Day 10: At sea again…

Here's our "all-weather" clothing for a डे

Jan scrubbing her boots with the "Guanomatic" cleaner

Today we had lectures about penguins, volcanoes, and life in a research station from 1964-65. Every evening, the ship provides a “Daily Recap” at 7:00 p.m. That is followed by tentative plans for the next day. Briefings include mini lectures on a variety of subjects. Even though the lectures are also broadcast on the TV sets in our staterooms, they are very well attended. Maybe that’s because canapés and drinks are served if you show up in person. Following that, dinner is served. We spent most of today catching up on our blogs. By the time this one is posted, everything should be up to date. Hooray!

While there was a lull in today’s activities, we laid out the clothing we wear for each shore expedition. All you can see needs to be applied to our bodies either worn, snapped on, or slipped over our heads) before we embark the zodiacs. We start with long undies, then a capilene (polyester) layer, next polar fleece or ski pants (perhaps both, as the Minerva sails further south), and topped with a neck gator, liner gloves, parka, hat, ski gloves, life jacket, and back pack (we don’t use those very often). Oops, forgot way back there in this list, that we had to put on sock liners, (Fran adds foot warmers), wool socks, then rain pants, and finally our Wellies (knee high rubber boots). All is tucked into the boots except the waterproof pants which stay on the outside. By this time, we all look and walk like penguins!

We have also included a photo of the self-powered "Guanomatic", that is used to remove penguin guano off our boots before we re-enter the zodiacs prior to reboarding the Minerva. Jan models the machine in this photo. Once back on the ship, we also walk through a disinfectant solution.