3 March 2007
The Power of the Ocean
Posted by Dave, on the Esperanza
Southern Ocean Moon
© Greenpeace/Beltra
Well, it's goodbye to the coldness and wildness of the Southern Ocean. Gone are the thermals and heavy jackets. Sandals and t-shirts are starting to reappear on board the Esperanza, and the Oocean is almost flat. The evenings are getting shorter - we actually have proper nights again. Emilie just made an announcement over the intercom, "beautiful moon rising on the starboard side!"
Last night, as you'll have seen from the conversation between Andrew and I, the scene was a little different. So different, in fact, that earlier in the day, Penny and Pep had toured all the cabins on the main deck, ensuring that the deadlights - the brass covers for the portholes - were sealed down. It was a good idea...
Sometime around 2am, while Maaike and Joe were on watch, there was an almighty bang from the starboard side, as a wave smashed in one of the portholes in Slava and Paul's cabin. With the deadlight down, water only sprayed into the cabin, but enough to get the place pretty well, by all accounts. The sound woke people up all over the ship. I didn't hear a thing - on the exact opposite side of the deck, on the starboard side, the cabin universally known as the home of the "smelly boys", we slept on, blissfully unaware!
For those of you of a nervous disposition, this doesn't mean we're in any trouble - the deadlight is now closed and sealed, and the boys can sleep safe and dry...
- Sydney, here we come!
- Dave
Update: Sara reckons that either a giant or colossal squid broke the porthole!
Comments
Ahhh yessss, the mysterious and not so mysterious bangs in the night.
I used to pray that I would at least get a decent nights sleep on the way down to San Diego. All that banging made me think that we hit a rock in the middle of the Ocean LOL!
Aye whats weird is that all that banging on the port side is not heard from the smelly boys room!
What a wonder eh?
Mary Ann
Posted by: mary ann at March 4, 2007 4:57 AM
When will you arrive in Sydney? I trust that you will enjoy a pleasant visit which will also provide an opportunity to highlight the renewed threat to the humpback population posed by the Japanese plans for their 07-08 "season".
Sydney-siders are blessed in that they can view the OZ east coast humpback migration from the city's coastline between May and October (or from late April through to mid December for the keen & patient).
Thanks for your efforts and I look forward to seeing the good ship Esperanza in Port Jackson ( Sydney Harbour).
Yours,
Peter
Posted by: peter at March 5, 2007 7:51 AM
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