STW 26 Blog

Sunday 16^th February to Wednesday 12^th March 2014

Ushuaia – Antarctica- Ushuaia

Captain:                      Chris Phillips

1^st Mate:                     Jon West

2^nd Mate:                    Marcin Dobrowolski

Bosun:                         Lesley Sale

Chief Engineer:         Marco Michelangnoli

2^nd Engineer:            Tamsin Smith

Cook:                           Derek Carr

Medical Purser:          Elizabeth Turner

Supernumerary:        Skip Novak

Supernumerary:        Piers Alvarez-Munos

Watch Rating:            Kirsten Mackay

Bosun’s Mates:           Stuart Sheldon, Matt Williams, Nick Tupper

Cook’s Assistant:        Victoria Reid 

Day 2                                                               Monday 17^th February 2014

All of us assembled yesterday, signed on, sorted out, with greetings and recollections. The chaos of thirty-five people moving house simultaneously. The introductions from the PC gelled us into the beginnings of a crew. Then we struggled into our Telly-Tubbie (immersion) suits for the first time. It was our last night ashore and the first night of harbour watch for the select few (us).

Aft port are on watch for departure with our pilot, Daniel, motoring east down the Beagle Channel. It’s a drizzly and overcast day smelling of salt and the sea, at last. The wind is gusting down from the mountains in Argentina to our port – catabatic breezes.

We did all the practices in the morning: immersion suits and water tight doors; harnesses and going aloft; bracing hither and thither.

So now we’re off! Looking forward to our adventure.

AP Watch: Andrew, Eileen, Holly, Chris, Ian, Tom, Barbara, Celia and Louise (authors)