They call today the “Drake Shake” but it is more like the “Drake Lake”.  Instead of the usual rough seas and high winds the dawn brought a beautiful sunrise and low wind speed which caused the seas to no longer have waves or white caps, but rather just large relaxing swells that almost push the ship along at a quartering starboard angle.  As of dawn we were about halfway across the Drake Passage and within a degree of the 60^th South.  They did tell us that the wind and waves yesterday rivaled some of the best they had seen.

I spotted my first whale around 8:00 AM and it was only a few blows of air and not a full breeching.  We have been promised many of those as we get closer to land.  The albatross are large birds that follow the ship and glide with the wind making it look like they only need to flap their wings when they take off from the water.  We were told that the albatross may stay at sea for up to three years before going to land to nest once they mature.  They are fun to watch because as they glide the tips of their wings are pointed down (opposite of the airplanes wing tips that point up today) and they drop the tip of the wing into the water to help them turn sharper.

The ship is owned or run by a group called One Ocean Expedition and they spend a lot of time trying to educate you on the Antarctic, its history, and the wildlife both in the sea and the land.  So this morning we had to sanitize the bottom of our shoes with chlorinated water and then vacuum with a wet and dry vac all the dust off of the fabric on our shoes.   I have in Florida a very elaborate shoe drying system that Maria got me so that my shoes don’t stink.  While thinking how stupid it was to be vacuuming my smelly running shoes it dawned on me that if I vacuumed with the wet and dry vac at home before placing my shoes on “Maria’s shoe dryer” they would not drip all over the counter it sits on and they would dry much faster.  So, if nothing else happens on this trip, I have learned how to once again keep exceed Maria’s expectations as to my impeccable housekeeping skills.  Please note this drying apparatus is out in the garage.

By mid-morning it had clouded over, but the wind is less and the seas were calming more and more as the morning went on.  By midafternoon it was snowing and windy again.  The waves and swells were a lot smaller even at night Saturday.

They are making a movie about the marathon and the film director showed us his latest movie, “The Spirit of the Marathon 2”, about the Rome Marathon.    I guess you can see them on Netflix or some on U-tube.  We also heard the owner of Marathon Tours tell stories of how he originally got the idea to do a marathon in Antarctica and then the challenges they faced each year.  Spending a lot of time on the bridge looking for whales, icebergs, and birds made the day go faster than watching a storm yesterday.

This is day three without being able to run and I am just about stir crazy.  The other thing is the amount of food they put out.  They have three meals a day and it is full meals.  I am not used to that so I skipped lunch today and had a banana and protein bar during the day.

Tomorrow we will land in Bellingshausen, King Georges Island.   The name came from Faddei von Bellingshausen who led the Imperial Russian Naval Expedition from 1819 until 1821.  I find I hard to believe that people back then came here and spent two years trying to get to the south pole.  They talk about the cold being more than 40 degrees below zero and dark 22 hours per day in the winter.  One of the expeditions had over 5,000 people apply for a team of 20 explorers.

When we land we will drop off three employees of Marathon Tours who will mark out the course.  They used to use the small flags the telephone company uses to mark the buried lines but the birds like the flags for their nests and used to pull the off.  They now use tomato stakes with duct tape spray painted orange.  We will then head to the other side of the island and practice landing and getting back on the ship from the zodiacs.

I can’t wait to get my feet on ground again.  They say not to kiss the ground because it is covered in penguin poop!

That’s all for today.