by several large waves, and lodged in such a way that it couldn't be put back in the water, so the landing party had to stay the night. They had lost their walkie-talkies, so Lars-Eric had no idea what had happened to the party. He said that that was typical of the sort of adventure that people remember forever, adding the quote, "Wasn't that wonderful, we almost died!"
I'm extremely excited by this. I was hoping all along that something would come up that would allow us to visit Deception Island. I wonder if we'll be able to swim in the hot springs?