6 January, 2002

LAST DAY ON BOARD

We are scheduled to arrive at Palmer Station sometime in the morning on January 6th. So, I am writing this the evening before we land. The seas have gotten rougher. I think that the Drake Passage deserves its reputation for being the roughest water there is! Even so, we have had a relatively smooth crossing. As I write this, we are at 61 41 (degrees and minutes) South, and 64 59 West. We have been going due south along that line for many hours. I'll include some images that I took before the seas got rough!

These are the lifeboats that we hope never to need. However, we have safety drills so that we know how to quickly get our survival suits, meet in our muster area (the lounge), and then get quickly into the lifeboats. Each one holds 44 people, and it is very cosy inside! You can see the window out of which the crew member might look. There is food and water inside, and some of the seats convert into toilets. When we sit inside, we strap ourselves in with shoulder harnesses and lap belts.

I mainly took this photo for the rainbow, but you can see a part of the lifeboat here, also.

Elfrin Prado and Rafael Sabino are crew members on board the LMG. They are originally from the Philippines. They work on board the ship for ten months and they get two months off. When the LMG goes into drydock for repairs next June-July, Elfrin and Rafael will go home on vacation.