We head off in a few hours after some free time to look around Ushuaia and grab some lunch. This morning we had the first of a series of safety briefings with the very clear reminder than this is not “business as usual”. Drakes Passage presents a formidable obstacle between here and the Antarctic Peninsula and one that should not be taken lightly. Safety, awareness and common sense are everything and we were all reminded of this by the very expert and experienced team leaders on this expedition.
The real highlight of the last twenty four hours has been getting to know the people who I am sharing this experience with. They come from all parts of the world and all types of disciplines. There are about sixty of us (not including the 2041 team), including a number of corporate teams, students, teachers and inspired individuals. We had a session yesterday afternoon where each person gave a 90 second talk on why they are here and what they hope to get out of the expedition. Nearly 90% of the speakers mentioned climate change as a key issue for them and one that they really hoped to learn more about – so as the leader on the issue during the expedition the pressure is on me!! What was enormously impressive was the depth of feeling amongst the group. The passion runs strong and the motivation to foster change is remarkable.
I have just been told that communication is difficult in the Drake Passage, so don’t expect another blog posting until later in the week.
You can follow the progress of the ship by clicking on the IAE 2009 “Current Location” graphic:
Thanks for taking an interest.
When I clicked on “subscribe to this blog”, all I got was a screen full of xml code.
I learned a lot from visiting this site and I will share with my students. I shall return.