Sunday 12 January 2014

North Bound On The Drake, Day Two


Today’s weather was almost a carbon copy of yesterday’s.  We had winds in the neighbourhood of 25 - 30 knots for most of the day.  This produced sea states that Fram very elegantly absorbed as we plied our way towards Cape Horn.
The gym on Fram.
We used the sea day to continue with the lecture program.  Once again there was lots of time to relax, go to the gym or the sauna.
In the early evening at 17:00 we met in the Observation Lounge for a farewell cocktail and the Captain delivered a farewell speech.  The crew, officers and Expedition Team concluded the farewell meeting by singing a song that was especially written for MS Fram.

Immediately following the farewell presentation there was a charity auction to raise funds for the South Georgia Heritage Trust.  There were three items up for auction: a print of Wandering Albatross on Prion Island in South Georgia, the ship’s flag with the Hurtigruten logo that was flying throughout our voyage and a chart of our entire voyage with our route and all landing sights and dates plotted on the chart.  All told, we raised approximately $1000 USD for the South Georgia Heritage Trust.
Albatross monument and light house at Cape horn.
Right after the auction we were able to go outside to see the famous Cape Horn.  We were able to pass very closely having received permission from the Chilean coastal authorities.