18 Feb 2016

Crossing the Antarctic Circle

Our fine Russian crew keeps the ship running 24hrs a day with four hourly watches while passengers sleep, but this morning everyone was called at 0500hrs to assemble in the library to mark the crossing of the Antarctic Circle. The passing of this significant geographic line was celebrated with hot mulled wine and expeditioners received the ‘mark of the penguin’ after taking a solemn oath to protect all things in the Antarctic now and into the future. Everyone returned to bed after the ceremony and resurfaced for a late breakfast. Four lectures and important briefings took up the remainder of the day and then everyone had their chance of one minute of fame in the bar. The mike was passed around and each could say who they are, what they do and why they are here. The result was a mixture of admiration, respect and quite a few hearty laughs, with some even provoking tears of mirth – there are certainly some interesting characters on this ship. Four days at sea can extract all sorts of information!