Excitement has now edged out anxiety as I have just met many of the people on my boat. I am rooming with two women from Spain (I think I am destined to improve my Spanish on this trip), a woman from France, and a woman from Holland. We are in a VERY small space so I´m sure we will be great friends after 3 weeks. They all seem great. There are people from all over the world; many Dutch, Spanish, Argentinians, Canadians, a few other Americans, Germans, French, and I´m sure I´m forgetting some. There are 2 geologists on the ship and apparently the geology in Antarctica is pretty amazing. The captain has been on this ship for about 5 years. He actually seems quite young to be a captain.
I just ran back to my old hotel to grab my sleeping bag...I´m very excited to sleep on deck...or up in some tangle of ropes near the top of the mast (tied in of course). We leave tomorrow, as we are waiting for someone whose flight was delayed in Buenos Aires.
We are 600 miles from Antarctica. It will take 7 hours just to get out of the Beagle Channel. We will have 4 hour watch shifts, then 8 hours off as we cross the Drake Passage. For some reason, this boat can´t be a passenger ship, which is why they train us to work it.
Just wanted to let you know what´s up!
