first harbour day of 2008 Antarctic

Just a short note on how things are going down here:

I have just returned from an 18-day trip to the Falklands (Carcass & Saunders Is.), South Georgia, and the Antarctic Peninsula on the Akademik Sergey Vavilov (see previous posts for pictures). The ship is incredibly stable and comfortable even in fairly bad weather, and so the trip was a breeze. Also, I have been working with the largest shipboard staff team yet, 20 strong! Considering that we had around 95 passengers, the staff-passenger ratio was excellent and we all had a great time.

Another new thing for me is the addition of a videographer on the staff, which happens to be my cabin mate. Unfortunately, that means that our desk is overflowing with video gear, a 24-inch iMac, tripds, DVD covers everywhere... and from time to time the cabin becomes a recording studio for voice-overs!

But the work he has done is incredible, I managed to catch a glimpse of the 40-minute high-def video that he shot, edited, sound-edited and presented, all during the voyage... he did not get too much sleep, or when he did you could see the impressions of the keyboard on his forehead... ;-)

In a few hours I am off for another voyage on the Vavilov, back in port on February 6. Hopefully, next time I get shore leave I remember to bring the CD with the images of the voyage, so I can upload some on the website. For now, this text will have to suffice.