Wednesday January 10th, 2001
Its 1300 hours or 1pm. I came off an uneventful watch at noon, the only change being to drop a couple of the sails as the wind died, and start the motors. It’s a cool, cloudy day. A good lookout is being kept for ice, but nothing to report yet.
We had a great afternoon yesterday, with many birds about. A huge wandering albatross kept us company for a while, but my favourite was a southern giant petrel - about a metre or so across and almost pure white, with only a few darker specks marking the tops of the wings and body. And what a master of flight in the light afternoon breezes and low swell - hardly flapping its wings at all as it kept us company for much of the day. Around dinner time Ollie was on deck and almost had it feeding from his hand as it swooped close by.
But this morning most of the birds have gone - perhaps it is because we crossed the Antarctic Convergence during the night and are now in the much cooler waters coming from the frozen continent.
Dinner yesterday was lamb - picked out in a field near Ushuaia by Ollie and Jacqueline, our new cook. Roasted, with all the trimmings, it was delicious except that one of the crew had a piece lodge in his throat, luckily clear of his wind-pipe. It wouldn’t budge. Marc and Alistair took over, as they are our medics. Marc checked down the patient’s throat with an oroscope to make sure that his windpipe was clear all ok. After half an hour of little progress, we phoned our doctor in Auckland who has a list of the medical kit onboard. He promised to ask the experts and for us to contact him again 30 minutes later.
By then, Marc had successfully dislodged the offending piece of food using a vacuum device and all, thankfully, was well. But it is good to have the backup of the best people at times like this, when we are such a long way from any outside help.
Sir Peter Blake
"Having vision is not enough. Change comes through realising the vision and turning it into a reality. It is easy to espouse worthy goals, values and policies; the hard part is implementation."
Learn about Sir Peter Blake and his journeys around the globe