Day Ten: Au Revoir Le Boreal

Today is our last evening on board the ship. Earlier this evening, we sailed through the Beagle Channel towards the setting sun and silhouettes of snow capped mountains.

During the last two days, we attended a series of lectures presented by our team of naturalists on board the ship. We learned about:

·         great Antarctic explorers;

·         Antarctic Treaty;

·         whale biology; and

·         birds of the Antarctic.

We also had a guided tour of the engine room from the ship´s chief engineer. The ship has four diesel engines (five including the emergency engine) and is one of the quietest and most fuel efficient ships on the open seas. We saw the propeller shafts rotating, used water being converted into potable water and the control room with four independent computers monitoring everything on board.  

Can you believe that our ship uses 80 tonnes of water per day? 20 tonnes of water is recycled and used for cleaning the decks and cooling the engines. The remaining water is biologically treated, filtered and released into the ocean. We also found out that the ship´s consumption of water dramatically increases when there are Americans on board.

We will spend tonight docked at the pier in Ushuaia so no more sea sickness tablets are required. We could get off the ship if we wanted to, but we quite like it here!

-Richard and Janice