My Antarctica Log - Day #8...
February 10, 2006

The Drake Passage

The boat is beginning to feel the toll of ‘Drake’…

Last night our boat started rocking and rolling like we hadn’t seen since the first couple days of our trip. It was really easy to
forget what the sensation felt like after being in calm waters for so long. The feeling is now back in full-effect. We have Drake and
his Passage to thank for this.

When I woke up this morning, our room looked like it had been picked over by robbers. All of the drawers were open; everything
that was on the table (a bottle of wine, etc.) was on the floor. Alicia’s suitcase was lying in the middle of our floor. My pile of
clothes had toppled over.

It is now 2:30pm and I just put my handy-dandy motion sickness wristbands on (which make me feel more that a fitness
instructor circa the 1980’s than somebody who is trying to avoid getting seasick). I am avoiding my motion sickness pills as I don’
t want to be zonked out for the rest of the day. But as we are literally getting thrown from side to side while walking around this
boat, I don’t know how wise that decision is. All I can say is that I’m not feeling very super right now.

Stay tuned for how things develop…

6:30pm

I’m feeling a bit better now. But this is all relative as just a few minutes ago I felt completely ill. It all started during one of the
lectures around 5:00pm. I had to run out to make it to the bathroom. The good news was that I made it. The bad news was that I
still felt horrible. What a crock these little Jane Fonda wristbands are! The only thing they proved useful for regarding
seasickness was using them to pull my hair up in a ponytail while I threw up into a toilet. Just a few minutes ago I had to make
one last run to the bathroom. I was worried that this meant that I was going to be seasick for the duration of the 24-hours at sea.
Thankfully, this is not the case. Now I am feeling good.

9:00pm

Dinner tonight was a rocky one. It was also a scarce one – I think only have of the boat was in attendance. People are dropping
like flies – including ones that weren’t affected during our first couple days through the Drake Passage. I was sharing the story of
my non-effective wristbands with people at my table. This was when Lee asked to see them. I showed my wrists to him and he
pointed out that I wasn’t wearing them correctly. Oops. That might play a factor in them not working, huh? In my defense, I
bought them in Argentina and the instructions were in Spanish.

Dessert was the high point of dinner. It’s not everyday somebody can say that they ate Baked Antarctica, right???


I just took a motion sickness pill. And on that note, I am calling it a night…
Back to Antarctica.