Sunday 2nd February Heading to Ushuaia, It’s all about the Vega

We are on our way back to Ushuaia and luckily it is predicted we will have good sailing conditions. There is a little bit of a swell, but it is coming from behind the ship so isn’t as bad as if it was front on or from one side. Despite this there a few people on the ship suffering from seasickness. We enjoyed a good night’s sleep and had a lazy start to the day, enjoying a later breakfast, doing some laundry in the ship’s laundrette and attending a lecture about the Swan Hellenic Ships and the cruises they offer. The cruise company only has 2 ships. They are both fairly new, 5-star, small contemporary ships, designed for expeditions, to areas in the world that many ships are unable to visit. They have specially built hulls to transverse the Artic and Antarctic regions. Our ship, SH Vega, has 117 crew and 150 guests and 9 decks. We were told yesterday that only ships that carry under 500 passengers are allowed to stop and let people go onto land in Antarctica and only 100 people are allowed to be on the land at any one time. This explains why we were divided into 4 groups so these numbers could be managed. When we first boarded and went to our room, we found our lovely warm, weather-proof, Antarctic jackets to wear when out and about. We are allowed to take these home with us. (Not sure how we’re going to stuff them in the suitcases!) Also in our rooms were our life jackets which you needed to take with you every time you left the ship on the zodiacs. These life jackets were obviously excellent, although quite heavy and yesterday during our walk/climb of the volcanic area we visited, they added another layer of difficulty to the exercise as we had to wear them for the whole time because there was nowhere to put them all. It was tricky trying to strip layers off as we warmed up during the hike. The area on deck 3 of the ship, is where we board the zodiacs and is known as the Base Camp. Each stateroom has a locker, and in your locker are your “Muck Boots”. You put on these boots and walk through a large trough of disinfectant whenever you leave the ship to get on a zodiac. If you have been ashore, when returning, you must give your boots a good scrub and again disinfect them before putting them back in your locker. There are specially designed scrubbing stations which makes this a very easy task while wearing the boots.  This is to ensure that everything remains pristine. During a landing on shore, you were not permitted to kneel, sit, or even crouch. This was to make sure that the only thing that touched the ground were your boots. After lunch we were lucky enough to visit the bridge. The captain gave us a lovely welcome and then one of the officers described all the intricacies of the very technical looking bridge. There were computers screens, keyboards, buttons etc. everywhere and a tiny ship’s wheel which is not used much at all. This very modern ship virtually steers itself. Later in the afternoon we attended another very informative session about the seals of Antarctica. This was followed by the “Captain’s Farewell Reception” where we were served canapes and drinks and nearly the entire staff from the ship were presented to us. From the Captain down without exception, everyone we have met from the staff, have been outstanding so it was great to show our appreciation