We meet at the boat early, swap our boots for Crocs and move in. We’re a small group of six. We unpack and congregate around coffee. Then it’s the safety tour and a guide to using the ship’s plumbing before we go back to land to do the final bits of paperwork. We pool our last pesos and head for the bakery, then make one last pit-stop at CADIC for extra water filters. <br><br>
Abbie is the trip’s guest scientist. She is investigating microplastic contamination of the Southern Ocean. As we ready to leave, she shows us how to take a 1lt grab sample of water and teaches us some of the basic protocols of good scientific practice: be downwind of your test area, don’t wear a big fluffy jumper. Wash everything three times before you use it and don’t do that near the area you’re going to test. The logic is simple but you wouldn’t think about it if you hadn’t spent years doing this kind of research. While we record the data, first in an app, then in a hardcopy backup, Federico’s pulled up anchor. The last few ropes get thrown aboard and we’re moving. Everyone’s on deck with their camera and we watch the rain come over the mountains. One by one we disappear inside.<br><br>
At lunch we get to choose which animal napkin ring we want. Laura tells us to choose wisely. It’ll be ours for the duration and by the end of the trip we’ll embody our animal. We’re an albatross, a humpback whale, a king crab and a gentoo. Nobody want to be the skua, the bully of the Antarctic, which bodes well for our time together. <br><br>
In the afternoon we pass islands full of sea lions and nesting cormorants. We see the lighthouse Les Eclairs, that isn’t at the end of the world, even though it says it is. We see humpback whales and detour to another island Tomas knows about for penguins. The gentoos are resident but the Magellans will migrate north. Normally they’d be on their way to Brasil by now but they laid their eggs late this year so we get to watch in wonder as they do penguin things and go about their penguin lives. We drop anchor Cambaceres. We haven’t left the Beagle Chanel yet but we are the only people for miles. We sample more water, eat enchiladas and sleep early. Tomorrow we head for the Mitre peninsula. <br><br>
– Maddi <br><br>
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