so he headed down for the first lecture, by Mike, our Divemaster and Lecturer. The lecture was on Seabirds of Antarctica and Rob said it was very interesting. After the lecture we went to the bridge and were delighted to see Wandering and Black browed Albatross, Giant Petrels and a variety of other sea birds which were amazing. They all floated so gracefully above the waves it was a joy to watch them. After lunch which again was a fairly comical affair due to the ship rocking and rolling in the somewhat rough seas and howling wind, we went to the lecture on ‘Life in the Weddell Sea’ which was presented by Rupert, our German Guide and Lecturer, who had spent many months working on a research vessel in the Weddell Sea. It was very interesting and we were particularly looking forward to seeing this part of Antarctica. We also watched the first two parts of ‘Life in the Freezer‘, a BBC documentary presented by good old David Attenborough. Time seemed to float by as we were rocking and rolling our way

across the Drake Passage. Dinner was a lot better than the previous nights and we chilled around for the rest of the evening meeting more and more of our fellow passengers.

The next morning we woke up to find that we were only half way there! Thankfully the waves and wind had subsided somewhat and the ship was able to pick up speed! There were no more violent lunges and lurching and now the ship was just gently rocking its way over this notorious stretch of water. It was very disappointing that we were only half way there, because the longer we spent at sea the less time we would have in Antarctica, but I guess you can’t do much if you’re sailing head on into storm force winds! After breakfast we went to a lecture on penguins by Edwina, our Australian Guide and Lecturer. Again it was very interesting and we couldn’t wait to see these exceptionally cute little chaps! The weather was rather