ANTARCTICA Part 3 TRAVEL JOURNAL
It's not easy to shower at sea, especially when it's so choppy that the captain has forbidden passengers from being on deck. When you're in the small stainless-steel cubicle, it feels like you're trapped inside a phone booth while an elephant kicks you down the road…
The sea had been rough ever since we left South Georgia Island in a snowstorm a few days previously. I'd been swallowing seasick tablets like Smarties, but I was still so nauseous that I skipped breakfast. My roommate, Guts Swanepoel from Pangolin Photo Safaris, had no such problems – he was in the communal area above our sleeping quarters giving a photography lecture about how to expose correctly in snowy conditions.
I managed to shower and I got dressed carefully. The ship, the MV Ushuaia, wasn't only rocking from side to side – sometimes an unexpected swell rolled in and it felt as if we'd hit a pothole while tumbling down a hill. In my cabin, it was way too easy to fall over, especially while pulling on a sock.
Hernán Escudero, the ship's eccentric Chilean hospitality manager, peeked through the door. He saw I was a little green around the gills and wanted to say something encouraging. He went with: “Have a nice day in paradise!”
What could I do but laugh? I thanked him and lay down again. About an hour later, Hernán's voice came over the intercom: “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, the
